Preparing For The Worst – Hoping For The Best
Posted by brigidscauldron on October 15, 2008
Well lets see what has taken place economically:
$700 billion dollar bail-out of Wall Street ( not working)
$900 billion dollar bail-out by the Feds (not working)
United States government taking equity interests in banks (again, uuuhhhh not working)
All the government leaders saying, we are not in a recession….maybe you are payed too much Mr. Senator. Anyway I digress. Whether you think we are in a recession or not, it is time to carefully and frugally guard the income you have coming in versus what you have to spend. It’s going to be a rough roller coaster ride for some time. Some of us are already feeling the pinch and making accommodations where necessary. Others have been fortunate that they have not HAD to cut corners yet. For those that are still keeping your heads above water, here are some smart steps to take now to avoid being shocked into frugal living.
If you are still employed, pretend that today you have lost your job. If you are married, pretend thatone of you is now unemployed. Begin to seriously consider what expenses you what have to cut in that situation and do it gradually now. Take the money that you would use for those expenses and start an emergency savings fund for yourselves. Seriously start spending money only on the essentials. Take a realistic look at what you would have to do without in the unfortunate circumstance of losing an income, and cut those expenses today.
Start paying off your credit cards quickly. Credit card companys’ are always changing the rules on you according to the economy and have been raising interest rates astronomically. Even though Wall Street is getting a bail-out, you can be sure that there is no “citizen bail-out” coming. Pay off those credit cards and stop paying those incredible rates for the privilege of buying something now and paying for it later.
When you have your cards paid off keep the accounts open. But only use the cards in an abosolute emergency situation. If you want to purchase something, pay for it in cash. If you can’t pay for it now, you don’t need it yet.
Cut off the digital cable. Sorry football fans, but regular television channels have football too. Seriously, consider cutting out the cable and high speed internet. The costs are high and really you are only paying for a little faster speed and hundreds of channels that show the same thing. Some people think that I am out of my mind with this, but hey it saves you money. Money that you will NEED later on should this economic condition get worse.
Now is the time to take all the money you have normally put out on unessential things and start saving it. How you decide to do that is your call. The point is…SAVE IT! Piling up the cash now will greatly improve your situation should you really have a loss of income. Taking the steps outlined will keep you from going into unemployment stress and shock needlessly. I sincerely hope that nobody would lose their job, but reality is reality.
For more great information on frugal living and frugal recipes as well as other money saving and living cheap ideas see the line of Living On A Dime series.
