When You're Down, Out and Broke

Life can be difficult when the money runs out and marriage can be even more so. When your single all you have to blame is yourself, when your married you can lay all or part of the blame on your spouse. What does placing blame really help though? It really only hurts the situation. Blaming someone causes more stress and friction so instead of dwelling why not just move on and fix the situation?

Jobs are hard to come by at the moment which leads to multiple money issues, but there are ways to make some money and ways to keep that money in your pocket!

The Internet provides a multitude of ways to make some extra cash. Start by joining the free sites that pay you. You don't have to pay an employer to hire you, so why should you have to pay to work on the Internet? There are many free sites that pay their members for doing many different tasks such as writing and publishing, clicking on advertisements, reviews, referring, advertising, there is even a site that allows you to sell your stuff for free! You can contact me or do some serious Internet searching for the names of those sites.

Writing and Publishing

There are websites that will pay you for writing articles or reviews and publishing them on their site. Some of those sites also pay you for publishing photos with them as well. They are able to pay you because they place ads on your content that pays them and they share the revenue.

Paid to Click

Websites that pay you for clicking on and viewing advertisements do not pay very well, but every little bit counts!

Blogging

You can also start your own blog which you can place your own ads on and get paid for those ads. Keep in mind that it does take patience. You will need to promote your blog for quite awhile before traffic starts picking up. It is something you will have to dedicate yourself to. You will not make much money in the beginning, but if the content of your blog is worth reading you will gain more and more readers which leads to more and more revenue.

Scams

I do want to warn you that there are many scam sites out there. A lot of the Internet websites that claim to pay you, never really pay up and you are out the time you spent completing whatever task you did for that site. Be sure to double check a site to make sure it is legit before joining anything.

Creating a Budget

So what do you do after you've started bringing in some income? You don't want to blow it all that's for sure. You can create a budget, but you have to stick to it! It only works if you work it. There are many ways to budget your money one is the Envelope System.

Envelope Budgeting System

First you make a list of all your bills and label an envelope for each expense. Be sure to write the total amount needed on the front of the envelope as well.

Then divide the total of each envelope by the number of times you get paid each month. That will give you the amount you need to add to each envelope every pay period. Write that number on the front of each envelope as well.

There is no borrowing from other envelopes. When you run out of money in your "fun" envelope it is not okay to take money from another envelope.

Stick to it! It only works if you work it!

Set Goals

Make a list of financial goals you would like to meet and set dates for yourself to meet those goals, then make them happen! If you have debt make it a goal to pay that debt off. Set dates that you would like to achieve each area of debt to be gone by.

Save Your Change

A good way to save money is making every penny count! Find a jar and keep your change in it. Cash it in when it gets full and put it in a savings account to help with those financial goals. Change adds up faster than you'd imagine!

Cutting Costs

Evaluate the way you are spending your money. Write down every time you spend money and what you are spending it on for a month. If there are areas that you can stop spending money or stop spending so much do that. Do not live past your means.

Unnecessary expenses include (but are not limited to):

• Gambling
• Cigarettes
• Alcohol
• Cable
• Unnecessary Travel
• Eating Out

This Too Shall Pass

Everything gets better with time. Remember that this is not the end of the road. You are still going to wake up tomorrow as you and you will still have your responsibilities. You are the only person who can change your life!

You are responsible for you!