Effective Money Management Practices when Unemployed

By: Branden S.

Effective Money Management Practices When Unemployed

 

You too can regain total control over your finances even while working your way in between jobs.

For most persons, being unemployed poses a huge strain on their finances, bringing about increased debt, financial instability, and a reduced state in their quality of living. However, for others, being unemployed represents a time to reflect and effectively reevaluate their finances and spending habits.

By doing this, they can properly adopt proactive strategies to make the most of their limited resources.

Whatever position you may find yourself as you transition between jobs, leveraging the right cash advance loan options and money management practices in Las Vegas will help you put up a solid foundation for a perkier financial future for both you and your family.

Mastering Financial Stability while Unemployed

If you’ve recently been laid off work, maintaining a stable financial standing might seem pretty challenging for a start. However, by leveraging the following steps, you can effectively plan and manage your finances while unemployed or transitioning between jobs.

 

  1. Assess Your Current Financial Situation
  2. Track Your Expenses
  3. Create a Realistic Budget
  4. Consider Getting a Short Term Loan
  5. Explore Alternative Sources of Income

 

  1. Assess Your Current Financial Situation

Assessing your current financial situation gives you a full scope of all the resources you have in hand to leverage on as you navigate your period of unemployment. This includes any emergency funds, savings, short term loan options, and other alternative sources of income available to keep you going as you transition between jobs.

It also helps to identify areas in your finances that would need adjustment going forward. Basically, helping you to effectively distinguish between your needs and wants, thus, allowing you to make more conscious decisions about your daily spending and saving habits.

 

  1. Track Your Expenses

The next conscious step to take to master financial stability while unemployed is to track your daily expenses.

You can start by categorizing and effectively analyzing each one of your daily household purchases and expenses, keeping track and properly documenting receipts and your expense log.

By doing this, you will always be aware of your daily, weekly, and monthly spending patterns, thereby helping you to identify areas in your spending habits that may need adjustment.

 

  1. Create a Realistic Budget

While assessing your financial status and tracking daily expenses is important, it can only help you structure your finances to suit a specific moment.

Being unemployed, there’s no telling how long it would take for you to transition to a new job. This is where setting aside a realistic budget for your spending comes into play; the best strategy for this is the 50/30/20 Rule.

The 50/30/20 rule is a personal finance management practice that divides your household budget into two (2) – expenses and savings (investments). That literally goes to say that even with zero (0) income coming in, you can still make the best of your finances by saving and investing even while spending.

Naturally, the 50/30/20 rule breaks down your finances into the two following categories:

  • Spending – 80%
  • Saving/investment – 20%

Furthermore, the 50/30/20 rule allocates 50% of your finances towards basic household needs and expenses such as rent/mortgage, household groceries, gas and utilities.

The other 30% of your finance goes into things you “want“ and can basically do without; some of these include – entertainment and leisure, as well as subscription services.

The remaining 20% of your finance is directed towards savings and investments

Reviewing the 50/30/20 rule, it’s always a safe bet to structure your monthly budget in a way that gives room for flexibility in the 30% allocated portion of your spending.

That goes to say that changes should only be made on your savings and investments if it is absolutely necessary. It’s also a best practice to make minimum payments on your credit card debts, at least for the time being of transitioning between jobs.

 

Mastering Financial Stability while Unemployed

 

  1. Consider Getting a Short Term Loan

A very good and effective way of managing your finances while unemployed could come in the form of online payday loan options.

Now, while online payday loans are more structured towards individuals who have constant source of income, it can be a pretty good way of providing you with all the short-term financing you need as you transition between jobs.

An instant payday loan could basically be used to finance any portion of your spending in the 50/30/20 rule, but still, it’s always a safe practice to take up online payday loans to finance purchases and expenses that are of real importance to you at that moment.

For example, you could spot an interesting investment opportunity in the real estate space and decide to take up a cash advance loan of $5,000 to finance such.

An instant payday loan can also come in handy if you are trying to develop yourself on a certain skill while in the process of transitioning between jobs.

You can take up an online payday loan in Las Vegas to finance the purchase of training courses to help improve on your skillset as a sales associate or administrative assistant.

 

  1. Explore Alternative Sources of Income

You could start by learning a new skill.

The internet right now provides one of the easiest ways to make money for any entrepreneur out there. With skills that range from programming, social media marketing, digital marketing, forex trading and lots more, you can make some really good income for yourself at the comfort of your home.

Some other sources of income you could explore when unemployed include:

  • Babysitting
  • Online tutoring
  • Pet sitting or dog walking
  • Ride-sharing via Uber, Lyft, etc.
  • Errand running

Conclusion

For someone that has recently been laid off from work, the very first thing you need to do to effectively manage your finances is to prioritize essential expenses, even though it means cutting back on discretionary spending, and laying back a bit on extravagant lifestyles.

It also helps to find a way to clear your head – losing a good paying job can be pretty depressing and hard to deal with; at best, try as much as possible to stay around the ones that love you, explore new skills and hobbies, and generally just involve yourself in healthy habits that will help take your mind off the entire emotional distress.

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