Did your car recently breakdown and drain your savings completely? If one small disaster or unexpected expense can cause you to be behind on rent or unable to pay your utility bills, you are one of the many Australians that are living paycheque to paycheque.

Most weeks you are able to pay your bills on time, but when you are just scraping by, you are never able to build up your savings. Most people that are living paycheque to paycheque know the struggle and understand how difficult it can be to meet all of their obligations on a restricted budget. Many people are living this way, but you do not have to stay on this course. It is possible for you to finally get ahead and have money built up that allows you to be out of this vicious cycle for good.

Here are a few of the best ways to stop living paycheque to paycheque:

Don't Spend It All

Even if you are on a restricted budget, you most likely do have more money coming in than expenses. This means that you should not get in the habit of spending every dime that you have. It is important for you to get on a tight budget and not only look to reduce some of your expenses, but also find ways to stop spending everything that you earn. This might involve not eating out as much or changing to a new phone plan that offers more savings. You need to find ways to stop spending everything that you make. There are ways that you can save money if you get a little creative. When you start having some money saved up each month, this will help to lighten the stress that you feel.

Pay Down Debt

One of the biggest reasons why you are living paycheque to paycheque is because you have a lot of outstanding debt. This means that you need to make paying down this debt a priority to help you finally obtain a little bit of financial freedom. It might take you a long time to pay off all of your debt, but if you are making some type of effort it will help you to be more financially stable. It might be at a slow and steady pace, but paying down your debt will allow you to not be so reliant on each paycheque and will have more options.

As always, if you are in need of a loan, we recommend speaking to your experienced YFG lending specialist who will be able to guide you through the lending process.