This is a hypothetical question. If you're living paycheck to paycheck, how do you manage to make ends meet, let alone get ahead? What advice would you have for someone in that situation?

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Boy I would love to know, because this has been my life for 25 years!!!

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~Happiness is a large family~

Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. James 1:19

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24

I've lived that life before and sometimes (due to my own stupidity) find myself in that situation now. One thing I've noticed, from myself and also my SIL who lives this way is we often make choices that are killing us.

Take my SIL for example, she had to borrow money from dh and I to pay some bills. She got caught up and then instead of paying us back or saving up she went and bought things she really didn't need. This was a poor choice. Cutting out things like her cigarettes and other things that are non essentials (even if she doesn't think they are) would really help her out.

I know that there have been times in my life I was lucky to have 10 cents in my account by the next payday and really those times are tough. There are times I was working 2 jobs to make it, But even then when I look back there is almost always something I could have done without to save some money. Even just an occasional coke or snack I didn't really need. .

Now my biggest problem is just not saving the extra money we do have around.

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Proud mommy to adorable Kinsley

I used to have to live like that. But since I got a huge tax return. I have alot of money in the bank. Im very frugal. I hardly grocery shop except for bread, milk, etc. I shop at Costco for meats (then freeze) among other items. Then I dont have to shop for at least a month.
I dont need to buy clothes as we all have enough. I use coupons and take advantage of rebates. I typically pay for everything with my debit card.
I also "set aside" $50 per paycheck into my savings acct. It really adds up!

Its hard to give advice to someone in this situation on what to do. We are a family of 3 and dh & I both work and share expenses. So its not the same if only your dh works and you stay home with the kids or vice versa. Or if you have more than 1 child.
My car will be paid off this month, so that will save me an add'l $280/ mo.
My only advice is to get what you really need and try at the most not to spend your money on "junk"

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www.myspace.com/sassy143


Alex & the spider monkey

I think it is learning to pay yourself first...even if it is only $10 a week put into a saving account, it adds up. Learning to pay yourself first is the hard part...I still struggle with it as I try and account for every dollar going towards bill/food/gas. Now I have to try and remeber to paymeself first....I 'try' and take $100 of every paycheck and deposit in an account and then figure the bills based on what is left AFTER I deduct the $100....sometimes it works sometimes I can only pay myself $50.

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I agree with this. You have to pay yourself first.

Another psychological thing you can do....is just "take out" $100 while balancing your checkbook. KWIM? Don't really take it out...but write it out....so that your balance shows $100 less....and do this once a month.....you will have a "built in" savings that once it builds up and you don't rely on it anymore "out of sight out of mind" you can transfer it over to a savings account and start over again! I hope I explained that right....

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I've grown certain that the root of all fear is that we've been forced to deny who we are. ~ Frances Moore Lappe

I was going to suggest this as well. WE DO live paycheck to paycheck, it stinks. But I decided 2007 was the year that this ENDS. I 'pay myself first' I take $100 out on payday (or however much I can afford if more, but the LEAST I take out is $100) This way, we don't go running to the ATM machine everytime we need something. I give dh $20 every few days and tell him to make it last! $40 gets directly deposted into our savings acct, that has been really adding up, so that helps. AS long as we don't touch it, it will keep growng.

We have many debts we are almost done paying on, when we finish this will lighten up the load quite a bit. While we are both at work, we are not spending money, so that helps out too.

I've become very frugral with my shopping, I use lots of coupons, and I stock up whenever possible to avoid the constant running to the stores. I buy Walmart gift cards for myself when I can afford it, so that if I have a week I'm short $$, I can run and get what I need.

We also got a HUGE income tax refund, that helped us get ahead on certain bills. I have also found that for my small bills, say my phone bill that is only $20 a month, I try to pay ahead as much as possible. I might pay them $50 so that I can have a few free months, and the $20 I might have sent them next month can go toward something else. I try to keep a credit on some other bills, like my oil bill is $185, I send them $200 every month. My electric bill is only $113, I send them $150 or whatever I can over the amount I owe. This has been helping TONS, kinda like paying in advance.

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~Missy~Mommy
Meghan9.Samantha7,Cameron5

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We do live paycheck to paycheck. I guess my advice is to pay off your debt one payment at a time and don't replace it when it's finally paid. Staying home always saves money. Home cooking rather than eating out, growing some of your own food if possible. It sounds silly but I am always aiming for zero. If I can just get it all paid and have enough for groceries, it was a good week. But, when looking toward the future, I can see things getting better, our cars are almost paid for, our credit card bill is going down and soon we will be able to start saving. I also try to be realistic. I would love to move to a bigger house, but I know that by being satisified with what we have, we will have ours paid off completely before we are retired. That definately wouldn't happen if we started out with another 30 yr mortgage right now. All in all, just being happy with what you have is the best advice I can think of. It's kind of like treading water instead of drowning in more debt.

It takes going from

Living Above Your Means to ..
Living Within Your Means to ...
Living Below Your Means.

We have also lived paycheck to paycheck but (so far) we've never lived Above our Means. I agree with the other posters who said paying themselves first is what made all the difference. Once we set up our retirement savings and a little additional savings to go into their respective accounts automatically (Thanks to David Bach's Automatic Millionaire), that's when we could continue to Live Within Our Means while at the same time saving for the future and thereby transitioning to Living Below Our Means without hardly even noticing.

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Mom to dd (age 9) and ds (age 11)
blogging daily about purpose and personal identity

We live paycheck to paycheck and are digging out of the pile of debt we have. Do your best to live within your means--NO NEW CREDIT CARD DEBT. If I don't have the money, I don't get it. I'm doing the Mary Hunt Debt Reduction Plan, same as the Ramsey Snowball Effect. Dh car will be paid off in Aug That will free up $423/month-half of which will go into savings/emergency fund and the other half will be added to the minimum payments on our other debt.

Try and plan and save for things that you know will come up like birthdays, weddings, Christmas so you don't end up charging presents. I shop throughout the year and when I see a good sale/deal I buy it and hide it. Yesterday I got a few future stocking stuffers in the Target $1.00 section and a Polly Pocket set that was on sale.