It’s a common trope these days that it is impossible to survive as a one income family. To get ahead, pay for kids college and save for retirement you need both partners working to achieve this.
While this is mainly true, there is some wiggle room there. You can definitely live as a one income family and still have money for things like retirement and putting money aside for an emergency. You can check out Money Monarch for some tips on doing this.
There may even be a case that you have suddenly become a one income family through no choice of your own. If a couple splits up or somebody loses a job for instance. In which case, these tips are an absolute must if you want to have financial security for yourself and your children.
In this article, I will go over several ways that you can achieve your financial goals even with only one income and a family to support.
Make a budget
The first and most important step is to understand where your money goes. You’ll have to start by tracking all of your expenses. Everything you spend money on needs to be recorded so you can see where things can get cut.
How you track is entirely up to you and what works best in your way of doing things, but there are apps that make this really simple. They also organize your expenses for you so you can see things by category at the end of the month to get a true idea of where your money is going.
Then, when you can see where your money goes, cut the waste from your monthly expenses and then set a realistic budget to stick with.
For instance, if you see how much money you spend on groceries and eating out, you are likely to be shocked. You can cut that way down by reducing your food waste and by shopping smarter.
If you see that your entertainment expenses are high, then cut out your subscriptions and get rid of cable TV and just keep the internet. Watch shows and movies on Youtube instead of Netflix and you won’t miss a thing.
Start a side hustle
Rather than try to work a second part time job, try to use technology so you can make money in your spare time that doesn’t involve you having to commit to another job.
You can do things like retail arbitrage by buying cheap goods and selling them on Amazon or ebay. If you are crafty then you can sell your creative goods on sites like Etsy. Or, if you have some writing skills, you can start a blog or affiliate marketing site to make some extra, and passive, money.
This extra money can help a lot in your goals and can be done when the kids are in bed or instead of watching TV. use your time wisely and you won’t miss that second income.