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Home » Ways to Live Comfortably on a Tight Budget

Ways to Live Comfortably on a Tight Budget

Allan LiwanagbyAllan Liwanag
December 21, 2018
in How To Budget
26

This post contains affiliate links. If you click and buy, I may receive a small commission. Please see my full disclosure policy for details. 

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This “6 Ways to Living Comfortably on a Tight Budget” describes the ways that a person can do to live comfortably even when tightening the belt is in forced. This post contains affiliate links/ads. See disclosure policy. 

When the going gets tough, you need to tighten your budget and make it work. This is the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of trying to make ends meet.

I know many will say that it’s impossible to live comfortably on a tight budget. My answer is that it is doable but not impossible.

My family has been in situations in the past when we had to get a good grip of our finances. One of the things we had to do was to completely revamp our budget and made it look like only one person could live with that budget. Having said that, we made the budget worked.

Granted we had to sacrifice a lot but we managed to live a comfortable life. In many cases, you can’t have both a luxurious life and a tight budget.

So, how do you still live a good life despite budget restrictions? Let’s jump right to the answers.

5 Ways to Living Comfortably on a Tight Budget

When I was the only one working for the family, I used to wonder how would I be able to provide our necessities and still live comfortably.

As the bread winner, there’s a strong sense of wanting and needing to make a great life for my family. Here are some simple actions that we did to live a good life while on a strict budget.

1. Set your goal

In general, when you want to do something, one of the first things you need to do is set a goal.

You need to answer the question of why you are squeezing your budget? Is it because you want to save money so you can pay off your debt? Or you want to buy a house in the next few years and that’s why you want to go on a budget? Or something else?

These questions will lead you to your goal.

It will feel easier to tighten your budget when you know you are aiming for something. When you exactly know why you are squeezing money here and there, you will feel better doing it.

2. Create a realistic, working budget

Don’t just create a budget just for the sake of having a budget in place.

Why is this important? It’s important because a budget is not just a piece of document that you create and forget about it.

A good, working budget even a tight budget is one that is executable and realistic. Holding other factors constant, if you want to save $1,000 but your income is only $2,000 and expenses are $1,500, there is no way you will save $1,000.

When you make a budget, you need to understand what or where you can cut down to save money. You need to identify how you can effectively allocate your income to meet your expenses and reach your goal.

Be one of the select few who create a workable budget with ease using the Budget Binder Printables. These printables has continuously helped our family get our budget in control and save a ton of money even on a single income. We paid off our $40K debt and, at the same time, saved at least $70K in 2.5 years with the help of these printables (click here for the full story). It’s currently on sale for only $7.99, which is 65% off of its original price of $19.99. Plus, you get both the family budget calculator and loans calculator for FREE.

3. Be flexible

For me, being flexible is one of the ways to living comfortably on a tight budget.

Having a tight budget and living through it, at times, is hard but doable. I remember during the first few months of executing my family’s budget, we kept going over the budget or, when we tried to stick with it, we failed to keep our necessities fulfilled.

But time taught my family to be flexible. Let me use branded and store-brand products for example.

I used to think that branded items were superior in quality and lasted longer that their generic/store brand counterparts. Because of that, I would buy those branded products at premium prices.

It’s by being flexible that I realized that the store brand products provide the same quality at a fraction of the cost of the premium ones.

The idea of being flexible extends far beyond buying products.

I think flexibility is key to living in comfort and that’s exactly what we did. We became flexible enough to change our lifestyle and to find alternative ways to satisfy our necessities without denting our budget.

We learned to go back to the bare minimum to ensure that we satisfy our debt requirements, income limitations, among others.

4. Prioritize

Our society’s has become a society of consumerism and it’s easy to get sucked in and spend more than what one should.

With tech gadgets and countless and endless products being advertised every day, many people have had the difficulty distinguishing the differences between necessities and wants.

As such, they tend to buy more of what they don’t need and less of what they really need.

As a family on a tight budget, we prioritized what is important. We prioritized our money for our food, utilities, and other basic necessities.

We ditched going and eating out and resorted to visits to the park and cooking in our small kitchen. We prioritized saving for college education rather than buy tech gadgets that seem to become obsolete faster than a blink of an eye.

One of the things I learned is that we realized what really is important to us and what is not. It is during a tight budget situation when we truly figure out what makes us fulfilled and happy.

By prioritizing, we have become happier and more content than ever before.


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5. Get educated in finance

I have a background in Economics and independently studied finance. Even with those backgrounds, I had to keep studying and learning the street version of finance.

I guess I was more knowledgeable with academic finance than with street finance. I took the time to learn and study what other people’s experiences were in relations to my situations.

I applied the lessons I learned from them and their experiences became my foundation to straightening my budget and living comfortably.

Without such education, I wouldn’t easily find the ways to living comfortably on a tight budget.

You don’t have to be a finance guru to know that properly managing your finances is a necessity. I always believe that there’s always a room for improvement and that constant education and training should never stop.

One of the reasons I failed to manage my finance before was that I stuck with what I learned in school and never attempted to continuously learn and acquire new knowledge.

I learned from that mistake. Now, our finance is in its proper place. I believe that getting educated has been a blessing to and for my family.

If you are looking to get started with learning on how to manage your finances properly or effectively, I highly recommend you check out Mymoney.gov and 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy.Ways to Live Comfortably on a Tight Budget 1

6. Breathe from time to time

Putting budget at work is really good but sometimes it can burn you out. We learned it the hard way.

We used to just keep sticking with our budget that we neglected to indulge on some not-so-expensive stuff. Since ice cream was not in our budget, we didn’t buy ice cream for a long time but we knew we wanted ice cream.

Though my example is a shallow one, what I’m pointing out is that it’s not a sin to indulge on something you want. After all, too much of something is bad and the same reasoning applies to budgeting.

Final thoughts

Sadly, not a lot of people have access to thousands or millions of dollars, inheritance left by their loved ones, or piles of money thanks to the lottery.

Most of us live in a very tight budget with no wiggle room for small luxuries. Most of us live within our means and some below their means. My family is no different.

Sometimes, effectively executing budgets and living comfortably, at the same time, is more about attitude. There really are countless ways to living comfortably on a tight budget. My family’s way is to inject some good, old attitude into the recipe.

 

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Allan Liwanag

Allan Liwanag

Allan is a recognized personal finance expert, a Level II Certified Cost Estimator, and founder of The Practical Saver. His expertise has been featured in Business Insider, MSN, U.S. News and World Report, Yahoo Finance, NerdWallet, GoBankingRates, AOL Finance, CreditCards.com, HuffPost, Debt.com, Zillow, and Mass Mutual. He was indebted for $40K but paid it all off and saved $70K, at the same time, in 2.5 years under one low income of $39K/year. Now, he enjoys sharing his thoughts and experience on saving money, making money, paying off debt, and budgeting. Read more

Comments 26

  1. Ty @ Get Rich Quickish says:
    7 years ago

    I think your #3 is huge: Get educated in finance. Even a VERY basic understanding of interest, inflation, and investing would go a looong way in helping a lot of people make significant improvements to the personal finances.

    Reply
  2. Katie Harrington says:
    7 years ago

    Thanks for the tips. Right now I’m single and make a fairly decent income, so I’ve gotten into the habit of eating out a lot, buying clothes whenever I want etc. That’s all fine for now because I have no commitments, but I want to get a mortgage next year and I’m also thinking about starting my own business which probably won’t make ends meet for the first few months, so I really need to learn some saving strategies. I’ll definitely be visiting again for more tips!

    Reply
    • Allan Liwanag says:
      7 years ago

      Thanks. I am not a CPF or a financial advisor, but I think it’s always best to cut down on expenses that you do not need (e.g. expenses for cables, clothing). You also need a budget that will work for you. Those are just the things to ponder when starting on saving some more money. Please feel free to browse my blog as it contains more information on saving strategies.

      Reply
  3. Jessie says:
    7 years ago

    This is certainly a great post! Thanks for sharing, getting educated in finance is always a good idea. 🙂

    Reply
    • Allan Liwanag says:
      7 years ago

      Thanks.

      Reply
  4. Franco says:
    7 years ago

    I really need to be educated in finance, which is ironic, because I’m an Accountancy graduate. Thanks for this post!

    Reply
    • Allan Liwanag says:
      7 years ago

      Haha, irony at its best. It’s never too early or too late to go back to the basics of money management.

      Reply
  5. Adina M says:
    7 years ago

    Love all of these tips! They are useful for so many people. I agree that it’s not a sin to indulge once in a while.

    Reply
    • Allan Liwanag says:
      7 years ago

      Thanks. Yes, I do believe that it’s not bad to indulge once in a while.

      Reply
  6. Jessica Bigne says:
    7 years ago

    Another great post – I love budgeting (probably because I like it and need to have control otherwise my brain hurts!). Your tips are helpful and I completely agree about not using branded products. There’s really no need is there!

    Reply
    • Allan Liwanag says:
      7 years ago

      There are always alternatives to branded items. I always look at the store brands first because they’re cheap and can satisfy my needs.

      Reply
  7. Carrie says:
    7 years ago

    These are all good tips! We have had to learn to be extremely flexible when it comes to our budget. We are working on getting our finances under control, our budget doable and saving money!

    Reply
    • Allan Liwanag says:
      7 years ago

      That is so good to hear. It’s never easy to get the finances under control but it gets better with time, discipline, and practice. Good luck.

      Reply
  8. Kylie says:
    7 years ago

    Prioritise! That is good advice, I think so many people want to keep their cake and eat it and live lives beyond their means so it is essential to prioritise what is really needed. Good post!

    Reply
  9. David says:
    7 years ago

    Great informative post. A lot of people think that it’s not possible to live comfortably on a small budget, but you proved wrong. Amazing tips 🙂

    Reply
  10. Connie says:
    7 years ago

    These are great tips, I often find it hard to prioritize and question how my parents managed. But definitely working on becoming better at managing my money

    Reply
  11. Jenn M says:
    7 years ago

    Thank you so much for this informative post! I also think it’s important to get finances under control. Great post.

    Reply
  12. Fred Erick says:
    7 years ago

    These are good tips. here in the philippines, it’s a struggle to live comfortably. But this post is so timely for me, because I need some intervention with my priorities for the future. thanks

    Reply
    • Allan Liwanag says:
      7 years ago

      I know what you are saying. A lot of my friends are saying how difficult life has been for them over there.

      Reply
  13. Ming says:
    7 years ago

    I agree with you Allan. Especially on being flexible. As what the saying goes dito sa atin, pag maiksi ang kumot matutong mamaluktot.

    Reply
    • Allan Liwanag says:
      7 years ago

      I still remember that saying.

      Reply
  14. Rose Sahetapy says:
    7 years ago

    It’s all about balance, I guess. But sometimes I lose the balance, especilaly for clothes and shoes LOL! These are useful tips to helping people to budge their financial.

    Reply
  15. LAURA says:
    7 years ago

    These are great tips for where Im at right now haha. Thanks so much for the post x

    Reply
    • Allan Liwanag says:
      7 years ago

      You are so welcome.

      Reply
  16. Anna-Maria Vasiliou says:
    7 years ago

    Im in a bad place financially and always been thinking how an i have a life without spending too much, so as you said prioritize is the key. Thanks for extremely helpful tips.

    Reply
  17. Alexis @FITnancials says:
    6 years ago

    Setting a budget is so crucial! Just having a budget written out can be really beneficial because you have something to stick to.

    Reply

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The Practical Saver

About Allan Liwanag

Allan is a recognized personal finance expert and founder of The Practical Saver. He paid off his $40K and saved $70K, at the same, in 2.5 years under $39K/year salary.

His expertise has been featured in Business Insider, MSN, U.S. News and World Report, Yahoo Finance, NerdWallet, GoBankingRates, AOL Finance, CreditCards.com, HuffPost, Debt.com, Zillow, Mass Mutual, and various local media outlets. Read more

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