{"id":241876,"date":"2020-09-10T09:32:26","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T16:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lulus.com\/blog\/?p=241876"},"modified":"2021-08-27T01:32:43","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T08:32:43","slug":"financial-hardship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lulus.com\/blog\/lifestyle\/financial-hardship\/","title":{"rendered":"Experiencing Financial Hardship? Here are 4 Things You Can Do Right Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_241881\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-241881\" style=\"width: 1080px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-241881\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lulus.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/thelma.arora_.jpg\" alt=\"woman in a knit lounge set drinking coffee looking outward\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1350\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-241881\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image via @thelma.arora; Featured: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lulus.com\/products\/lady-light-green-knit-tank-top\/1252796.html\">Lady Light Green Knit Tank Top<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lulus.com\/products\/lady-light-green-drawstring-knit-shorts\/\">Green Drawstring Knit Shorts<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>If you\u2019re facing financial hardship right now, you\u2019re not alone. Millions of people around the world are dealing with job loss due to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lulus.com\/blog\/lifestyle\/telehealth-care\/\">COVID-19<\/a> and other economic pressures. Even before the pandemic, millions of people were experiencing untold levels of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lulus.com\/blog\/lifestyle\/4-tips-for-dealing-with-holiday-stress-and-anxiety-you-got-this\/\">stress<\/a> from living paycheck to paycheck, not knowing how they will pay their bills or put food on the table.<\/p>\n<p>Left unchecked, financial hardship can have a lasting impact on your mental, physical, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lulus.com\/blog\/lifestyle\/re-entry-anxiety-tips\/\">emotional health<\/a>. It can harm your self-esteem and leave you feeling afraid and ashamed.<\/p>\n<p>If you find yourself in this position, know that there is help available. Take a deep breath and follow these practical steps below. And always remember: You can get through this.<\/p>\n<h2>1. Create a \u201clean\u201d budget<\/h2>\n<p>The first step to navigating financial difficulty is to recreate your budget. Your new budget should reflect your current reduction in income and any other changes to your financial position. If you no longer have a consistent check coming in, <em>you can still budget<\/em>. You can create what\u2019s known as a variable income budget: This type of budget puts an emphasis on covering your basic expenses.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>To get started, build your baseline budget that includes all your day to day necessities. This should include housing, food, transportation, medicine, and your other core essentials! Once you have that in place, you\u2019ll have a clear picture of what your expenses are.<\/li>\n<li>Next, you\u2019ll want to rank your expenses in order of importance to ensure your most urgent needs are met.<\/li>\n<li>Lastly, you\u2019ll want to plan for future months. Know that times may be tough now, but they don\u2019t last forever, and you can find ways to increase your income. Look into side hustles and remote jobs online. Look locally within your area.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>2. Reach out to your creditors<\/h2>\n<p>If you are currently in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lulus.com\/blog\/lifestyle\/how-to-pay-student-loans\/\">debt<\/a>, you might be stressed about making your payments. The good news is that creditors are aware that hardships arise. Many creditors offer hardship concessions to help you through a difficult season.<\/p>\n<p>The key is to contact your creditors as soon as possible. Creditors have different financial hardship programs that could help you during this time. These include reducing your payments, waiving interest, or deferring your payments. Once you\u2019ve explored all the options with your creditors, you\u2019ll want to create the following document to ensure your request is in good shape.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_241887\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-241887\" style=\"width: 1000px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-241887\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lulus.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/shutterstock_1363583690a.jpg\" alt=\"woman sitting writing financial budget in a notebook\" width=\"1000\" height=\"711\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-241887\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image via Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>3. Write hardship letters<\/h2>\n<p>Typically, lenders might ask for a written record of the financial setbacks you\u2019re currently facing before they can approve eased terms. Hardship letters can be prepared for mortgage lenders, banks, or any other lenders you might owe money. Before you write the hardship letter, you have to understand what the specific lender qualifies as a \u201chardship event.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Most lenders will consider the following as hardships:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Job loss<\/li>\n<li>Divorce or separation<\/li>\n<li>Death in the family<\/li>\n<li>Illness or injury<\/li>\n<li>Military duty<\/li>\n<li>Incarceration of the primary breadwinner<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Categories will differ by lender, but the key thing to note is that the hardships must qualify and be based on real, verifiable circumstances that the lender can fact check.<\/p>\n<h2>4. Work your way out at a pace you can manage<\/h2>\n<p>The key to getting out of a financial hole is to build your income. It will likely take time but always remember that it <em>is<\/em> possible no matter how difficult it may seem.<\/p>\n<p>Nowadays there are opportunities to find side-gigs online. You can look up opportunities such as working as a virtual assistant, teaching English online, or working remotely as a helpdesk technician&#8211;and so much more. These can be a great way to jump-start your journey to earning additional income.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to side gigs online you can also look for opportunities to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lulus.com\/blog\/lifestyle\/starting-a-freelance-business\/\">freelance<\/a> or work in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lulus.com\/blog\/lifestyle\/digital-nomad-workcation\/\">gig economy<\/a>. This could include work like writing, web design, or offering driving services such as Uber or Lyft. Whatever you do, do your best to ensure that the additional income goes towards paying off your debt and paying your bills.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_241897\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-241897\" style=\"width: 1000px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-241897\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lulus.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/kristenmayx4a.jpg\" alt=\"woman walking on a beach looking behind her wearing a white dress and hat\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1284\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-241897\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image via @kristenmayx<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>To sum it up, facing financial difficulty does not have to be the end of the world. There are steps you can start taking now to help you go from survival mode to stability. While the journey may have its ups and downs, the key to remember is don\u2019t give up.<\/p>\n<p>Keep your head up high and remain focused on your ultimate goals. Remember that everyone has their ups and downs and many who have been in this position before have overcome. Keep on keeping on, you\u2019ve totally got this and you will come out victorious on the other side!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Did these financial hardship tips help you? Tell us your thoughts and ask Bola your questions in the comments&#8211;and for stylish markdowns, shop our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lulus.com\/categories\/95\/sale.html\">Sale<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Bola Sokunbi, the founder of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clevergirlfinance.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clever Girl Finance<\/a>, is a Certified Financial Education Instructor, money expert, CEO, and best-selling author. Sokunbi aims to help women like you take charge of your finances, stop living paycheck to paycheck, build real wealth, and get you in control of the life you really want to live.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re facing financial hardship right now, you\u2019re not alone. Millions of people around the world are dealing with job loss due to COVID-19 and other economic pressures. Even before the pandemic, millions of people were experiencing untold levels of stress from living paycheck to paycheck, not knowing how they will pay their bills or&#8230;  <a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lulus.com\/blog\/lifestyle\/financial-hardship\/\" title=\"Read Experiencing Financial Hardship? Here are 4 Things You Can Do Right Now\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":241911,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42077],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-241876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Experiencing Financial Hardship? Here are 4 Things You Can Do Right Now - Lulus.com Fashion Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you&#039;re facing financial hardship right now, help is available! Take a deep breath and follow these expert steps to stability. (You got this)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lulus.com\/blog\/lifestyle\/financial-hardship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Experiencing Financial Hardship? Here are 4 Things You Can Do Right Now - Lulus.com Fashion Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you&#039;re facing financial hardship right now, help is available! Take a deep breath and follow these expert steps to stability. 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