Once you have graduated from college, the financial struggles start to get real. While you were having difficulty during college, you knew you had your loan to fall back on after a while to keep you ticking over.
But now you are in the big wide world with a mountain of debt to pay, which is very difficult, so how can we cope with our financial struggles while also starting a professional life for ourselves?
Coping With Financial Struggles After College
Conserving Finances In The First Year
It may not sound like a suitable option, or even an attractive one, but if you move back in with your parents for the first 12 months following your graduation it can be a big life saver in a financial sense while you line up a career and start knocking on doors.
The difficulties every graduate faces in getting their chosen career is very apparent in the modern world so a lot of people have to settle for whatever they can get at the start, and this may include part-time work. But the benefits of having a stable home with your parents and a good Internet connection means that you can earn some extra money in addition to your part-time job by doing freelance work.
There are sites like Appen.com where you can apply for short or long-term contracts that you can feasibly build around a part-time endeavour. It is at this point you may find that you are working six to seven days a week, but the amount of money you can accumulate without having to pay rent means that you will be able to save up for a rental bond much quicker.
Or if you are happy with staying at home with Mum and Dad for the time being, you can save up as much as you can for a down payment on a mortgage.
Keeping On Top Of Your Finances
If you have managed to squirrel and save where you can and have survived the first 12 months living under your parents’ roof again, you are now in a position to rent a property.
It’s always advisable to go and rent with friends so you can share the costs but it’s all down to personal preference whether you want to do this or not.
Keeping on top of your finances in that initial period of moving into a property can be difficult as there is a lot of money going out of your accounts, more than what you are used to. But if this does find you in short shrift it is an option to go for a payday loan, and while a lot of them have had bad press, you can look at some of the ins and outs of having a short term loan.
If you have a look at the details from MoneyBoat.co.uk you can see that there is a lot of information on when a loan is the right to move for you or not. So make sure that you have a good think about this before getting into it.
Keeping on top of your finances is just as hard as trying to acquire finances in those difficult years since leaving university but with more people will be back in with their parents it is a viable option and not one to be embarrassed by, especially if you are planning on saving for the long term.