I’m not saying it was easy, but this is how we were able to survive on one salary.

1. everyt hingf inanceblog.com http://everythingfinanceblog.com/survived-one-salary.html
How We Survived on One Salary
Throughout our f our years of marriage, there have been two
occasions where my husband and I had to live of f of one
salary. The f irst time was f or a period of f our months when
my husband quit his job to enter the f ire academy f ull time.
The second time was when my husband hurt his back and had
to take a leave f rom work unpaid and couldn’t get disability
pay.
With the f irst experience, we had eight months to scrimp and
save to allow f or a nice cushion to f all back on as emergency
savings. The second time it was a lot harder because it was
completely unexpected. We also had just moved into a new
place where we had exhausted most of our savings f or the deposit, and we were also now f aced with
emergency room visit bills thanks to my husband’s injury.
Both those experiences taught us how to pinch our pennies in order to make it through. I’m not saying it was
easy, but this is how we were able to survive on one salary.
No Fun Money. When we were living on one income, there was no room f or extras in our budget. This means
we drastically cut down on eating out, and we didn’t allow f or any f un things, like mani-pedis or clothes
shopping.
Cheap Entertainment. But just because we didn’t have f un money, didn’t mean we couldn’t still have f un. We
just had to f ind dif f erent sources of entertainment. Saturday mornings were spent taking long walks around
our neighborhood and getting a cup of cof f ee at our f avorite local cof f ee shop ($2 f or a cup of joe as
opposed to $5 at Starbucks). And Friday nights we’d normally have a f rozen pizza (no take out f or us!) and
catch up on our DVR. If we wanted to take a break f rom cooking, we’d make plans to eat at one of our parents’
house. The parents always enjoy having us over f or dinner.
Meal planning. Planning my grocery list became my new obsession. I had to keep our grocery budget to a
minimum so I’d learn to track sales and menu plan what we were having f or the week. Pasta became a meal
staple and meat became a treat.
Make more money. In order to help alleviate the pain of one income, I worked on selling items f rom our house
that we simply didn’t need. We also held a garage sale which provided a nice one-time boost of income.
Re-negotiate your living expenses. My husband and I downsized f rom a one-bedroom apartment to a studio in
order to save more money. We also reduced our utilities simply by making calls and asking f or cheaper rates
and threatening to cancel.
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2. About Erika
Erika blogs at Newlyweds on a Budget, covering topics relevant to managing f inances f or
newlyweds and young couples. She f ocuses on f rugal living and trying to live a big lif e on a
small budget.