subject: Improving Your Credit: So You Don't Wanna Live Paycheck-to-Paycheck Anymore… [print this page] Improving Your Credit: So You Don't Wanna Live Paycheck-to-Paycheck Anymore
Well, join the club. Don't worry about feeling left out, either according to a CareerBuilder survey, 61% of the employed workforce stated that they were currently living paycheck to paycheck. This is a higher percentage than the same survey from 2009, where "only" 49% of workers stated the same thing.
Odds are, just about everyone has had to count down the days until their next paycheck will save them from complete financial ruin and the need for credit repair services at some point in their lives. If you're still pinching every penny until the next pay day rolls around, are resorting to relying on friends and/or family to help make ends meet each month, or worse have started taking out payday loans it's probably safe to say you're sick of living in squalor while you wait for that next check to come in and clear. And if you aren't, you should be.
See, if you're already living paycheck to paycheck, and have been for a while now, you're leaving yourself open to a world of hurt, financially. If you don't have friends or family that can bail you out of trouble whenever it comes (or you've already sued up all of their good will), you've probably already turned to your credit cards to help pay the difference on any bills you're falling short on each month.
The problem with that is, the more charges you run up and credit card debt you accumulate, the harder it is to break out of the pattern you're setting for yourself. Having a lot of unpaid credit card debt piling up in your credit history means your minimum payments will start to get higher and higher until you can't even keep up with them, either leaving you in need of credit repair if you don't want to add your cards to the list of Bills to be Paid Whenever I Can.
So how do you stop living from paycheck to paycheck? By either finding a higher paying job that will magically take care of your money woes, or by:Creating a budget. Having a monthly budget mapped out can mean a world of difference when it comes to saving money. If you haven't already set one up for yourself, start by gathering all of your monthly bills and expenses together as well as your paycheck stubs and comparing what you spend vs. what you make each month. If you're clearly spending more than you're making, it's time to give the cards a rest.Cutting your expenses way down. Now that you've seen how much money you're letting go by the wayside (and never looking back), hopefully you'll be more motivated than ever to make some spending cuts. For most people, this can be VERY hard to pull off, as it usually involves making changes to their daily routine. Do you buy a cup of coffee every morning? Go out to lunch or dinner more than twice a week? Running up a fortune on your electric bill because you've got the TV on all day? If you answer yes to any of these (or can think of some on your own), do yourself a favor and start saying "No" to yourself a little bit each day.Bringing in more money. Maybe that raise you've been longing for is a ways off, but if you can fit a part-time job into your schedule, now might be a good time to consider applying for one. Bringing a little extra money in each month will help keep you out of the poorhouse, and help you build your finances back up to a more manageable level.http://www.articlesbase.com/credit-articles/improving-your-credit-so-you-dont-wanna-live-paycheck-to-paycheck-anymore-4294105.html
