Tight Wallets: 5 Unconventional Ways to Ease Your Financial Burdens

Living on a tight budget can be a stressful experience. After all, you may regularly worry about not having enough money to pay your bills. You may also not be saving as much money as you would like to be saving, or you may not be saving any money at all. 

In this type of situation, you may need to take drastic steps to get your finances back on track, and these are a few of the options that can produce great results.

Move in with Your Parents

It can seem embarrassing to move back in with your parents as a grown adult, but you should think about the big picture. When you live with your parents for even a few short months or possibly a year, you can save a tremendous amount of money on rent, utilities and more. 

This is money that could be used to pay down credit card debt, to save for a new home and more. However, if moving in with your parents is not an option, you can look into moving in with your siblings or a close friend if needed. 

Of course, if none of that works, maybe you downsize to smaller house or apartment.

Get a Title Loan

Another idea is to use a title loan, such as from American Cash Advance and Title Loan or another company. A title loan uses your vehicle’s equity as collateral. 

This is usually a very short-term loan, and the money could be used to help you get caught on your bills and to avoid having to pay late payments.

Tear up Your Credit Cards

If your financial challenges are caused by high credit card balances, you need to take serious action to prevent further charges from being made. 

Rather than simply pull your credit cards out of your wallet and store them in a known location, tear them up entirely. 

Some people may keep one credit card, but a better idea may be to get right of them altogether. When you have no physical possession of your credit cards, it becomes much more difficult to use them.

Cancel All Non-Essential Services

Between your gym membership, cell phone service, cable TV service and more, you may pay a small fortune on non-essential services each month. 

Carefully analyze your budget, and note all of the non-essential expenses that you can eliminate. In some cases, you may only have to scale back in this way for a few months to get back on track. 

While this may be hard, it is not as hard as being flat out broke. Once you get your finances back on track and more stable, then you can look at bringing some of these things back as you can afford them.

Think about Sharing

You may have two or more vehicles, cell phones and other items in your possession. These items cost you money to buy, use and maintain. 

Downsizing to a single item per household and learning to share them is a wonderful idea that can help you to cut down on expenses considerably. Another way to share is to find a roommate who will share the rent and utilities with you.

When you are dealing with a serious financial issue, you need to take substantial steps to improve the situation. 

There are a lot of areas in your life where you can better budget your money, cut spending, and save a few extra bucks. While there are many ways to cut back, you may find that these unconventional methods can produce exceptional results.

Financial Matters: How to Help your Loved Ones

Financial burdens can strike unannounced. Everyone suffers from financial troubles at one time or another. Your close family and distant relatives may encounter financial problems that are too much to overcome alone. 

Whether your loved one experiences an unexpected and expensive medical bill or is exhibiting worrying financial habits, helping them get to the right direction can secure their financial future. Here are four ways you can achieve that and much more. 

Know When to Come in

One important thing to remember is that when a loved one is going through a financial crisis, that it is a very sensitive subject. They may be too prideful or too afraid to say that they have a money problem and to ask for help. 

When it comes to family, most people don't want their loved ones getting involved in their financial problems. After all, it's a matter that you'd want to keep privately. Knowing when to come in and provide financial aid is important to maximizing the impact of your actions. 

If your loved one looks capable enough to manage the situation that has befallen them, give them time to fix it before intervening, but make yourself readily available to them should they come to you for help. 

Help Them Invest

Investing isn't something that you normally talk about with family members at a dinner table. However, it is financially savvy to collaborate with loved ones about possible investment vehicles that can grow their retirement funds. 

Advise against parking their free cash in a savings account and even in fixed deposits since they tend to yield the lowest interest rates. Instead, go for higher-yielding assets like stocks and currencies. Be careful giving this kind of advice to your loved ones. You will need to know exactly what their financial situation is in order to give them this advice. 

If they do not have enough money to make adequate investments, then they should be encouraged to save their money for a period of time before making such a step. Investments can be risky. If the investment fails, it could hinder your loved ones finances even more. It may be better to refer them to a professional as they can properly advise them how to invest their money wisely. 

Be Efficient

If you're going to lend money to a loved one who is in financial trouble, at least make the process as efficient as possible. Wasting time and money in delivering the cash yourself only amplifies the free cash you are losing. 

Use financial services like ShareMoney.com to send money online to loved ones in the U.S., Mexico, and Brazil. The rates are cheaper and using the online platform saves you time and gas money from having to march to your bank to send payments. 

Tweak Their Lifestyle

If spending habits are slowly chipping away their retirement nest, you can help your loved ones by making subtle changes to their lifestyle. 

For example, if they are subscribed to magazines every month, you can advise them to cancel on these subscriptions especially if the materials aren't being used or isn't of intellectual or financial value. Teach them how to use coupons and when best to buy certain times like toiletries and food.

Having a financial adviser on board is also a great way to help your loved ones overcome financial difficulties. They can help your loved ones manage their money in the most efficient manner. In the end, however, it takes a solid familiar bond to actually improve the quality of living of your loved ones through smarter financial choices and decisions.