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My Family's Journey of Getting Out of the Paycheck to Paycheck Loop

The First Few Months

By Ky FunkPublished 5 years ago 3 min read
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Enjoying my day off with my son.

Let me tell you, it seems to be a pretty common issue for young adults and families just starting out to be stuck in a seemingly endless loop of just barely making ends meet paycheck to paycheck. Sometimes not evening making it meet between pay periods. This article is to share my family's personal journey on our way out of the cycle and into personal financial success. So please keep in mind that what worked for us may not work for you and everyone's journeys are different.

Before I begin on what steps we took, I'll give you guys a bit of background. I am the self-proclaimed head of the house for my family. I am the breadwinner, the cook, the maid. I run my house like a tight ship and I micromanage everything to my power (that my husband will allow) I am currently working three full-time jobs and put in about 60 to 65 hours a week into my work in order to provide for my family and to break the cycle we have been stuck in. I have a special needs son and a disabled husband, so we have the hefty added medical bills to our monthly budget. Many people have looked down at me for not being a stay at home mother and letting my husband be the breadwinner. Fuck them, they don't know the situation that we are in and it's not their business. So if anyone looks down at you for living paycheck to paycheck screw them, unless they are the ones signing your checks or sleeping in your bed their opinion does not matter in your life what so ever.

So when I finally decided I was done living barely paycheck to paycheck I went to good old Pinterest and Google to find some blogs to inspire me... and walked away very disappointed. Mainly because it seemed the main suggestions were to cut out things in your life that I hadn't had the luxury to indulge in for a pretty long time. Can't really stop living paycheck to paycheck by cutting out TV when you didn't have it to begin with. So what step do you take when you have already cut out all nonessentials out of your budget? Cut out sleep, seriously though, forget sleeping in and laying around the house and keep yourself moving.

I got a job as a preschool teacher for the main part of the days. Monday to Friday, eight o'clock in the morning all the way till four-thirty in the evening, I am in a classroom, this helps work around my son's schedule. I had him enrolled in the special education program for our school district which allowed me to take him to school then hop skip and jump my way over to my work and be out in time to pick him up. I get from about five o'clock till seven PM to be the housewife. I prep dinner, clean the house and make a to-do list for the hubby to complete while I'm out working job number two. During this time, I am also writing out and brainstorming ideas for what to write blog posts about for those times when I am unable to be at work. My son is in bed every night by seven-thirty and I am off to job number two by eight PM every night. I signed up to be a rideshare driver which has been a serious lifesaver for our family. I can bring in about $20 per hour and I can choose when I want to work. which allows me to tailor my schedule to my daily needs.

By continually working around the clock, I have managed to pull the family from not even making it paycheck to paycheck to now being able to pay bills on time and make ends meet a bit more comfortably. The next step is to start building savings and begin taking the steps towards forming a passive income. It's hard, I'm tired, but I'm motivated.

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About the Creator

Ky Funk

I'm a coffee addicted, foul mouthed mom to an amazingly sweet boy

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