Summer Job Spare Yourself The Debt Get A Summer Job

Summer jobs are not just for students. Gaining extra income in the summer can help create an emergency fund that can help your family deal with emergency expenses throughout the rest of the year.

Gone are the days when a household can comfortably survive on one income and have the funds to cover all the extra things that come up. The rising costs of even the most basic expenses, such as groceries and utilities, means that many families have little money to put away for emergencies, maintenance or even extras like vacations and recreation. The danger of this reality is that when those emergencies come up credit becomes the go-to solution for financing these expenses.

Instead of relying on credit to cover those costs a better option is to look at balancing your budget. There are only two things you can do to balance your budget- either cut your expenses or increase your income. The most common thought is to cut your expenses and do without if you are trying to make your income work for your family.

Dust Off Your Resume

Instead of doing without why not revisit the idea of getting a summer job. There are opportunities that come up seasonally that are not just for students. Many industries require extra labour during the summer time. As these employers can’t provide long term employment, they often find it difficult to hire experienced and capable workers.

These jobs can come up because of the need for vacation coverage or due to the seasonal aspect to the work required. Seasonal employment can include greenhouse workers, retail staff, temporary coverage in an office and really any industry that provides child services such as tutoring or child care.

By earning extra income during the summer months you can make a real difference to the household finances. Rather than spending the extra income as it is earned these funds are better used towards providing the household a financial cushion that can be used throughout the year to cover all of those extra expenses that can often burden a family.

Create a Financial Cushion

Having this ‘emergency fund’ can also greatly reduce the reliance on credit to cover those surprise expenses. It is not the cost of gas and groceries that usually starts a credit problem but the need to pay for unexpected car repairs or fix a leaky roof. Once these types of expenses are put on a credit card, the cost of maintaining the credit card in good standing creates even more of a strain on the household as the credit card payment is adding an extra cost to the household budget each month. This makes it even more difficult to find a way to create a savings plan to cover extra expenses. This will lead to a cycle of credit and debt problems that if left unchecked can lead to a financial crisis.

Instead of getting started on a cycle of debt, check out any opportunities for finding extra employment during the summer months. Use this money to help create a healthy budget and sleep easy knowing that your finances are sufficient to meet the needs of your family.