No matter how much you earn, it’s very likely you still struggle to get by. And screaming the words “I need to get help paying rent” is something a lot of people are familiar of.
According to CareerBuilder.com, 78%of full-time workers say they live paycheck, making rent potentially a significant month-to-month burden.
Keep reading if you’re saying to yourself, “I need help paying my rent” or money is tight, or even if you want to get things under control.
Believe it or not:
There are ways to get that help without going to the extreme.
Read on!
Practical “I Need Help Paying My Rent” Hacks
Below, I’ve laid out practical ways to help you make rent on time so you never have to say “I need help paying my rent” again.
I have broken out each of the tricks by difficulty level to help you understand which ones are easy and which ones are challenging.
- Easy Pay My Rent Tricks
- Medium-Difficulty How To Pay My Rent Tricks
- Challenging Tricks To Pay Rent
Let’s get started.
Easy Pay My Rent Tricks (a.k.a. If you need help paying rent now)
These are tricks you can try now and see immediate effects. You don’t need to put so much effort to make these tricks work for you.
Negotiate With Your Rent
First things first, whenever you’re moving into a new place, make sure you negotiate your rent.
Plain and simple:
Rent is negotiable. If you don’t try to negotiate, you’re leaving hundreds of dollars on the table that could have helped pay your rent.
For example, let’s say you ask for $100 off rent and your landlord agrees to $50. You’ll be saving $600 a year for just asking.
I don’t know about you, but $600 sounds pretty good to me!
Even if you’ve already moved in and saying to yourself, “I need help paying my rent before I get evicted,” don’t worry. Negotiating rent is still on the table. Be clear about what you’re asking and why:
“I cannot make full, timely rents payments, and will need to break the lease and move out unless your circumstances change. I can pay, in full, the 4 months’ rent remaining on my lease over the next 8 months.”
It’s a hassle to find a new tenant, and if your landlord isn’t in financial constraints himself, there’s a good chance he’ll at least considered it.
Again, it never hurts to ask, and it could mean the difference between living on your own or moving back home with the parents.
Earn Quick Cash
The easiest to solve your rent problem is to earn more money.
But that’s easier said than done, right? For the most part yes, but there’s an easier way.
There are a lot of side hustles or part-time jobs you can do without spending a dime.
You can take paid online surveys from Survey Junkie and Survey Club to share your opinions. Really, that’s all you need to do.
Believe it or not:
One made over $4,000 in one month from these surveys. The best thing you can do is sign up for both so you can get the best of both surveys.
You can also get paid for doing things you do all the time. Whether it’s watching videos, looking through your Facebook account, or something else, you can get paid to do that with Swagbucks.
Swagbucks have paid over $30 MILLION to people without them doing anything special. That’s millions of dollars right there.
Click here to use Swagbucks for FREE now.
Borrow Money From Friends & Family
Don’t overlook your network. Especially if “I need help paying my rent” has turned into “I need money right now or else I’m getting evicted.”
Before you make the ask, consider how the obligation might affect your relationship. Think through realistic expectations for repayments, and don’t ask for more than you need. After you’ve done that, do the asking.
Many times, friends and family are more than willing to help but make sure you put everything in writing. It’s the surest way to protect your mutual interest and your long-term relationship.
Be Your Own Landlord Through Airbnb
If you’ve got a spare bedroom and wondering how to get help paying with rent, Airbnb is a must.
Whether you have an entire flat or just the occasional spare room, there are quite a few ways you can earn rental income from your space.
It definitely depends on the location, size, and access to your space, but using Airbnb rental properties can make your passive real estate investment dreams come true!
Click here to start hosting with Airbnb – one of the best ways to make some extra cash out there.
Medium-Difficulty How To Pay My Rent Tricks
A little bit more effort is needed but could result in short-term to long-term benefits. Let’s just say, the more effort you put in, the more money you would earn. The more money you have less you’d be looking for ways on how to get help paying rent.
Cut Your Expenses
If you’re not in dire straits yet, a ‘how to get help paying with rent’ must is cutting expenses.
Ask yourself: Can you spend less on groceries? Can you take public transportation to save on gas?
Subscription services are also an area where many people find they can cut down on expenses.
I recently found an interesting, easy money app called Trim.
It analyzes your accounts to save you money on utilities, cable/internet bills, insurances, and more.
This is beyond interesting:
Trim cut our on-contract Verizon phone bill by $16.75/mo. That’s $201/year.
It is easy to use and so effective that last month alone, Trim users saved over $1,000,000 for its customers.
Click here now to start using Trim for FREE and let the app start cutting your expenses just like it did for people like me.
Sell Your Old Stuff Online
When money is tight, it can be very stressful. If you’re saying to yourself “I need help paying my rent before I get evicted,” one of the easiest ways to make some money with the least amount of effort is to sell your old stuff online.
And with e-commerce continuing to gain popularity (by 2021, online sales will be almost 5 trillion!), it’s a no-brainer to sell your stuff online if you’re in a pinch for cash.
Check out the 25 hottest selling apps online that are great to use to sell your pre-loved or brand new stuff locally and online.
Invest a Couple of Cents/Bucks Now
While you’re not going to make quick cash from investing, you can start investing even with cents so you could potentially have money in the future.
Listen:
If you bought Walmart shares during the days when they were cents, you’d be a millionaire by now. What I’m saying is that there’s money in the stock market. You could make money, and that starts with investing your cents.
You can do that with Acorns app – an app that invests your cents in the stock market.
If you have a couple of hundred dollars like $500, you can invest in real estate through Fundrise.
As you know, real estate is where the money is. A lot of people want to do real estate but it is that industry with so many barriers to deal with. Not with Fundrise.
It will invest in properties of your choosing, and it will do everything from there.
Click here to learn more about Fundrise.
Get a Budget and Stick with It
Many times when people are struggling financially it is because they don’t effectively manage their money. Well, the foundation of effectively managing your money is having a budget and sticking with it.
Yes, I can hear what you’re saying right now, that is, “it’s easy to say, but hard to do.”
If you aren’t sure where to begin, you can start by using the 50/30/20 budgeting method. It goes like this:
- 50% of your income goes toward essentials.
- 20% goes toward financial goals.
- 30% goes toward personal spending.
When budgeting, make sure to create a budget that works for you.
Don’t just get a standard template online and use that. Remember that each situation is different, and each calls for a different budget template.
Do What You’re Already Doing
Fun fact: Did you know that you can get paid to watch videos?
A site called InboxDollars is one of the few sites that will pay you to watch videos, movie previews, latest news, events, and more.
Believe it or not:
You could potentially earn up to $200 a month just by watching videos via InboxDollars.
That’s a lot of dough for doing something you’re already going to do. Also, it’s a good chunk of change to put towards your ‘I need help paying my rent’ issue.
Register here for an InboxDollars account for FREE.
Challenging Tricks To Get Help Paying Rent
Tricks that may not produce immediate impact but will be impactful in the long-run (e.g., getting an online job that pays). Patience is needed here. It may not produce the results you want right away, but there’s a great possibility that you’d have more in the long run. Just saying.
Earn Extra Cash Delivering Groceries
Instacart is an ‘I need help paying my rent’ must. It’s by far one of the best shopping apps to come out lately.
With Instacart, you earn money delivering groceries to other people. You basically buy the grocery items people need (of course, with their own money) and deliver the products people ordered.
That’s it.
Typically, Instacart shoppers earn $10 to $15/hr for delivering groceries, which could be huge for your money issues when struggling to pay rent.
Click here to sign-up with Instacart.
Trade Your Receipts for Cash
Speaking about groceries, even if you’re tight on cash, you’re going to have to buy groceries from time to time.
Ibotta is a money saving grocery app and, by far, one of the best apps out there.
It has been featured in Forbes, Good Morning America, Mashable, Today, and other high-profile news outlets.
Ibotta users have earned over $194M (as of this writing) in cash rewards. That sure is a lot of money. No wonder that this app is considered a 50-star app based on over 50,000 app reviews.
Look:
With Ibotta, you save or make passive money when you purchase specific products in Ibotta and by scanning your receipts.
Also, you can complete a series of tasks or activities and receive bonus dollars. You can even link your store loyalty cards to get additional points/bonuses.
It’s as simple as that.
If you sign up using this link, you will earn an receive the $10 sign up bonus when you redeem your first brand name rebate within 7 days of registering an account.
That’s a nice chunk of change for merely adding a small step to what you’re already doing.
Click here to start using Ibotta for FREE.
Earn up to $1,000 Hanging out With Dogs
Do you love dogs? Rover might be the perfect side gig for if you’re saying “I need help paying my rent.”
The online network connects dog walkers and sitters to fur parents looking for dog caretakers. Plus, Rover says sitters can earn as much as $1,000 a month!
Simply create an online sitter profile where you’ll answer questions about your experience with dogs and your schedule availability. Dog owners can then reach out to you!
Accept which gigs you want, and as soon as you complete a service, you’ll be paid within two days.
Pretty simple, right?
Click here to sign up with Rover.
Final thoughts on how to get help paying rent:
Some 17% of renter households put more than half of pretax income toward rent in 2015. So, “I need help paying my rent” is not an uncommon issue for a big chunk of American households.
However, there are very practical (and some creative!) ways to get you out of this 17%.
A simple stride and an early start can make a big difference. Here’s your challenge: Act now and do one of these before the end of the day.
Have you used any of these tips to make rent? Are you considering any? Please let me know your thoughts or what you’ve done to get help with paying rent.