Making Ends Meet

Perhaps there is no time of the year when making ends meet is more challenging than during the Christmas season. There is no doubt that millions of Americans are struggling to weather the storm of our current hard times.

Because circumstances are different for every individual and family, there is no single recipe for economic survival that works for everyone.

This economic storm did not happen overnight, either. Recall that for much of the year gas prices topped $3.70 a gallon, and home heating costs and food prices continued to rise. From a personal standpoint, I struggled with the high gas prices because I live in the city of San Bernardino and work in the city of Compton in Los Angeles County. Less than six months ago, gas cost me between $100 to $150 a week. And while gas prices have fallen, they are still a significant budget item for many of us.

So here are few steps that I took to battle gas prices:

First, I stopped driving to Compton every other day, and instead took more time to plan, often working from home when I could. As Editor-in-Chief of Hub City News, I used the Internet to provide a direct link between my home computer and Hub City News reporters, citizen journalists, city, county and state government public information offices, non profit agencies, and business entities.

I also tried to schedule Hub City News business and staff meetings, as well as the distribution of publication, on the same day that I attended my church bible studies. I started to use the Express Mail next-day delivery service to send out computer publication discs and checks to pay for printing services at a cost of a little over $12 per delivery. As a result I saved hundreds of dollars in gas and car-repair costs on my old used car. (I also had more hours to work compared to when I wasted hours driving on the freeway.)

Making ends meet can be as simple as learning to trim a few bucks from the weekly grocery bill or as crucial as figuring out whom to call for help if you can't make the mortgage payment or find yourself buried in credit card debt. Frankly, I had to learn how to live within a business and family budget, so I went on the internet to get advice on "How to Live Within Your Budget. On one website, a personal finance advisor suggested the following tips:

• Sit down and list all of your expenses and expected income. Use your checkbook and monthly bank and credit-card statements to document your spending patterns and areas where you can reduce spending and bills. There are also computer-based financial programs such as Quicken to help document monthly expenditures, cash flow and savings.
• Determine, as accurately as possible, what expenses you expect to have for the next two months, then multiply by six for yearly expenses.
• Figure out what you can reasonably afford to spend each month, and then track how well you are doing by entering actual expenses into the ledger or computer program.
• If you find that you are spending less than you had anticipated, start to put more money in your savings account to help out with unexpected expenses. Also continue to try to identify items you really don't need, such as new clothes, CDs, expensive dinners, etc.
• Avoid purchasing unbudgeted items until you are back within your budget.
• Seek out online deals when many purchases can be made by credit card, and take advantage of major superstores' discount deals. Check out websites regularly, as prices and offers change often during the weeks leading up to Christmas. But you must not get so excited about online deals that you spend more than you can afford.

While these making-ends-meet tips may work great during most of the year, it is still very difficult to stay within your budget during the Christmas season. One way that many Americans' save money for Christmas is by opening a Christmas Club account, which allows you to save money throughout the year so you have funds set aside for the holiday season.

Finally, something I do to make ends meet at Christmas time (with the exception of the gifts for my grand children) is to wait for after-Christmas sales to purchase gifts at half price or discounted major items. I save Christmas wrapping paper to wrap these gifts for my adult friends, and folks I work with.

There is no one formula that works for everyone to make ends meet during a major recession, but applying some of all of a variety of financial strategies might successful for you and your family.

Ronald Ellerbe is editor of the Hub City News and columnist for LA Beez.