How do survive through money troubles?

You are certainly not alone in this one... my family is also currently facing financial difficulties... since right now... my husband is home from abroad so i am the only working... we were not able to save any money since we paid of some of our debts... What i am making right now is just a little enough to pay for everything like bills and groceries... so if i lose my job... then we would have nothing... i just hope that my husband can still go aboard... then we can breath easily... My advise is... just hang on... the cycle of life will not stay down... time will come when you will be more at ease... just stay positive and always have hope... and tighten the belt more...

Let me know also. I am really good at robbing Peater to pay Paul. We've been living pay check to pay check for years. Some weeks we do'nt even get a weekly paycheck. My hubby tried to start his own expediting bussiness and were doing ok for a few months but its getting really bad now. I've had to apply for food stamps it's so bad. We are behind on all of the bills. '

I've been through this many times before and survived. :) You can't solve your problems by lending money from others. As long as you have other way/s to solve it, don't borrow money from whoever because it's the same story, you're just prolonging your problem.

Always keep money for bad times ...

It only takes a few weeks without an income to really muck people's finances up. This has happened to us a few times when the tenants in my other house didn't pay their rent. This is what I did to stretch out finances: 1. Looked for the cheapest foods possible. Home cooked is much cheaper. You dont need that much meat, use lentils instead. 2. Only use homebrand washing powder. It works. 3. Cut lunches only for school & work. 4. If a Doctors appointment is essential, go to one of the bulk bill Doctors. 5. If any clothes are essential, try to buy second hand. 6. Use less electricity, less water, less phone calls, & minimise long car drives. 7. Ring all the companies you owe money to, & ask for an extension & fortnightly payment plan. This is what I do with all my bills. None of them are paid in bulk all at once.

All one can do is do the best you can in finding bargins and buying in bulk type of stores and use coupons as much as one can find them. Don't buy the things you don't need and try to save as much money as you can even if it's a penny, it's at least something which certainly is better than nothing.

Actually, they may not be allowed to hold your money. Where I am in BC Canada employers will say they can and even try to hold back money if you don't give them 2 weeks notice but they can't do it legally. In BC you don't need to give 2 weeks notice it is recommended out of courtesy. Employers are required to pay for all hours worked and are not allowed to hold back any money due to lack of notice. The only thing they can do is hold money for 21 days before paying out all your hours and benefits if you get any. I would look into the laws in your area just to be sure, you maybe entitled to money you didn't know about. If you are contact your local labor relations office.

I guess you realize that you should have given a week's notice, so what I would do is this. Pay the bill with the highest interest first. Also make sure that you keep the lights off on the room you are not in. Does your internet have choices, like light, medium, and heavy users? Then temporarily, cut your internet from medium to light. Buy cheaper cuts of meat, increase the vegetables, make some casseroles and chili. You can live cheap on casseroles, chili, and stew. If you do not need to use the light switch, don't. Cut out your daily newspaper. I hope this will help. Don't worry, it will only last a little while.

I feel for you hon. The thing I tell myself is that 'this too shall pass'. Six months from now you'll be doing just fine. Heck, maybe a month from now things will be looking all better. But whatever we are going through does have an eventual end. That is the only way I get through sometimes.

We're not behind on our bills but we struggle alot of times to make it also. I earn online but each month's earnings fluctuate up and down. My husband also had to take a lesser paying job too, so I know how you feel. It is only money, but we all have to have and when you don't, it is very stressful. I work online 7 days a week and so does my husband just so we can make it. We feel no matter how hard we try, we will never get ahead either. I do earn and get paid every month from my online things, but it just barely gets us by on the wants and have to pay things along with my husbands income. The only thing I can advise you to do is pay what you can on each bill when they come in and try your very best to make the most you can online. Sometimes it isn't much but every little bit helps.

like you, me and my partner is striving hard to be able to cope up with the daily and monthly expenses. Though there are ways that we've been doing to earn extra money, the problem is that we cant have it as soon as we need it. I would suggest having extra income as well. Something that is not in your budget and you could make use if in times like this. There are lots of ways to earn. Online and offline.

I completely know where you are at right now, because I am there. The things you have that I dont is a job and someone to help with the bills. I have read the postings below and they are very helpful. I am going to take a look at the sites they provided. I am sorry that you are in this position, nobody should be there. Good luck and hope that everything will get better.

Faith, I have been on the streets, living in a car, couch surfing for the last 3 years. I am finally in my own space, with a bed, and off roman for the moment. Hey, I lived in NYC on 30 a week, you can do this too. Bills will come and go, however your spirit will remain. Hold onto faith. Ainge

I totally understand! I am having troubles aw well. I'm quite frustrated! I'm currently trying to make money online. Maybe you can consider obtaining an legitimate online job.

I am so sorry you have fallen on hard times. But like another poster has suggested you should look into recovering payment for the hours you have worked. I also live in Canada and an employer cannot keep wages for actual hours worked if no notice has been given. Check this out for the area where you live. I watch People's Court and Judge Judy sometimes, they are both American court shows. The plaintiffs usually win the wages which were wrongfully held by the employer. You must have a Department of Labour that gives free information or free storefront legal offices that give free advice for people who have no money. If you win the money back put it straight into a savings account. In the meantime I would suggest some measures to keep your head above water: 1. Make arrangements with all your creditors for payment schedules until you are caught up. 2.To help out with groceries approach a food bank or food pantry until you are in a better situation. 3. Make your lunches instead of bying them. Put the money you saved in a jar for dire emergencies. 4. Buy food that you need to prepare yourself. A ten pound bag of potatoes is very cheap and you can make side dishes such as simple boiled potatoes, roasted potato wedges with herbs, mashed potatoes, fried potatoes, garlic mashed potatoes, potato pancakes, and shepherd's pie. 5. Prepare some foods on the weekend, such as chili and baked beans. The ingredients are much cheaper than canned ready made stuff and give you at least double the value. 6. Instead of bying expensive cleaning products use what you have on hand. Baking soda and vinegar are excellent. When I change the baking soda box in my fridg I no longer throw the old one out. I use it as toilet cleaner. It works, the bowl becomes clean. 7. Save any empty glass jars (except pickles) for storage of beans, sugar, pasta etc. This way you don't need to spend money on plastic storage containers. 8. If you buy a coffee every day skip one day and put the money in your jar. 9.Make sure all lights are turned off when you leave the room, the heat is at a reasonable temperature and cut your shower time by a couple of minutes. 10. Make sure you have full loads of washing or turn down the water level appropriate to the load. I wash everything except underwear in warm water instead of hot. 11. Look at the flyers to get good deals on bread and other food that can be frozen. 12. Please put aside a small amount of money from each paycheque even if it is a dollar for the jar. When you are uptodate build a little savings cushion so you don't have to live from pay cheque to paycheque. The very best of luck.

Just breathe and try not to think about it that much. We're struggling right now too because I'm not working. But that is what he wants a bit more than I do. It's complicated but if I find a full time job then I would have to pay his company $140 a month to keep my insurance through them so with that and the price of gas - it wouldn't really be worth it making min wage or near it. And working PT it's the same thing because of gas prices. So at least until he gets back on first shift I'm staying at home. Once he gets on first though we've thought about foster parenting (we've been wanting to but wanted to wait until he was on first for good) or I might be an assitant teacher. I'm not really sure yet :) BUT me not working puts us in a bind because most of food, gas, ect has to go on the credit card :( and it stresses me out (I do the bills).

I always survive it i just budget everything i have to make sure that the kids will have this and that for school and to know that they have somethng to eat.. so all i do i will work hard for the money so then we all can live normally again.

I'm hoping the best for you.

Hold your head up and don't give up. Things have a way of working out like they are supposed to. I use hard times as lessons learned and move on from there. I had plenty of hard times with money and somehow I never ended up on the street so everything always worked out...

I could only begin to imagine what you have to go through but i'm pretty sure that's temporary. Like billions I believe all over the world are having the same fate and worst. I'm not the finance savvy person but let me try though. I always use the law of arithmetic.. You earn better two ways, at least right away. By increasing your income or lowering your expenses. Examples of increasing income is through getting it from multiple sources. And the way of minimizing expenses is to review your payables and perhaps remove some of them, at least for the meantime. Continue trying to pay your bills, but when you discontinue some services like cable and all, you just have to pay the backlog. Any savings generated from increasing income and lowering expenses can be used to fast track debt payment. til you are zero debt. The problem with debt is it accumulates when we don't pay attention to it thus keeping that side of the equation low would work to an advantage.