KILLEEN, TX — Without a paycheck, many are navigating their bills with limited funds.
Experts say now is the time to prioritize only the things that are necessities, and to disconnect from everything else.
“Prioritize, there are things that you want and things that you need and right now we're in the position of things that we need” explained Steve Hanik. Hanik with 35 years of corporate and household budgeting experience explains memberships, subscriptions, and the like, may need to be skipped during the time being.
“Things that are not really needed at this point, gym memberships, there are a lot of things out there that you really don’t need at this point, call them and cancel them if you can,” Hanik said.
If spending extra time at home, finical advisers say not to spend unnecessary money online shopping.
"Right now you need food and shelter, you probably have the clothes that you need, so you don’t need to be going shopping and buying a bunch of stuff online,” said Hanik.
Most lenders, landlords, credit card, and utility companies are attempting to work with people with limited funds.
Financial experts say being honest with the companies you owe money to is in your best interest.
“This is a good time to start making phone calls, and start meeting with those people that have lent you money, or that you owe money, or whatever, and say can we negotiate some work,” said Hanik.