I want to talk to you about the impending cost of living crisis and recession that I think is coming. I think hardworking families are going to find it very, very hard to make ends meet and pay their bills. I have ten points about ways that you can try and prepare to survive a recession.
There are things you can try and do to prepare in advance, to have yourself as ready as you can be whenever the impacts of this start to hit.
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1. Go through expenses
The first is to very carefully go through your list of incomings and outgoings. You need to go through those outgoings and reduce everything where you can. If you can see areas of your outgoings and reduce those and keep more money in the pot and in the budget to try and cover some of the increases that are coming, it can only help.
2. Work with your employer
Depending on your employment, consider approaching your employer and see if there's anything they can do. Can you take on any overtime? Is there any room for a pay increase to be given? Are there any other non-monetary benefits that they can put in place?
I am an employer. I own a company and I run a business and we have taken certain steps to try and assist our employees through this time. It's worth having the conversation, it's worth seeing what potential there is for you in your employment.
3. Plan ahead
Number three is to plan ahead. Can you look at what's coming up in your life and can you make plans ahead that are going to help you cut costs? Meal plans are an obvious example of this.
Are there parties coming up or are their birthdays coming up? Can you afford to put away a little bit of money monthly towards those rather than having a big payment coming out? If you have to pay for gifts, can you make gifts? Is there a possibility of joint parties if you have children?
Saving money in a piggy bank
4. Avoid payday loans and high-interest loans
Number four is if you do have to borrow money, can you try and avoid payday loan companies? Can you try and avoid high-interest loans and high-interest credit cards? Can you try and look at low-interest loans?
Even better, choose cards that have cashback or some points or something that you can gain from it. If you do have to borrow, try and do it as cheaply as possible and try to be very disciplined.
5. School uniform swaps
This is something that a lot of the local schools are doing where we live. Are there any uniform swaps that you can do? Because school uniforms are expensive. Is there anywhere that is doing swaps? Try to find a way to navigate around the cost of the school uniform.
6. Sell your household goods
Number six is to look around your house and see what you can sell. Can you look through your home and see what there is that can be sold before going to the things that you don't want to let go of? Can you look through your wardrobes?
Clothes you don't wear, clothes you don't fit anymore. Can you sell those clothes? Can you sell your children's toys? You can always use the money that you get back from that to buy them their next clothes or their next toys.
Paying with a loyalty card
7. Use loyalty and point cards
Number seven is to use loyalty and point cards everywhere you're shopping. Nearly everywhere has these now. Make sure you're using them. Make sure you're using cashback apps. The reward points do add up for the things you're buying anyway.
Make sure if you're spending that you get a return on it. For everything that you can buy online, try to buy through one of the available cash-back sites.
8. Conserve electric and heating fuel
One of the biggest hitters that are killing everyone at the minute is fuel costs, electric costs, and gas costs. The cost of electricity and heating is phenomenal. Go through your house. Turn everything off, turn the lights off, and turn things off that don't need to be on.
Turn the radiators down. If you have young children, can you bathe them together instead of having two separate baths? Can you dry your clothes outside rather than using the tumble dryer?
I'm not saying just leave your home to spend the day somewhere else, but are there services that you can avail of somewhere else to save you having to pay to heat and to provide that electricity in your own home?
Cycling as transport
9. Look at travel costs
Number nine is to look at your travel. Are there steps that you can take to try and reduce your travel costs? Can you walk? Can you cycle? Can you use park and ride? Can you take the bus or the train? Is there an alternative way that you can travel that can reduce costs?
Can you car share? Can you park a little bit further from where you work so you're not paying for city center parking, but you're parking on the outskirts and walking in? Everything that can be done to reduce those monthly payments can only help.
10. Rent something out
Number ten, and this is probably quite drastic, but can you rent anything out? Can you take a lodger? Can you rent out a spare room? Can that help you to cut the costs, to share the cost of running your home, to share the fuel costs, electric costs, rent costs, and mortgage costs?
Can you rent your bike out? Can you do anything to bring in some extra income to help you pay those costs?
How to survive a recession
While figuring out how to survive a recession isn’t the most uplifting topic, it's an important one to talk about. I hope that these tips can help you to bring something into your life. I hope that you got some benefit out of this and got some ideas as to how you can either limit your costs or increase your income.
What things are you doing to prepare for a recession? Share in the comments below.
