It happens to the best of us. Even the most careful budgeter can have a horrible financial month, leaving you shocked at the state of your bank account and wondering how you could ever recover.
Maybe your car needed repairs or maybe you ordered a few too many pizzas this month. It doesn’t matter the reason on why you had a bad financial month. All that matters is that you look toward the future and take action to fix the deficit.
This post may contain affiliate links or sponsored content for which I may receive a commission that supports this blog. Thank you for your support!
How to recover from a bad financial month!
Don’t make it worse
For whatever the reason, once some people realize they have a bad financial month they tend to spend more. It’s almost like they have given up hope and had the attitude of, “what’s a few hundred dollars more when you’re already down for the count?”
Don’t get down if you’ve had a bad financial month. Just realize the sooner you recognize it, stop self-destructive spending habits, the easier it will be to recover.
Attitude is everything in life. Make sure your attitude is positive and realize you will recover if you are determined.
Related:
Estimate the damage
How bad of a financial month did you have? $500? $1,000? $10,000? $100,000?
It’s important to know how much money you have to recover to get back on track. The larger the deficit, the longer it will take to recover, but even a large deficit can be made up in a short amount of time depending on your situation and attitude.
Get frugal
Start cutting out or significantly reducing the stuff in your life you don’t need. Do you need coffee in the morning? Can you walk or ride a bike to work? How much can you reduce your grocery budget?
How frugal should you get? Well, that depends on how much money you have to make up to recover from your bad financial month. The more frugal you get, the sooner you’ll recover!
Here are a few of my favorite frugal tips:
- Eat more rice and beans.
- Give up coffee or make your own at home.
- Do a “no spending” challenge. See how long you can go without spending money.
Budget! Budget! Budget!
If you haven’t already started a budget to track your month-to-month expenses then now is the time!
Knowing your income, your monthly expenses, and how much money you need to recover will let you know how much you’ll need to cut back on monthly expenses and give you an idea of when you’ll recover.
Just make sure you stick to your budget! Too many times do people create a budget with the intention of sticking to it, but fall short the next time pizza sounds like a good idea.
Pro Tip: You can make pizza for cheap at home.
Related:
Work more hours
I know this doesn’t sound like fun, but sometimes life isn’t fair. You need to ask your boss to work more hours and get as much overtime as possible to recover. The more money you make now, the easier it is to recover from a bad month.
Overtime not an option for you? Hit up craigslist and do some odd jobs on the weekends to make some extra cash. Uber is another good choice to earn some money because you can drive for people on your own time.
It doesn’t matter what you do, but working more hours is going to get you out of your deficit faster. It depends on your situation if working more is right for you, as budgeting appropriately may be enough to fix your deficit.
If you’re looking to save more money, consider joining us for our free course on budgeting and saving money. The course is full of information aimed at helping your family save more money.
What are your favorite ways of getting out of a bad financial month? Do you have some awesome tips for quick cash? Let us know in the comments below!