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HomeBlog Blog“How Can I Budget When I’m Broke?”
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“How Can I Budget When I’m Broke?”

March 12, 2013 by National Debt Relief

Woman Holding Past Due EnvelopeIt’s relatively easy to make and stay on a budget when you’re flush with cash. If you’re broke, it may be because you didn’t have a budget that reflected your earnings. But it’s never too late to start budgeting, which ultimately could help you keep from being evicted, from increasing your debts or from ruining your credit score.

Avoid disasters

Don’t be afraid to contact your creditors and ask for payment plans or debt extensions. They will often grant these. If you’re facing eviction, contact your landlord. Discuss your problem with him or her. See if you can free up money by getting extensions on other expenses.

Review your due dates and credit card payments

Organize your bills in terms of which one or ones must be paid first. Next, create a payment schedule based on your paydays. If some of your bills are already late, call your creditors to see how much you could pay now to get back on track. When you talk with them, be honest in terms of what you think you can pay.

Don’t try to save 10%

For now, you should ignore that 10% savings rule. Trying to tuck 10% of your income into a savings account can be very difficult when you’re living from paycheck to paycheck. Don’t start incremental savings until you balance your budget. While sticking $100 in a savings plan might feel good, it just doesn’t make sense if you’re trying to fend off debt collectors.

Analyze your spending

There is online budgeting software and even apps for smart phones that can help you track your spending and organize it into categories so that you can make adjustments. If you do your banking online, you should be able to categorize your money for expenses such as food, utilities, dining and transportation with just a few clicks of the mouse.

Negotiate better interest rates

If you still have a decent credit report, call your credit card providers and try to negotiate reductions in your interest rates. You will have to ask for these as your lenders will never contact you and offer to do this voluntarily. Better interest rates mean lower monthly payments. And lower monthly payments mean you can get out of debt faster.

Slash unnecessary expenses.

Do many of your groceries end up getting spoiled? Do you have to have all that coffee? Do you need to go to the movies three or four times a month? The cutbacks you make in your spending should begin with the items you won’t miss much such as reducing your purchases of fresh food. Eating out will cost you even more money, so make sure you know how much and how often you really need to do this.

Journal your new budget

Monitor the progress you’re making in your budgeting by logging all your spending for a month. Jot down everything you spend in a notebook or use a budgeting app on your phone or software on your PC. Make sure you track every cent.

Make adjustments as necessary 

Review your spending for the past month. If you find your budget isn’t where it needs to be, adjust your spending. Look at where you are over budget and decide where you can make cuts. You may even be able to make changes in items that you would think of as basics such as utilities, rent or groceries.

Find new sources of income

If you find that there is just no way you can balance your spending versus your income, you will need to look for new sources of income. You might be able to work overtime in your current job, get a second job or even a new job that pays better. You may find that there is a job that pays more but that it’s unattractive. In this case, you will need to decide whether it’s better to be unhappy with debt or unhappy at work.

Do you qualify for debt consolidation?

National Debt Relief
National Debt Relief

National Debt Relief is one of the largest and best-rated debt settlement companies in the country. In addition to providing excellent, 5-star services to our clients, we also focus on educating consumers across America on how to best manage their money. Our posts cover topics around personal finance, saving tips, and much more. We’ve served thousands of clients, settled over $1 billion in consumer debt, and our services have been featured on sites like NerdWallet, Mashable, HuffPost, and Glamour.

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By clicking "Get Free Quote", you agree that the phone number you are providing may be used to contact you by National Debt Relief (including autodialed and prerecorded calls, as well as text/SMS messages). Msg. and data rates apply, and your consent to such contact is not required for purchase.
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Moderate National Debt Relief Caller: Charlotte Transcribed WE 3/28/2021 Charlotte: Our call is recorded. How did you first hear about our National Debt Relief? CESAR: Internet. I believe in either Credit Karma or one of the other sites. Charlotte: What made you decide to work with National Debt Relief as opposed to other providers? CESAR: I heard some good things about them. Actually, one of the credit card companies that was collecting on one of my accounts said they themselves had used National Debt Relief and they were very, very happy. Charlotte: Tell me about the service they gave you. CESAR: The service has been great. It's been pretty transparent. You make your payments. We get you through it. We’ll deal with all the harassing calls and things of that nature and [unclear 0:01:21]. Charlotte: What did you think about the program? CESAR: The program’s been great. [unclear 0:01:30] being able to consolidate like that was one of the biggest things, putting some money back in my pocket at the same time I'm paying off my debts. Charlotte: What was the enrollment experience like for you? CESAR: Simple. Very, very, very easy. They walk you right through it. You basically give them a list of your debts. And I think they just checked my social security number and ran a credit check and added the accounts that we can add. And the ones that we can’t, they still give you some advice on how to settle those. But I thought it was pretty simple. Charlotte: In what ways has the program worked for you? CESAR: Well, like I touched on before, being able to pay my debts while still having some money to breathe, feeling like I'm not in a sinking hole the whole way through it. Charlotte: About where are you in the process? CESAR: I think I'm still very early on. If I'm not mistaken, I'm about a year in. And I believe they've gotten three. At the end of this month, I believe it'll be three accounts that we've closed. And one of them was one of the biggest ones that I had open. So, I'd say I'm well on my way to being debt-free. Charlotte: Can you walk me through the interactions with your negotiator so far? CESAR: The interaction has been far and between. I haven't really had much to do, much to say. They email me when another offer comes through on the account and [unclear 0:03:32] collections. They give me the chance to either accept or decline and go on from there. Charlotte: Do you happen to remember the name of your negotiator by chance? CESAR: I do not, no. Charlotte: How comfortable have you felt so far working with National Debt Relief through this process? CESAR: Very comfortable, very comfortable. And like I said, there haven't been really any hidden fees or things that would kinda strike you as, well, I didn't know this was gonna happen at the beginning. I did have one of the collectors actually file a lawsuit, but I'm not gonna blame National Debt Relief for that. It is what it is. Charlotte: How did National Debt Relief work with you as far as coming up with a payment plan? CESAR: Well, I believe they looked over my financials, my monthly income, my debt, as well as my living expenses. And they determined this is a good amount that we can move forward with and this is the time it'll take to pay off. Charlotte: If you had to rate this experience on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 is you would recommend to friends and 1 is you're pretty dissatisfied, how would you rate them so far? CESAR: I will rate them at a 5. I wish I would have known about this program a long time before. And actually, I had heard of a different program, but I just kept having that nagging, that doubt, that doubt that it would work. If I could go back, I'd be debt-free at this point in time in my life. Charlotte: Would it be okay if I posted your comments as a review on our public website for National Debt Relief? Would that be okay? CESAR: Does it stay anonymous? Charlotte: We only ever use first names. CESAR: Okay. Yeah. If that's the case, I wouldn't mind it at all. Yeah. Like I said, one of the biggest takeaways that I've had back in 2017, 2016, 2017-- I was already flooded with debt. It just kept growing, and I couldn't find a way out of it. I was literally taking money from my credit cards just to pay other credit cards. And it was just a revolving door. Had I gone with my gut and just said, “Screw it. I’m gonna apply for this program,” 2021, I’d have been debt-free by now and I'd be in a completely different [situation 0:07:00] than what I am today. Charlotte: I am going to send you a link of your review just to have it as a record at ctorres.8600@gmail.com, just to have it for your own record. We’re recorded.

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Cesar Torres
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