Living paycheck to paycheck is no one’s dream, but sometimes, and more than often, it happens. There is no worst feeling than having $20 and trying to figure out if you want to buy drinks at the strip club or throw it at stripper. More realistically either putting gas in the car or food on the table. Imagine if you have kids as well… YIKES.
Now, don’t think this is a never ending cycle of brokeness. I promise there is away to leave the paycheck to paycheck club and its quite simple: budgeting your ass off.
“Budgeting, that’s simple, anyone can budget.” No, no, no, that’s where you are wrong my friend. There are levels to this. To escape the broke girls/guys club, you have to take budgeting to an extreme.
To break the cycle of living from paycheck to paycheck you must sit down and write down everything you spend on a two week basis. Bills, food, strip club, clothes, fake designer heels, write all of that down. Make a list of all the necessities: Bills and food, the like to haves: strip club and clothes and the things you really don’t need: fake designer heels.
Take your paycheck and subtract all of the necessities, also set aside money for the things you would like to have and also money for incidentals. Incidentals will cover a random flat tire, a check engine light, a late night booty call; you know things of that nature. This way all of your bills are paid and you still have some spending money and you don’t go completely crazy. The rest of the money, throw it in your savings account. The key is not to spend all of your “things you’d like to have money” or touch your savings. Once the months go buy, this money will grow and become more of a cushion between your strip club money and “omg, I’m broke.”
A good way to teach yourself a lesson is to start a bad habit jar. Say your bad habit is spending money on fast food. Instead of handing over that money to Taco Bell, drop it in a jar. After a few months you will see how much money you spend in fast food that you could be saving. “I have to buy fast food, I don’t have time to cook every day.” Well don’t. Meal preparation saves you from buying outside food. If you cook one day and package for the next three days that saves you money that you can now save. See how easy that is?
This stops the living from paycheck to paycheck cycle. Your account grows this way, not allowing it to hit zero, and you can maybe even buy those fake designer heels you want so bad, after your bills are paid.
