I have no money and need help (what to do when you have no money)

I have no money and need help now!

If this is you, then direct action may be needed straight away. You may need to stop the bleeding away of your money from various needs and wants.You probably also need to think about how you can earn more money. If you don’t get to grips with your money soon, it’s likely disaster is not that far away.

Tackling both ends of this challenge will help bring much swifter pain relief from having no money.

Read on to hear how and where you can get help when you have no money.

Stop the bleeding

When you have a money problem, one of the first things to do, like in first aid, is to stop the bleeding.

Figuring out where your money is bleeding from and stopping it might see your finances instantly improve.  

Shining a light on your money and where it’s all going could be the key to taking back control.

Here are two methods you could use to figure out what is going on.

Let money apps do the work

There are now numerous paid and fee money apps.

Some are connected with specific banks, while others are independent apps that scrape your bank accounts, gathering all the information in one place.

These apps will do most of the leg work for you, analysing what’s coming in and going out.

After you have set up the app, it categories your income and spending for you. This way, you can see how much is going on, needs and wants.

Getting into the details of your bank accounts and, in particular, spending will help you pinpoint where money is slipping through your fingers.

With this type of analysis, you might be able to spot

• No longer needed services
• An over-reliance on convenience purchases like takeaways and eating out
• When and where you spend money
• What are your most expensive items, categories or days?

All the above may help highlighting biases or habits with your money that are leading to financial ruin.

You can find out more about money apps and which one is right for you here

Kakeibo the Japanese art of budgeting

You could try a more hands-on process called Kakeibo, the Japanese budgeting system.

In short, you need two notebooks

1. One to plan out your month – where you want your money to go, needs, wants, culture and unexpected, and savings target.
2. In the second book, you record EVERYTHING you spend

At the end of the month, you compare what you planned for and what happened.

With this info, you then try and make the next month better, the next month, etc.

The Kakeibo method is credited with helping people save up to 35% on their monthly spending.

Its simplicity and flexibility might be worth a try.

Both the above methods will help you to get up close and personal with your money and start to review if or how you can:

• Reduce your expenses
• Cut out things
• Cut down on things
• Find cheaper alternatives
• Renegotiate things that have not been reviewed in a while, like utility bills.

Keep more of what you earn

Keeping more of the money you have earned is the key to moving out of a financial crisis.

Cutting down on leaks is the first part of that.

Stopping or slowing down the flow of money away from you will see more of it remain in your possession.

Another method is a reframing of the savings process.

Instead, save what is leftover at the end of the month, which may often be not much, save first and then spend what is left.

You could save a specific amount of percentage.

Start small so that you can adjust and increase as you become more used to this process.

Always save first and then spend.

But make sure you give the saved money a job to do and a place to sit safely, i.e., away from your temptation to spend it.

Giving your money a job to do will make it harder to spend it.

Here are a few jobs your money might be doing

Saving for a

• Holiday
• Presents and gifts
• Educational needs
• Career change
• Business start-up
• House deposit
• Can you think of any others?

Now your money has a job to do and is in a separate bank account; if or when you are tempted to raid it, you will know that you are taking it away from a specific job.

Emergencies happen, so it might well be the case; you need to raid it occasionally but then put yourself on a mission to repay yourself and that goal it was being saved for.

Earn more money

So, if you have plugged some of the leeks, we can look at what’s coming in.

Is there any way we can increase what’s coming in?

• Working more
• Asking for a raise (if you think you’re worth it)
• Finding a better job
• Getting a new qualification which compounds a better pay grade.

Some quick ways to earn money include

• Taking part in online surveys
• Using cashback websites like Topcashback* & Quidco* amongst others when you purchase certain items or services.
• Selling things on Facebook Marketplace or eBay.
• Helping out neighbours or friends with tasks that they would be willing to pay you for.

Could you create some new sources of income?

Do you have something that you

• Are good at
• Enjoy
• The world needs
• And people will pay you for

Matching all these might help you identify a potential side hustle that could bring in some extra cash.

Start planning

The key when you have no money and need help is to start planning

What are the short and long terms goals that you have?

• Stopping the bleeding
• Earn more money
• Keep more of your money
• Use your money to create stability and then wealth leading to financial freedom.

What action or help might you need?

• Start reviewing where your money is going either with an app or the Kakeibo method.
• Could you figure out a few ways to earn more money in the short and long term?
• What might you need to do to achieve this?
  • Get up earlier, go to bed earlier.
  • Start reading some books on related subjects
  • Stop spending time on distractions
• Who might you need to speak to
  • Relevant friend and family
  • Trusted sources of information
  • Coaches or mentors
  • Citizen’s advice or Step change in case of crisis debt
• What sort of problems do you expect to encounter?
  • Internal challenges like motivation, procrastination, clarity and overwhelm
  • External challenges like not knowing where to find the answers, things not working as you expected, things generally going wrong.
  • How will you overcome these challenges, get over, under, around, through them? They are going to come, so let’s have a plan to smash through them.

What means do you currently have

• What savings do you currently have, and how could you use them for the better?
• Do you have an emergency fund of 3-6 expenses
• Could you use any of your savings to increase your earning potential?
• Could you create another source of income from the skills and experience you have?
  • Coaching or mentoring
  • Youtube vlogging about your life and experiences
  • Start a blog
  • Sell things online you have or can create.

Execute the plan.

Plan out what you want or need to do on a calendar. When you want to achieve things and how long your think they will take.

Review and adjust as reality differs from the plan.

Things that go right and things that go wrong are just feedback, that’s all.

Learn, adjust and carry on.

You just have to be 1% better than yesterday to make a lot of progress in a year.

By the way this is exactly what we do with our GAME Plan life planning process, find out more here

FAQ: Help I have no money at all

Summary: I have no money and need help. 4 simple things to start doing straight away.

When you have no money and need help asap, the first person that can come to your rescue is you.

Starting with an awareness of what is going on with your money—uncovering where your money is going. What it’s being spent on is the beginning of turning your finances around.

Clarity on what’s going on means you can start to cut out, cut down, look for cheaper alternatives and take control of what’s going on.

Having the right motivation is another crucial part of getting better with money.

Giving your money a job to do, like saving for a holiday, educational course, or house deposit, will help give you a clear focus on what you want the money to do for you.

Putting together a plan for yourself to save more and then earn more will give you the ability to get clarity on what’s important to you and your money to achieve.

With awareness, motivation and the ability to save and earn more, you are ready to take action to move away from saying I have no money and need help to I am helping myself to take control of my money and life.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on “I have no money and need help” let me know yours in the comments below.

Thanks for stopping by.

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