How’s this for a difficult scenario. You spent months after graduation stressed out about getting a job despite a tough job market. When you finally found a job opening, you are ecstatic to learn that it is a job that you know you will love to do for decades. But here’s the catch – it will not pay you enough for the type of lifestyle that you want to lead. How will you decide between your dream job and having the finances to support your dream lifestyle?
Most people will actually choose the latter. They will sacrifice their sense of personal fulfillment and happiness with work just so they can earn more money. And guess what the main reason is: to pay off debt. They will lean towards the practicality of being able to pay for their debts instead of pursuing the career that they know they love to do.
But there is some logic to pursuing the job that you love despite not giving you enough money to pay off debt. It may seem impractical but we have some sound reasoning that could help you decide. The work that you will do will take up at least 40 hours of your time every week. Imagine feeling miserable for 40 hours each week. If you think that the lifestyle you can afford will make you happy, think again. In most cases, people who come home from a bad day at work will bring that negativity with them. It will be felt by the people they live with.
But if you pursue a job that you love to do, your sense of personal fulfillment and happiness will be greater compared to the other scenario. And even if you start out with a low paying job that you are passionate about, you will most likely be more productive because of the happiness level that you have towards it.
Do not be too quick to shut out the jobs that you love to do just because it will not pay you well. There are two options for you to make ends meet so you can afford to pay off debt accounts that you owe. You can either earn more or spend less during a debt crisis.
Lower your expenses if you want to increase debt payments
The first option is for you to cut back on your expenses. If you are a new graduate, this may be easier for you. People who are older and have families will usually have a harder time changing their lifestyle to fit their low income. The longer you have grown accustomed to an affluent life, the more difficult it will be for you to make the change. But if you concentrate on the priceless benefit of doing a job that you love, it should be a sacrifice worth making.
The reason why it is difficult to make this transition is because Americans are spenders. That is according to an article published on CNBC.com. The article even cited a statement by former President George W. Bush back in 2006. Apparently, he said that the best help that Americans can give their country is if they went shopping.
In this country, everything around us encourages us to spend. But that is a lifestyle that we can no longer follow. You need to pay off debt by lowering your expenses. That will free up more money from your limited income.
To start, you need to simply concentrate on your priority expenses. According to the latest consumer expenditure data published on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website (BLS.gov), the average expense per consumer in 2012 is $51,442. It is noted to have increased by 3.5% from the previous year, 2011. Here are the top expenses that people usually spend on.
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Housing: $16,887 (32%)
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Transportation: $8,998 (17%)
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Food: $6,599 (13%) (at home $3,921; away from home $2,678)
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Personal insurance/pension: $5,591 (11%)
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Healthcare: $3,556 (7%)
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Entertainment: $2,605 (5%)
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Cash Contributions: $1,913 (4%)
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Apparel and services: $1,736 (3%)
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Other expenses: $3,557 (7%)
If you notice, the food expense is high and that is alright. But we are wasting a lot of money on eating out. You can cut back on expenses if you only opt to cook and eat more at home. Not only that, transportation costs can find more room for savings. You can carpool with colleagues or opt to bike to work – if the distance can make it possible. There are so many ways that you can cut back on your expenses at home. And if you cannot afford, it simply opt not to spend on it. Prioritize what is important like the funds you will use to pay off debt.
Increase income to grow your credit contributions
The second option to make your low income job work for you is to set up side jobs that will earn you more income. In fact, this is common for Americans.
An article published on BostonGlobe.com revealed that Americans hold multiple jobs to help supplement their primary source of income. The article said that 4.9% of working adults hold more than one career. Half of them have one full time job and a part time job. They are called the moonlighters.
A lot of people have opted to increase their income through a second career but we encourage you to set up a passive income source to avoid burning yourself out. The article mentioned that people seek to get payment for the amount of time that they spend working on their hobbies and interest. They will spend some time doing handyman repairs, some will tutor or work on computers in their spare time. Any skill or interest that you have can be capitalized on so you can earn money on side to pay off debt without feeling too burnt out.
Here are some of your options to earn more money.
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Freelancing. This is when you use your skill to earn money and get paid on an output basis or based on the time that you spend working on a job.
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Passive income. There are so many options to earn a passive income. You can use a spare room in your home and rent it out. You can let other people rent out your extra vehicle. You can also convert your garage into a storage space for other people to rent out. These are options that will help you earn without necessarily having to work for it all the time. Writing a book and earning off it’s sales is also an option.
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Earn from a hobby. If you love to garden, offer to plant and take care of the garden of your neighbors. Not only will you be going something that you are good at, you can help your neighbors cut costs on food. You can also offer to cook for colleagues and brown bag their lunch. That will help you earn extra through the lunch payment they will give you. Babysitting is also one way to earn more.
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Teach a skill. If you are good at playing instruments, you can opt to take on student and teach them what you know. Cooking and baking classes will also work. If you love sports, this is also something that you can coach every summer.
Of course, you can always opt to simply ask for an increase from your boss. Given that it is something that you love to do, you will find the motivation to be as productive as you can be and improve your skill. That can be a leverage in negotiating for an increase.
Debt relief options for low income households
While you work on your options to increase the money that you can allocate to pay off debt, you need to choose a debt relief program to further improve your chances of achieving a debt free life. You have three options to help you out.
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Income based repayment for student loans. This option will help you set a monthly payment on your student loans depending on the amount that you earn every month.
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Loan forgiveness for those working in public service. This is mostly for student loans too. You may be qualified for a loan forgiveness if you work in the military or another career in public service.
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Debt consolidation. For all the other debts that you owe, you can opt to use debt consolidation. This type of debt solution will help you restructure your payment plan so you can make lower monthly contributions towards your debts without being penalized for it. Here is a video that discusses your different options to consolidate debt.
Sacrificing a high paying job to do something that you love is rewarding. Do not worry about how you will pay off debt because you have so many options to help make it a less of a burden.