It’s hard to think about budgeting when your income is consistently less than your expenses each month. You might check out Pinterest and have your feed flooded with all the sure-fire ways you can save $5,981 in six months, but you might be simply trying to figure out how you are going to make that $5,981 in the next six months purely to keep food in the fridge and your daughters in shoes. Trust me, I’ve been there.
Our Story
Right after Justin and I married, he started his student teaching. I’d graduated a year ahead of him and worked in a University administrative position for a year. We’d grown accustomed to a decent income and good insurance, though in order for him to student teach we had to move, and that required me quitting my job.
That year we moved and put all of our expenses on the one credit card we had. The job market at the time was hard to penetrate, so I spent the first six months picking up temporary positions until I could find a full-time permanent job. When I finally did, the salary was still two-thirds that of what we’d had the year before AND we had maxed out our credit card and emptied what little was in our savings account.
It was about that time that I became a huge fan of Excel worksheets for budgeting (something that stuck with me until just this year). With one (not even full) income, we had to carefully track every penny in and out.
Half of our income went straight to our rent. In retrospect, we probably had a place that was bigger than we needed, but we loved it and for two people who like to spend time at home, it was perfect for us. After rent, the rest of our money was split between insurance (both health and car) and gas and food. Thankfully we didn’t have any car payments, my student loan payments were low, and we only had that one maxed out credit card.
No money went into our savings account. No money was saved for retirement.
Four Opportunities to Consider When You Have No Money
For those of you that are underwater in debt, recently unemployed, or simply struggling to cover the basic costs of living each month – it might be hard to think about creating a budget with thoughts towards debt pay down or savings, but I do think it’s possible. I’d like to give you four opportunities (from my own experience) that present themselves when you have no money.
Opportunity to Train Yourself
Having no money can actually be considered a blessing. Sure, at the time, it royally stinks, but when you do get a pay raise or take on a second income, the strategies you used when you were broke can help you prepare more fully for the future, including budgeting, saving, and giving.
Tip: There’s no time like the present to create a budget tailored to your goals. Grab my FREE Family Budget Workbook to get you started. Find it HERE.
Budgeting
Justin and I learned so much about budgeting during this time period. Neither one of us had experience with budgeting money and having to list out everything we made versus our expenses was a real eye-opener. Did we really need that cell phone? Did we need a home phone? Could we put a sweater on rather than turning up the heat? Those questions, along with how to save on groceries and cleaning products, were forefront in our minds. We learned a lot about cost-saving methods that we still use today.
Even if you are flat broke and all of your money goes to the necessities each and every month, write it out anyways. Trust me, practicing this strategy now will allow you so much more financial freedom in the future when the money isn’t nearly as tight.
Saving
I know what you are thinking: I have no money; how can I even think about saving? I truly understand the feeling, but it can happen.
We saved coins that year. Sometimes all that went into our savings jar (no, we did not put money into a savings account), was less than a dollar each month. What we found, though, was that the more we saved, the more we wanted to save. As we made more money in the upcoming years, the act of putting all of the spare change in a jar didn’t stop, and during the tight months, we knew that there were a couple of hundred dollars sitting around in change throughout the house.
Eventually, we cashed it all in and put it into a savings account, but to this day, there is always a change jar in our home.
This idea of saving in small increments does help you when you get more money. If you have a budget that works, you will likely add in other expenses as the money increases, but at the same time, the savings need to increase proportionally as well, or you will find yourself with expenses that you can’t fund.
Giving
Giving is one of those discussions everyone cringes at, but hang in there with me and I’ll make this quick.
Everyone thinks that when they get rich or have more money that they will give more. It’s not always true. Giving starts when you have nothing, and grows as you gain more. It doesn’t just start sometime down the line when you think you have enough to make ends meet and give some too.
I love recalling the story of the poor widow:
“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.” – Mark 12:41-44
She gave everything she had, with no concern for the fact that it was all she had. My guess, she did it gladly, and we should too.
I’ll leave the rest up to you.
Opportunity to Simplify
Being broke allowed us to figure out simpler and less expensive ways to get by. We enjoyed eating out, but rather than going to a restaurant and spending a ton of money we didn’t have, we chose to head to Costco (and we did this a lot), ate the samples, grabbed one or two items we needed, and split a hot dog. It made for inexpensive and memorable dates that we still talk about to this day.
At home, we focused heavily on meal planning so that we could stretch our budget for the whole month, and we also ate more simple meals that mostly consisted of chicken, frozen vegetables, and rice…lots and lots of rice. I will say that when my parents invited us over for dinner and asked what we should have, I always requested some sort of red meat.
Additionally, we were careful with our portion sizes during that time frame, so we actually found that we lost (much needed!) weight as well. That was just one of those happy bonuses!
Opportunity to Unload
Having no money brought us the opportunity to unload some stuff we’d been carrying around for years, and I highly recommend it. Selling things you don’t need can also be an effective way to boost your budget. Additionally, bagging up and donating may also allow you a bit of freedom in that, the less stuff you have, the less space you need to store it.
We sold and gave away furniture, clothing, crafty items, and books we’d read and didn’t plan to go back to again. It was very freeing and when we did move on from that apartment, we moved into a place one-third the size, and much less expensive. We’d learned to live with less, and that actually allowed us some freedom.
Opportunity to Make Goals
During that time, Justin and I had a lot of opportunities to discuss what we would do if we actually had money. Initially, those conversations included things like going out to dinner, buying a larger TV, and, eventually, purchasing a home. At some point, the conversation switched from those material things, though, to what we expected our future to look like. What was our ten-year plan? Did either of us have a desire to start a business? Switch careers? Move?
The goals and dreams we formulated during that time period are still the ones we are working towards today. And friends, we are making progress. I wholeheartedly believe that we were given that opportunity due to the fact that we had no money for so long. If we’d had money to cover all of our expenses, there would not have been the push to consider that the decisions we made going forward would be critical in accomplishing our dreams.
Starting Small
I know you were probably hoping that I was somehow going to multiply your money through this post and you were going to walk away with the ability to save that $5,981 or use it to pay off debt. Unfortunately, I haven’t been given that power, but if I ever have it, I’ll be sure to let you know.
What I can say, though, is that being broke doesn’t have to be a terrible thing. Implement the strategies now, and when you have money again, you will be able to use it in a way that better reflects your hopes and dreams for the future. Yes, someday you may have $5,981 to pay off credit cards or stick into a savings account and when you do, maybe you will be the one sharing it on Pinterest, but it doesn’t happen overnight, and it starts with small steps in the right direction.
In the meantime, go have a Costco hot dog date and celebrate the fact that this stage of life will not last forever.
Tip: There’s no time like the present to create a budget tailored to your goals. Grab my FREE Family Budget Workbook to get you started. Find it HERE.
