Topic: How do you manage your finances and family if your income is low range? - page 15. (Read 1846 times)

Managing a family is all about proper planning. If you have good planing, despite the low income you will succeed in running your family. Know your basic needs such as food, rents and children school fees. Food is the number one on the list when it comes to expenditures. Buy food as much as you that'll cover for a month or at least for up to 20th of the month, divide your rent in to twelve and save money for your rent on a monthly basis, children school fees should also be a priority because giving them quality education prepare them for future. Keep a little amount as a reserve for emergencies like sickness and shortage of foods. Do not live above your means or imitate your friends/neighbors who earn higher.


Things are drastically high in price now but there are still people who earn $1 or less here and they're still managing a family with at least 4 people. A father, mother and two children. The concern is focus on food alone as they're living in a large family house. People are really struggling and adding burden to themselves. I see no reason to start a family no matter the pressure with that kind of earning honestly.

The expression “very well even though their income is very low in their personal life” is not entirely true. Maybe these people and families are well-fed; maybe they are clothed, but we don’t know their real needs. Most likely, they deprive themselves and their children of the most ordinary things, such as what we provide for ourselves and our children. Yes, many people have different levels of happiness. And not everyone’s happiness is measured precisely by money. However, for you to feel good, you first need health, and maintaining it is becoming very expensive these days. But be that as it may, people should not kill themselves with suffering because they are not getting something in life. As harsh as it may be, the fact that someone is poor is always their fault. The fact that people agree to be poor is the biggest problem for them.


Ten dollars a month, with an annual salary of one hundred thousand?

reducing your personal expenses is the first way to manage your family with little income. If your income is not enough to handle all the things well then you should either increase your earning or minimize your expenses.

Nothing is difficult but once a person decide to do it like if you have 100k$ of income then you should save at least 10$ per month as if you don't have concept of saving amount then you cannot manage your family. It is my personal experience that your expenses will increase as your earning increases because there arises specific situations in which your money will use according to your income.

Wealthy people have more money but their desires are also very big on the contrary poor people have small income and their desires are not more than their earning so a person can do anything if he wants and have interest to do.

Buy something that saves you from death first and foremost. They will always have a chance as long as they are alive, so the lifestyle they adopt is highly cost-effective.

Living frugally doesn't mean consuming nutritionally deficient foods. In fact, individuals with lower incomes often learn which foods are most suitable for their nutritional needs. Even if it's not every day, it's better than the daily consumption of junk food by the affluent.

Lastly, never consider yourself the lowest of the low. There are still many people whose lives are more challenging simply because they are not ahead of you; you should never lose hope.

Well it's true what you said, sometimes we can have a solution when something comes to us, for some reason the way our brain works may be faster at certain times, at times of difficulty for example. Or indeed we only want to think when the difficulty comes to us. I'm sure it's not just 1 or 2 people who have experienced this (limited income, but a lot to fulfill), but not a few people can get through that difficult phase.
Therefore we must have good planning about our financial future, lest when something bad happens to us, we are in a condition that is not prepared at all.

Running a family is not one sided. In most part of the world people stay together with extended families to cut cost for individuals. The most difficulty, falls on a household where only the husband or wife makes the income. If they do, they'll need to calculate every expenses before buying a product. Money management is crucial, when running a family. Although, people's idea differ, the best answer is being contented. Get punctual to work and improve the quality of your skills. With good plans a person can manage a family despite earning low income and have extra funds to save. A lot of high income earners trying to impress the society, struggle to manage their family financially. Most times they get help from the low income earner, who manage his money. I've experienced or seen cases, where a low income earner complains about lending a high income earner some money. yet has not been paid. So, I expect advises that centers at running a family, regardless of the income range. Inexperienced people lose out lots of resources, while trying to maintain a quality family standard of living. Which lifestyle, weighs their finances down and lead them to take loans. You'd notice that without proper management anybody fails in running a conducive family. A low income earner, shouldn't rent an expensive house or eat in restaurants. They must depend on home made foods. Then invest time on the growth of their kids. It's a good job that can generate more income to the family in future. Chasing for extra income, terminates the time meant for the kid's growth. Parents who don't spend time to teach their children, underestimate the value of children. The next few years that child may not depend on you completely. Teaching them will enable financial freedom in their lives as adults. Reducing expenses and maximizing profits, for the family. If a parent makes so much money, but has less time and in future their kids run low on income, such a parent will lose lots of money. What is certain is that the family growth will move, but the direction it points, rich or poor, must be mastered.

Income management in a family is really important, given the fact that basic needs right now is quiet high in prices. I myself only buy something that I needed the most, no wants just  literally needs. Though the government here in my country provides poorest of the poor financial assistance. On my part, I don't have an income yet but yeah election time here is like christmas time you know what I mean. 😆 Since I am single and I'm living in the province, I think $100 would last like 5 months or less depending on the necessity. 😁

It starts by knowing how much the family uses in a month that's from utility bills(water, electricity, phone & data),  food, your transport or fuel Bills and if kids are in the picture school fees need to be worked into the calculations then draw up your budget to know how to use available resources.

If one finds themselves in a budget deficit then a side hustle or second job needs to be considered  as these bills won't pay themselves...

Mature advice right here !!!

Communication is the key to solving these problems, if both husband and wife need to get a job, then let it be so until husband finds a well paying job to get wife off work duty.

Although it may sound difficult for someone with a low income and a large family, actually when we are in that situation, we will always have a solution that suits our situation.  I was also in that phase, when I didn't have much money, I would stop spending on everything like coffee, beer, buying new clothes... I just focused on providing enough food for my children.  whenever I think back, it was really extremely difficult but I was able to maintain it for 2 consecutive years before my life got better. Depending on each person's situation, we will have our own solution, it's difficult to give good advice because everyone is different.

I admit that my monthly income is not large, so it is to cover the costs of daily needs, our family lives frugally and only eats at restaurants on important days. From what I've noticed, if it's just to survive then there are many people who are able to do it, but often the desire to have luxury goods and live a hedonistic life makes people forget how much they earn each month, don't let your lifestyle damage your family's finances, think again about how difficult it is for you to make money now (I'm also thinking about that).

Your points are very good as they are part of the necessary measures to take in this situation, but the OP referred to those who are low-income earners. Meaning that they do not even have the power for luxuries, the situation could only worsen as the family progresses over time. Anyone who receives low pay and lives a luxury lifestyle might end the money before the 2nd week of a monthly payment and that is foolishness. So, there can't be a luxury for this kind of people, they might only try to live at their average or below it if they are wise.

My advice is for them to continue to live the average lifestyle depending on the category fall and find a way to increase their stream of income. That is the only way their lives could be better.

Who are them? it's your friend? your cousin? people you see in social media? your neighbor? if you haven't live with them at least for a week, you can't say they can manage their family very well because you're only see the "cover", you don't know about the inside of their family.

Haven't you heard "fake it, until you make it"? I don't believe someone can manage their family "very well" when their income are low range.

Eating, drinking, housing, and clothing, these are the basic components of human life that cannot be dispensed with. These basics must be the responsibility of the state to provide for all its citizens. This happens in developed countries, but it never happens in poor countries.

Therefore, living requirements vary according to the country in which you live. You and your family must adapt to the economic reality, creating a balance between expenses and the source of income, otherwise you will enter into debt and may not be able to get out of it easily.

Simply focus first on the basics and then if you have enough money you can buy luxuries or other minor things.

I can relate to the situation very well because I was in that situation 2016-17 period where the business went broke and left me with nothing so I had to work for a job which is just enough to feed my family.

I had to take swift action by clearing my debt by selling the assets so I don't feel the pressure on my head then I could think about what I should do further and even if you start from zero you can do multiple works to increase the source of revenue then only you can survive which means if you are earning low and isn't enough to meet your needs then you need to increase the source of income by doing side hustle or whatever it takes.

If you try to settle for low income and try to minimize your lifestyle then it is never going to be enough cause as far as I remember the inflation rate has just been overkill with salary appraisal all these years so unless you break the hurdle you will never cross the hanging bridge for entire life.

In my neighborhood there are also many families whose lives are not very luxurious or rich but they are all still quite harmonious and comfortable in living their own lives. And I also asked one of the heads of the families here about how they can continue to live in harmony and comfort even though their income is not that much. The person answered that he only used the money he got for his basic needs and never spent excessively on sectors that were not important and not useful for him and his family.

Sometimes they only eat twice a day to be able to cover their children's school snacks and their children are even willing to go to school without considering whether they have pocket money or not. So what I learned from the answer of the head of the family was about our own self-awareness in using money and spending money in more important places when we already know that our income is not enough to have fun like other people do. And it still amazes me that they can survive in such conditions until now without complaining to many people or their neighbors.

In fact, if you are in such a position, it is not how to save money or manage your small finances that you need to think about, but how to get more money to get out of this situation of economic difficulty.
Many people have experienced this kind of thing, and personally I have also felt this way, but I never thought about how I could save, instead I would go out harder to find more money to be able to meet my needs.

It's all about mindset, we have to be able to take responsibility for all our needs and those of our families.

The solution to all these problems is through more learning and thinking outside the box, and starting financial education before finishing university so that you have more ideas about trading and how to make money than how to look for a good job.
I see that most of us believe that the ideal solution is to find more high-income jobs or try to work in another country so that there are better opportunities to live or to immigrate to another country where tax levels are low, but unless you have knowledge of trade and how to create your own business, large market variables will force you You have to give up your job or have a lower annual income over time. We should not forget that pension and retirement funds and the security they provide have become much less than before.

Life has dealt many of us with its cards. The difference between the two narratives in the story is that one person decides to play it the best way he can.

If you are a low income earner who has family responsibilities, to manage you well your resources doesn't happen by chance but through conscious effort. Planning and the right strategy. If you do not live in your own house, you know that the most important thing is your shelter. So you have to pay your rent. Next is feeding. You need to be able to either stock up the most essential stable food through bulk buying and you can have a small garden in your yard where you grow vegetables. Schooling. You can home-school your kids if you don't have the means or rather put them in a good school where the fees is affordable and supplement it with teaching them too. Next is clothing. There are thrift stores where you can get durable clothes for less than a dollar.

Basically, live below you means and strategically plan.

I have one question and one answer
Question : and why did you decide that family/money management is only applicable if you have a small income ?
Answer: family budget management is ALWAYS necessary !
You should plan your income, expenses and even your payment calendar, so that you don't get what is called "cash flow gap" at one moment - when you should have money in the nearest time, but at the moment when you need to pay, you don't have it.
At the same time, you have to take into account everything on the cost side - utilities, school fees for the kids, parking fees, food costs, loans and obligations, etc.
The same goes for income.  Otherwise, the picture will not be very accurate, which means you may have an erroneous assessment of the situation.

And then you will see the real picture - what you need to do - where to save, where you can postpone, and where you need to start looking for additional income! Good luck and profit to you !

Ive been in that situation where the biggest problem is your food and those other expenses like medical if someone got sick and if there are expenses in school. This strategy that you will do really is that you need to cook food that will last the 2 or 3 meals like you will cook breakfast that you will eat still at dinner. I know others may say that they cant do that but that is the way you can save if you have low income and you cant have another meal when we eat. Also we rarely do snacks if we do only bread and juice but this is really rare. Lastly we won't be taking any vitamins because they are very expensive.

There are other strategies but this is really what I noticed before with my parents, it is difficult as you will get jealous that other of your friends can eat at those restaurants but you can't do it you just smell their cooking as you pass by as you can't afford it.