Real life is tough – it’s a fact. No matter what happens, we all know that in a case of emergency a good reaction and timing is worth much more than a 1000 words. Here we will go through the main checklists of urgent necessities we need to take care of when going broke all of a sudden. Life happens and stuff happens, let’s be prepared and try to take action in a smart and productive way. In fact, we don’t have too of a much choice, I must say…

There are some basic steps we need to follow to set our mind on a right trail and start solving our urgent problems quickly and efficiently:

#1 – Calm down and stop that panic – again, life happens. Just get a hold of yourself and take a deep breath. You’re alive. You’re free. And you’re capable of making it work.

#2 – Concentrate and think – take a close realistic look at the situation you’re in and define the options you have to resolve it. There are no unsolvable tasks while you’re more or less healthy and alive!!! One very good friend of mine used to say ‘EVEN IF SOMEONE HAS EATEN YOU FOR DINNER, YOU STILL GOT 2 WAYS TO GET OUT’! 🙂

#3 – Make a list – take a good old piece of paper and a pen and make a list of all those things you need to take care of right away. Those might include housing, food, debts, bills, health issues, new job, etc. Making a list will help you set your attention on the most important goals of the moment.

#4 – Seek help – look, if you’re not regularly changing into a superhero costume which gives you some superpowers strong enough to save the world in a blink of an eye, stop behaving like one! We all need help at some point no matter how independent and self-sufficient we are. Search for help and get help, accept the fact that being helped doesn’t make you less strong.

#5 – Stuff your pride up… the higher shelve –  too much pride is considered a serious sin by most of the world religions for a good reason. Pride makes our minds confused and makes us blind to the smart options. Pride makes us say and do things that only lead to more trouble and misery. Pride makes us reject the opportunities and makes us stupid. So let’s get rid of it, at least for now.
#6 – One step at a time – don’t try to solve everything in one day or you will end up with a nervous break down. We don’t need that as well as severe physical exhaustion. Pace yourself, try to act quickly but carefully.
#7 – Choose wisely – when in urgent situation, we often are tempted to do something unsafe, doubly legal or not too smart. Watch the decisions you make, some of them can lead you into a much worse of a place and some might be irreversible. Think twice and be careful, don’t fall for the rage of a moment – those options are rarely good…

When life makes a twist and all of a sudden you find yourself being as poor as a church mouse, you still need to think about several things you need to take care of regardless of your limited budget. All those things are worth saving on some groceries or opting for a public bus for a ride. Even if it might seem not that important right now, do yourself a favor and find a way to keep making payments on:

1) Health insurance
2) Utility bills & Internet
3) Life insurance
4) Credit cards minimum payments

Those are primary and necessary payments you will need to keep making on time. Of course nobody here is trying to convince anyone to starve but pay the credit card off, but ginormously growing debts or no coverage in a case of a medical emergency is not exactly where you wanna end up at, you can trust me on this one. It’s also very easy to lose your credit history and it takes years and years to rebuild your credit score afterwards… Long story short, do whatever it takes and whatever is possible and try to keep those steady.

It’s important to keep your expenses as low as possible. Right now when every coin literally counts we need to imagine that we are, say, ascetic monks – we gotta try to resist any extra spending that is not absolutely necessary and unavoidable. No matter how hard it looks, but it’s important to tighten our belts and re-distribute our money in the most savvy way. Opt for cheaper but more rational home-cooked meals and make sure to store and use up leftovers. Make your own lunch and take it to work. Go through your wardrobe to see if any clothing needs to be repaired instead of buying new one. Try to quit bad habits like smoking (if you have any) – seriously, it’s not a good time for wasting money on things like that! End unnecessary subscriptions and services – you will renew them when the situation improves. Switch your cellular provider to a cheaper one or even free governmental package. Opt for cutting off cable and on-demand (but keep your Internet!).

Keeping an eye on your budget is important even if you’re well off and have no money problems at all. Needless to say that when you’re broke keeping a strict detailed budget is almost critical. Write down every penny spent and earned, make sure you’ve got all dates your bills are due noted, write down all your debts. Define an amount for your needs, make grocery and meal lists. Return unnecessary purchases if you don’t really need them – there will be time to afford those a bit later, don’t you worry, but that cash value is so much more important now!

Do not just stop paying your premiums and minimums, negotiate your interest rates with your bank, landlord or credit union instead – you’ll be surprised how often that works! Try your best to avoid places like pawn shops or instant loans – those guys are a total rip off!!! They give you minimum money and charge like 600% of interest, getting involved with them will keep you broke like forever!!! And having collectors chasing you afterwards will not only destroy your credit history but you also might end up in court and lose your property! BEWARE! Try getting maximum out of your banks or credit union services instead. And it’s totally awesome if you had account assure option on your credit cards — this is exactly how you avoid getting in debt in a case of financial collapse. Sometimes transferring your balance to a no APR credit card may help saving on those endless monthly interest charges and sometimes it’s enough just to give a call to get a proposition of a lower rates from your bank. After all, asking doesn’t cost a thing so why not?

Do not hesitate to talk to people who owe you money and ask for a payback if possible and appropriate – when broke, it’s not exactly the right time for being either generous or shy. And there’s nothing awesome or noble in starving or being homeless because you can’t step over your good manners and ask for your own money back – that’s my personal opinion, sorry. If you’re providing some services for free that are supposed to be paid for, make sure you let people know about it. It’s nothing wrong if you tell your friend whom you help doing taxes that you will need a little payment for that since your finances are in a really bad shape now. It’s OK to ask for some money for babysitting your relatives’ kids — again, because of your rough situation. After all, you were helping them for free so it’s nothing wrong in letting them know that you can use some help also. Nothing personal, just business.

So, for better or for worse, hopefully we’ve started getting our life back on a track after a serious financial breakdown by this time. 🙂 There are many things which need our urgent attention ahead but the first step is already made – we’ve set the goals, evaluated our options and planned our actions. We’re keeping our mind determined and head up. And most certainly we are bravely facing real life problems with strong confidence for a good result!.. 🙂