How do you come together when you feel so lost? When there is darkness all around you, when you’re struggling just to find your way through it, how do you find your way towards the light at the end of the tunnel? What do you do when the money runs out?
This is how my life felt when I was financially struggling just to feed myself and keep a roof over my head. It felt like I could barely breathe, as if the walls were closing in all around me.
I was drowning and there was no one there to throw me a lifeline. I felt lost and abandoned, but the cold hard truth was that I was the one to blame for this hell.
Of course, God never abandoned me even though it felt that way. I kept hitting my knees hoping and praying for a miracle that never magically showed up.
Then one day, when I hit the bottom of the pit of financial hell, I looked up with tears in my eyes and simply asked that God give me his grace because I couldn’t climb out of this hole on my own.
God didn’t give me a miracle that day, he didn’t make me win the lottery, and he didn’t make my long lost Aunt Edna die and leave me a fortune to squander.
Instead, he gave me peace in my ability to pull myself up out of the darkness.
Even though this was almost ten years ago, I still remember that feeling – that feeling of overwhelming peace that can only come from above.
I know many of you reading this right now know that same feeling of darkness and helplessness. It’s not a fun way to live through life and it can feel so debilitating when you’re deep in the clutches of financial hell. If this is where you currently are in life, I want to offer up the ways that I was able to start pulling myself up out of that ugly, dark and lonely place. This won’t be the “end-all, be-all” to financial peace, but it’s a start for those of you on rock bottom.
Read my full guest post here on I Have a Future and a Hope.
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I love writing about my family's journey towards financial freedom and about ways to optimize your life, save money, and live well! Here are a few more ways you can save money:
- Cook at home. During our debt-free journey we NEVER went out to eat because we honestly couldn't afford it, and now, even though we could afford it, we still don't go out to eat that often. But I'll be honest, meal planning was such a struggle for me during that time, but it totally saved our budget when I did it effectively! I ended up using a meal planning service for about two years which helped me not only meal plan better, but also helped me to create wholesome, healthy, and delicious meals for my whole family! You can see all the details and try different meal plans based on your preferences here .
- Earn gift cards. A simple way to earn a little extra money from home by using the Swagbucks site instead of Google for searching. I actually still do this to earn Home Depot gift cards for all our home projects. You can also do surveys and a few other things to earn points, which you redeem to purchase gift cards from them. Swagbucks is what we used to earn Amazon gift cards to help pay for Christmas or cash through PayPal to help pay off our debt faster. You can sign up for Swagbucks here.
- Switch Cell Phone Providers. One of the best things we did on the debt-free journey was to switch from our super expensive $150+ a month cell phone bill to a much more affordable plan! In fact, my cell phone bill is only $30 a month (my husband's plan is paid by his business)! Check out Mint Mobile here to see if you can save your family some money!
- Create a budget. It took us a while to figure out a budget that works well for our family, but the two things that we have used over the years and still do (and still love) are my Budget Binder and Personal Capital (online budgeting software). You can see my Budget Binder tutorial here and check out Personal Capital here.
I definitely have to stay motivated and centered on my journey to repay my student loans. It’s a long process. Reading, listening to podcasts, and working on my blog are all things that really help me.