“Where’s My Bailout?”

With the passing of the Economic Stimulus Package, you may be asking yourself “Where’s MY bailout!??”

Some of the money is going to be coming your way, in the form of a $400 tax credit dispersed through your payroll checks.  By my calculations, if you get paid bi-weekly, that will be about $14 per pay period.  Not a great deal, but it is better than nothing.

I have to say, though, that we ought not be counting on the government to be bailing us out.  While the reality of our economy is that big corporations are holding their hands out to big brother expecting a huge chunk of cash, we shouldn’t feel as though we are owed anything.  We are responsible for our own financial situations and it is time that we start acting that way.

What can you do to give yourself a “bailout”?

Run your home like a business- If you were to hire someone to take care of your household finances and they were doing the job as well as you have been doing it, would you fire them?  It is time to get serious about getting your money under control.  Gather all of your bills and other expenses and create a budget.  Figure out exactly how much money is coming in and going out every month.  This is no time for estimates.  Take an afternoon to figure it out.  If you are in a relationship be sure that your spouse or significant other is involved in this process.  They need to be aware of the situation as well.  By creating a budget together you are also eliminating the confrontation that would likely occur when you spring your new budget on them.

Pay your bills- On time, every time!  Late fees and over-limit fees are the worst type of fee you can encounter.  Why?  Because you could have avoided them altogether had you simply paid your bills on time.  If you find yourself in a cycle of never having enough money at the end of the month then you need to find ways to trim the excess off of your expenses or find ways to bring in extra income.  In today’s economy it will probably be easier to do some budget cuts.  Cut the cable, the gym membership, the landline, the internet.  Anything that you don’t need to survive should be cut if you can’t make it through the month while still having a little something left over.

Sell something- People hate this one.  They don’t want to get rid of their toys.  The truth of the matter is, many times these are the reason that people are broke.  Sure, they can make all of the payments, but in doing so there is no money left for anything else.  I’ve heard all sorts of excuses about why someone won’t sell their extra vehicle or their motorcycle.  As long as these people continue making excuses, they will continue to be broke.  The fastest way to turning your financial situation around is to stop letting your money slip through your fingers.  Paying for something year round that you use 3 months out of the year doesn’t make any sense.  Get rid of it!

Put away the credit cards- Credit cards are not the cause of your suffering, you are.  The problem with credit cards isn’t that they charge insane interest rates, slam you with fees or can change your contract without a moments notice.  The problem is that people continue to use them despite having full knowledge of all of the previously mentioned facts.  People are maxed out to their eyeballs, but as soon as there is a little available credit on the card, what is the first thing they do?  That’s right, they charge it right back up and lose all the progress they had made towards getting out of debt.  By putting the cards away and working on getting your finances on track you won’t need to use credit cards to get through the month.

Have a goal- This website is all about accomplishing goals, be they financial, personal, spiritual or otherwise.  No matter what your goal, when you begin to focus on accomplishing it, nothing else will matter.  Having purpose and drive will help to align your money with your values.  You will find yourself prioritizing differently and a lot of that prioritizing has to do with finances.  So unless your goal is to be broke the rest of your life because you don’t want to learn how to properly manage money, goals can help you to give yourself a bailout as well.

Adjust your withholdings- I wrote an article about how to adjust your withholdings on your W-4.  If you are having trouble making ends meet, this is a good way of bringing home a little extra money every paycheck.  Make sure that you have selected the correct number of withholdings so that you won’t be stuck paying in at tax time.

I hope this list can help you as a jumping off point to giving yourself a “bailout”.  Do you have any other ideas for giving yourself a bailout that I missed?  I’d love to read your suggestions or stories about what you are doing.