How to Live Well on One Income

If you or spouse decide not to work anymore due to the birth of a new child, injury, illness or other reasons, you can still live well. You will probably need to cut back in some areas to stick to a tighter budget, but you can still live very comfortably on one income.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Design and stick to a budget. Plan your bills, your grocery allowance and set aside a little money for recreation or going out to eat.
2. Use coupons. Over time the money you save using coupons can really add up. A penny saved is a penny earned towards living well on one income.
3. Compare the prices of your regularly-used items at different stores and figure out which is the cheapest. Try to only buy those items from those stores. Convenience is nice but cost is most important when you want to live well on only one income.
4. Shop around for the best deals on your cable and Internet services. There really can be a drastic cost difference between competitors. A lot of services will offer you a discount for switching over from their competitors or by combining services such as phone, Internet and cable.
5. Log on to restaurant.com for savings when going out to eat. You can buy gift certificates for foods at less than face value. For example you can get a $25 gift certificate for only $10.
6. Buy things when they are on sale. If you see something that you have got to have wait about a month and it will probably go on sale. Also check online or at discount stores and see if you can buy the item cheaper.
7. Start shopping for holidays and gifts ahead of time. If you buy gifts when they are on sale, you can save a ton of money compared to people who shop during the holiday rush. Buy your Christmas presents during the year or shop Christmas clearance sales.