Any income is better than no income. Thank your lucky stars you have a job. Count your blessings. No matter what your earn there will always be someone earning far more than you. By the same token there will always be someone earning far less than you.
Survival is basically the same for anybody. Everybody wants enough food to eat each day and a roof over their head. Your income should provide you with those basic requirements. Anything left over can be seen as a blessing. To you on a low income some chief executive earning millions of dollars every year would seem to be excessively blessed every minute of the day. However money can’t buy health and happiness.
So out of your income you should provide enough for food and rent or the mortgage payment if you are paying off a house. The rest is for you to enjoy. This surplus is where many people get into difficultly. It is human nature to want the best. Unfortunately in so many cases wanting the best is not linked to funds available from the available surplus and this is where health and happiness are affected. The trap to fall into is to incur debt that cannot be effectively be repaid.
The hardest lesson to learn is to live within your means. You may envy the person who drives around in an expensive sports car but realize that on a low income actual ownership of that car for you will always be a dream. Many times you will listen to people who have traveled overseas costing several thousand dollars but for you on a low income that, in many instances, will be a dream. In fact there will be hundreds of instances where everyone will seem far better off than you.
Provided you stay within your means you will never have the problems of those living beyond their means. You will never be evicted because of non payment of rent or mortgage. You will never have to line up at a food charity center. You will never have to seek unemployment benefits and endure countless job interviews. You will never know the dreadful feeling of hunger and have nothing to eat.
Everybody will scream at you to budget but that is the only way to survive on a low income. A budget will allow you to ascertain just how much cash you need to pay your bills and how much cash you have left over. If you want that car or a holiday it will have to come from the cash left over. If those two things are what you want then sit down and plan goals to achieve them. Remember it all amounts to budget. Survival on a low income is all about an effective budget and realistic goals for those things you dream about.
The word “free” should have a special meaning for those on a low income. Look for anything and everything on offer for free. A walk in the park is free. A visit to a museum or art gallery is free. Visiting relatives or close friends is free. The person who said, “The best things in life are free” said a mouthful. Dreams and wish making are free.
Everybody has dreams. Dream yourself. Why not? Dreams are free. Make a wish? Wishes are free. Wish for a large sum of money so that you never have to survive again on a low income. Be careful of what you wish for though. It just may come true.