How to Live on One Income - HoJo's Life Adventures

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When I quit my school administrator job, Andrew – my husband – and I had to start living on less. We needed to figure out how to live on one income. Here I’m going to outline some of the steps we have taken to get by on less, many of which you will be able to do as well!

Here are six practical tips you can start utilizing today if you want to find out how to live on one income!

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Spend Less

We found ways to save money. Some of these include meal planning, eating out less, and cutting cable. You can see all the ways we have cut back here.

Make More Money

This may seem a little counter-intuitive since I’m writing a post about how to live on one income, but hear me out. In today’s technological world. there are a ton of ways you can make money from home. I wrote about over 65 of our favorite ways here, but I’m living proof that you can make money from home!

Currently I sell on a website called Teachers Pay Teachers, I do virtual assistant work for other bloggers (learn more here), I help people live healthier chemical free lives, I run this blog and my teaching blog, and I teach college courses online. (Ready to start a blog? I love this book!)Now you might think that sounds like a lot, but my total work time a week is roughly 25 hours. That still gives me plenty of time to spend with the little one who is the reason I am home in the first place! While I’m not making a ton of money from home – the money I do make has been more than enough to pay for mine and little man’s health insurance each month. This gives us a little wiggle room in our budget.

Budget & Look at Your Spending

It never ceases to amaze me the people who have gym memberships that they never use. Or maybe you have internet, but you refuse to get on a computer after staring at a screen all day at work. Why are they continuing to pay these bills when they don’t utilize these things?

Or perhaps you have the friend who goes out to eat five or more times each week but complains about not having enough money or not being able to pay rent. I’ve heard those as well!

While our budget is not iron-clad, we know what we have and where it is going each month. We’ve read Dave Ramsey’s book Total Money Makeover. It’s a great way to get started with paying off debt (which is our next point) and he’ll help you step-by-step along the journey to financial independence – no matter where you’re at right now!

Learn to Say No

There have been times where we’ve simply had to say no to something we might normally want to do. Roughly a year ago my family was talking about everyone taking a big trip to Europe to visit my great-grandmother and our extended family in the summer of 2016. I knew we would be down to one income, so we said that we could not go. A couple people got mad at us, but most of them understood. We weren’t looking for sympathy, but for this stage of our lives we had to figure out how to live on one income and a trip to Europe just wasn’t in the cards.

Even if it’s something as simple as going out to eat, tell others when it simply won’t work. When possible – offer up an alternative! Why not cook supper for others and ask them to bring dessert. It’s much cheaper than going out, but you’ll have just as much – or more – fun!

Get Rid of Debt

This one is definitely easier to do before you are trying to figure out how to live on one income, but it’s do-able regardless! Andrew and I worked pretty hard to get all of our student loans paid off by the time we were 30. (While this may not be a shocking number, I’m proud of it! We had a combined total of over $55,000 in student loans between our undergraduate and graduate work.) When we got married we had no student loans, no car loans, and no credit card debt. That’s not something that just comes easy, folks!

Live Within Your Means

I’ve never overly cared what other people thought of me. So when others see my older car and turn up their noses – that’s their problem, not mine! It gets me from point A to point B, runs well (knock on wood!), and works for me. I like that I don’t have a car payment right now.

Quit trying to keep up with the Joneses. You should not need to look at others for your happiness. Make yourself happy! Find things you enjoy. Is it really that new pair of shoes, that brand new car, and those designer clothes? For me – it’s my husband, son, family, friends, the memories I’ve made with all of them, and a few small possessions. I don’t need “things” to make me happy – so I can live with what we currently have.Those are the six ways we that have worked best for us when determining how to live on one income. We hope they are helpful to you as well!

Love this post? Then you’ll also love this ebook on Becoming a Stay at Home Mom on One Income! Click here or on the picture below to get your copy today!