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from a two-vehicle to a one-vehicle family out of immediate necessity. I found someone to carpool with (who graciously knew what we were going through and rarely accepted gas money, assisting with the one+ hour commute from home to work). I walked, rain or shine, to meet my carpool so that they were not going out of their way. My husband needed a vehicle should our child need urgent medical care and the trips to a significant number of medical appointments. We <i>could</i> have adjusted things in this area further, the honest reality though — it would have required more sacrifices that we were not quite prepared to make, but it <i>was</i> possible.</p><p id="80d3">When we got back on our feet and carpooling was no longer an option, we purchased a second vehicle. Monitoring our monthly fuel expense, we realized an electric vehicle car payment and charging was actually $50-80 less a month than a gas vehicle. We made the change.</p><p id="bbe8">Parking is not at expense for us, however, if it is where you live, public transportation may be the best option. Parking is an astronomical cost, not to mention the cost of the vehicle itself, fuel and maintenance.</p><figure id="a8c7"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*gwtbCntxzQxp-OE7J3GJXA.jpeg"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@darwiiiin?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Darwin Vegher</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/driving?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><h1 id="fd9e">Adjust your meals</h1><p id="83f7">More than meal planning, make adjustments to your meals. Rice quickly became a staple and remains a staple for us. A$ 30 bag from Costco lasts our family of five two months. Consider:</p><ul><li>3 meals a day x 30 meals in a month = 90 meals/person per month</li><li>Family of 5 = 450 meals per month</li><li>Add in snacks and we plan for 500 meals/month</li><li>We strive towards $1/portion and our monthly grocery budget was managed at$ 500/month, from over $1000 + eating out. As our financial situation shifts, this has been adjusted/increased.</li></ul><p id="133d">A few suggestions for delicious and cost-effective meals:</p><ul><li>Butter chicken: two chicken breasts diced, combined with a ready-made jar of sauce (where we live two jars are$ 5.99 — ready-made, talk about convenience!), $8.00 yields 8 portions.</li><li>Pulled pork and coleslaw: a$ 20 pork shoulder from Costco yields over 30 portions. A $5 bag of coleslaw from Costco can also extend to numerous portions, another meal for less than$ 1 a portion.</li><li>Spaghetti: we make our own sauce from the garden, but a jar of ready-made sauce for $2, noodles, and a smaller portion of meat can be made for$ 5. Again — we are a family of five so, another meal for $1/portion.</li></ul><figure id="b3df"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*Le_wiv81z4RAgmgFdqkehA.jpeg"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@videmusart?utm_source=unsplash&utm_med

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ium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Syd Wachs</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/cooking?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><h1 id="4489">Make some calls</h1><p id="24ca">Nearly all rates and packages are negotiable. It may require hours on the phone; this has become a part of my husband’s “new job”.</p><p id="fe03">See if consolidating debt into a personal loan is an option; request a reduction in your credit card rate. Find help wherever it is offered, and take it.</p><p id="c420">If you have family and friends, call them. Build a support system as soon as you can. This is a stressful time, so make sure you have supportive people around you to talk to who are willing to give a hand and listen.</p><h1 id="9009">Automate savings</h1><p id="c69c">Set up an automated deposit into a savings account on payday. Start with $5 or any amount you might not have thought twice about spending and reallocate a small portion into a savings account. Set it and forgot it.</p><p id="29a4">If you get a raise or develop a new income stream, allocate a portion of that revenue, even a dollar — or less into the automated savings process. This allows you to grow your savings account while also seeing a small raise and making significant behavioral changes with your expenses.</p><h1 id="4056">Sell items</h1><p id="9eff">Listing items on used and resale sites can add up — a lot. This is how we kept food on the table for a period. In one weekend, we made$ 500 from items that I cannot even remember were, that’s how important they were in the end!</p><figure id="c478"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*lHVz-zbOMa2kYmZ8rbauTA.jpeg"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@austinchan?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Austin Chan</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/stuff?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><h2 id="0546">Find new income streams</h2><p id="4e69">Selling items is one option, but eventually there will be no more items to sell. We found a free bunk bed online, our children started sharing a room, and we were able to rent a bedroom out. Creative solutions may be required but this becomes a reliable income stream that has made a significant difference towards our family regaining financial stability.</p><p id="d7b6">Again, <b>evaluating expenses and increasing revenues is a simple idea, but simple does not mean easy</b>. <b>It does mean possible, though.</b></p><p id="dec6">Was this helpful? Does this offer a new lens on how to make an impact on your budget? Would you like more $1 per portion meal ideas? Let’s work together to support our financial literacy — and develop and deploy the skills needs to navigate financial uncertainly to a road with greater confidence. As a global community, we are <a href="https://christinamoog.medium.com/new-year-a-whole-new-meaning-26d37af92295">in this together</a>.</p></article></body>

7 Money-Saving Tips That Will Rescue You After Financial Loss

Lessons learned after unexpectedly becoming a single-income family

“I don’t feel so well,” my son slurs as he drifts into a comatose state, beginning a 6-hour absence-like seizure. A child having such episodes does not fit well in a group childcare setting. Suddenly, we were a single-income family.

At the time, we lived comfortably not thinking twice about a meal out. That ended abruptly. Every expense and any penny earned was under a microscope. We were caught off-guard, completely unaware of exactly how quickly things could change. Sadly, with the pandemic, this is a situation that has become all-too-familiar for many families around the globe.

There is a way to strip back and save cents if you find yourselves in a similar situation. Evaluate expenses and increase revenues. It is as simple as that. Simple though, does not mean easy. This is practical advice from our experience, sharing the tips and strategies used to apply the concepts you may already be familiar with, so you are successful in changing behaviors. Here are 7 things you can do when facing financial challenges and how our marriage didn’t end because of it.

Eating out

Stop immediately. Choose one meal you typically enjoy eating out and calculate the cost. This exercise made a significant impact to support the behavioral change needed to stick to this.

Sometimes money may appear available, even though it is already allocated for housing. When the payment has not been made yet and the convenience of eating out can feel too tempting, doing the math to keep this personal and practical, helped enforce the change. We learned that for one meal (one portion) out, we could make 10 portions at home. Instead of enjoying that preferred meal once, we could enjoy it 10 times!

Evaluate your transportation

This will likely be a significant lifestyle change and may require some creativity, but making adjustments with transportation will have a significant impact on your budget.

We transitioned from a two-vehicle to a one-vehicle family out of immediate necessity. I found someone to carpool with (who graciously knew what we were going through and rarely accepted gas money, assisting with the one+ hour commute from home to work). I walked, rain or shine, to meet my carpool so that they were not going out of their way. My husband needed a vehicle should our child need urgent medical care and the trips to a significant number of medical appointments. We could have adjusted things in this area further, the honest reality though — it would have required more sacrifices that we were not quite prepared to make, but it was possible.

When we got back on our feet and carpooling was no longer an option, we purchased a second vehicle. Monitoring our monthly fuel expense, we realized an electric vehicle car payment and charging was actually $50–80 less a month than a gas vehicle. We made the change.

Parking is not at expense for us, however, if it is where you live, public transportation may be the best option. Parking is an astronomical cost, not to mention the cost of the vehicle itself, fuel and maintenance.

Adjust your meals

More than meal planning, make adjustments to your meals. Rice quickly became a staple and remains a staple for us. A $30 bag from Costco lasts our family of five two months. Consider:

3 meals a day x 30 meals in a month = 90 meals/person per month
Family of 5 = 450 meals per month
Add in snacks and we plan for 500 meals/month
We strive towards $1/portion and our monthly grocery budget was managed at $500/month, from over $1000 + eating out. As our financial situation shifts, this has been adjusted/increased.

A few suggestions for delicious and cost-effective meals:

Butter chicken: two chicken breasts diced, combined with a ready-made jar of sauce (where we live two jars are $5.99 — ready-made, talk about convenience!), $8.00 yields 8 portions.
Pulled pork and coleslaw: a $20 pork shoulder from Costco yields over 30 portions. A $5 bag of coleslaw from Costco can also extend to numerous portions, another meal for less than $1 a portion.
Spaghetti: we make our own sauce from the garden, but a jar of ready-made sauce for $2, noodles, and a smaller portion of meat can be made for $5. Again — we are a family of five so, another meal for $1/portion.

Make some calls

Nearly all rates and packages are negotiable. It may require hours on the phone; this has become a part of my husband’s “new job”.

See if consolidating debt into a personal loan is an option; request a reduction in your credit card rate. Find help wherever it is offered, and take it.

If you have family and friends, call them. Build a support system as soon as you can. This is a stressful time, so make sure you have supportive people around you to talk to who are willing to give a hand and listen.

Automate savings

Set up an automated deposit into a savings account on payday. Start with $5 or any amount you might not have thought twice about spending and reallocate a small portion into a savings account. Set it and forgot it.

If you get a raise or develop a new income stream, allocate a portion of that revenue, even a dollar — or less into the automated savings process. This allows you to grow your savings account while also seeing a small raise and making significant behavioral changes with your expenses.

Sell items

Listing items on used and resale sites can add up — a lot. This is how we kept food on the table for a period. In one weekend, we made $500 from items that I cannot even remember were, that’s how important they were in the end!

Find new income streams

Selling items is one option, but eventually there will be no more items to sell. We found a free bunk bed online, our children started sharing a room, and we were able to rent a bedroom out. Creative solutions may be required but this becomes a reliable income stream that has made a significant difference towards our family regaining financial stability.

Again, evaluating expenses and increasing revenues is a simple idea, but simple does not mean easy. It does mean possible, though.

Was this helpful? Does this offer a new lens on how to make an impact on your budget? Would you like more $1 per portion meal ideas? Let’s work together to support our financial literacy — and develop and deploy the skills needs to navigate financial uncertainly to a road with greater confidence. As a global community, we are in this together.