Create Your Own Stimulus

I've become a big fan of the personal finance blog, Frugal Dad. In fact, I like it so much that my editors and I have all shared some great tips and posts from the site. Not surprisingly, I have another to share.

He recently posted a great article on bailing ourselves out. Obviously we can't depend on our government to do it, so instead of sitting around complaining about it, let's make some changes on our own.

Most people ask the question: "How do you save when your salary is barely enough to cover expenses?" It's a fair question, so here's a fair answer. The reality is that you probably haven't cut absolutely everything you can, or done absolutely everything you can to increase your income. Both require some very hard sacrifices, but it can be done.

So let's break it down. The last stimulus check was $600 per person. Over a year's time that's $50 per month, or $25 per pay check. That's not a lot. But, let's go one step further and show that as $12.50 per week. As Frugal Dad points out, most of us waste $12.50 a week in coffee or junk food. We can cut those out in order to save.

Now, to bail ourselves out we're going to have to make sacrifices. No one said it would be easy. Do you need cable? Probably not. If you haven't cut it, there's your $50 a month already. Depending on your income, you may only need a couple hours of overtime a week to make the $50. Can you work a couple hours more a week? If not, can you pick up a small part-time job to help bring money in? You probably can. Whether or not you want to is another story.

How do you guys feel about creating your own stimulus check? Feel free to share your ideas and experiences with the other readers!

—Kristy Young