You know that moment. Your world seems to have come crashing down on you. Maybe it was loosing a partner, or loosing a job, needing a home repair that seems overwhelming or finally deciding that you really need to tackle the credit card bill that you have been ignoring for far too long. I know how you feel. I have been there - a few times if I am to be honest. Having a partner that doesn't value economic security as much as I do has led to a few moments of feeling like my world was crashing down on me and helped me develop a system to get out of the situation quickly and efficiently.
Day one is the scariest. It always seems like you are facing the reality in the late afternoon or evening and everyone that you can think to call for help are about to close or are long closed. Asking friends and family for help is a huge strain on relationships and to be avoided at all costs, but you really need to do something so you can sleep at night and be better able to tackling the issue the next day. This is NOT the time to go have a dinner out to discuss things with your partner. Yes, I know folks that want to do this every time there is a crisis, having another bill to pay isn't going to help this one. Your first step is to reduce the money leaving the family and reduce how much the credit card debt is building.
Step one for me is turn off the lights in the house that are not being used then adjust the thermostat. I know it doesn't seem like much. Even a couple degrees change and a few lights can mean several dollars saved on the utility bill this month. You won't see it for a few weeks, but you are doing something right this moment and that helps. And you can feel good knowing you are doing something to help the environment while you are at it. Tomorrow night you can even make the whole family be in one room together and have *gasp* family time and turn off even more lights and save even more money. Winters are great around here during crisis mode as we all get to sit under blankets and cuddle on the couch while watching family friendly movies or discussing the kids day at school. More family time is great. Lower utilities bills also very good.
Step two is to inventory the pantry, fridge and freezer and start making a meal plans. Start scouring your cook books and the web for recipes that you can make that will allow you to buy nothing or nearly nothing for as long as possible with the food you have on hand. If you have to buy something, make sure it is something cheap. There might be a lot more vegetarian meals in the house the next couple of weeks and that is okay. But it is still important that the family still get healthy meals. Good nutrition is still important, especially for the kids. None of this living on rice and beans exclusively. Veggies are important. You can skip fruit from time to time, especially during the winter, but I will discuss more of that later.
Step three go through your bank statements (and credit card statements) and figure out what you are spending money on. Classify the expenses based on needs vs. frivolous spending. You need gas to fill the car to get to work, groceries ect, but eating out isn't necessary. You can take a lunch to work. You might have a 3rd category for things that are not a NEED but things you would hate to cut such as kids activities, gym memberships, contracts that would cost you more to get out of than to just finish ect.
Now you start building your budget. You know what you need to spend money on and you know what you have coming in. Line those up. The easiest things to reduce spending on is groceries and utilities. You can't eliminate them, but you can shave a few dollars off, and as you get used to it, you can shave more and more off. And you have already started on those here on day one. Not going out to eat so much will also help shave some of the gas bill too.
Oh and cook dinner in tonight, something from that meal plan. Put the leftovers away, they can be lunch tomorrow or dinner.
So now here you are just a few hours in and have tackled the biggest projects already! Okay, the kids might be a bit grumpy about the temperature not being exactly what they like and all having to read books in the same room together, and your partner might not like the casserole you threw together for dinner tonight. But you will all get better at working together at this, this was the hardest day, and you did it. Hopefully your partner helped, and if you have teenagers they helped with the inventory and meal planning too so you were not feeling like you were completely alone trying to dig your family our of this hole. If not, you are Superwoman or Superman.
Now you can rest well tonight because you are on your way to solving this.
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