What To Do When You’re Broke But Have Bills To Pay

It’s not unusual for us to find ourselves in situations where money’s tight and getting back on track feels out of our control. Whether we’re in between jobs, taking on extra care-taking, or unexpected hurdles like medical or car bills have thrown a wrench in our plans, it can feel challenging to meet even our basic bills and necessities. 

We talked to Aaliyah Kissick, a financial literacy advocate who serves as CEO of The Financial Literacy Diaries and director of public relations for The Financial Literacy Foundation, for tips to help you ensure you’re able to meet your needs — even when it feels overwhelming. 

Oftentimes, when we’re feeling strapped for cash, the panic button in our mind launches a wave of fear-driven ideas: Should we start a side hustle? Should we create our own business? Kissick cautions against taking on such a major project because you want to start your own project “when you’re at 100% capacity or as close to 100% as possible.” Instead, she recommends using platforms that already exist to freelance your skills. 

“Side hustles that you probably could pull off while you’re cash strapped is things like Uber, DoorDash, Fiverr orders, because you don’t have to build the infrastructure,” says Kissick. She also explains that freelancing your skills can help you gain more job experience — which can help if you’d like to make a career shift, too. 

These days, we can go online and find plenty of free budget templates and guides. While having extra educational resources is a good thing, Kissick encourages folks to not pick a budgeting framework arbitrariyl. Instead, she advises having a budget that’s realistic for your own life. 

“What having a realistic budget means is tracking your spending and making a budget based on that,” she says. “Everyone’s different, and you don’t want to start a project that’s going to fail. If you’re currently spending $2,500 a month and you’re trying to cut down to $1,200 — that’s probably not going to be a good thing.” 

Instead, she recommends cutting our spending by realistic percentages– freeing up those funds so they can go to our basic needs like bills. She shares an example: 

“A person who’s cash strapped might not be able to have coffee every day, so you might be looking at cutting 25% of your coffee consumption.”

“A really big element in consumer economics is it’s created a situation where consumers need to have even more convenience than they did before,” says Kissick.  What does this mean for us? “It creates a really detrimental cycle of overspending and then feeling guilty about it, and then going out and spending more,” she says. “So finding stress relief mechanisms that don’t necessarily cost money will be helpful.” This could be anything from going for a walk or run, visiting a local park, or meditating in the morning. It could also include looking at your current stress-relief purchases and choosing something cheaper.

Feeling shame around struggling to pay our bills can perpetuate our stress and add to the existing challenges we face. Dr. Erika Rasure, Chief Financial Wellness Advisor at Beyond Finance, recommends being open with the people in your life about what you’re going through. 

“It’s okay to tell people that you are working on your financial goals and will be more discerning with how you choose to spend your money,” she says. “This could include saying no to invitations to be a member of a wedding party or preparing lower-cost alternatives to spend time with friends and family, like getting together at someone’s house versus going out to an expensive patio for drinks and dinner.”

While it might feel vulnerable and uncomfortable, it will help reduce the social pressure to spend – and create a sense of accountability and support as we work on our goals.