How to Pay Your Rent Without going Broke

For many people the 1st of the month is a stressful time. No partying that weekend. No eating out. No shopping sprees. Kids have to stay in the house…

It’s time to pay rent.

Too many people are out here broke around the 1st of the month because they just paid their rent. They say they have no money because they gave the majority of their paycheck to the landlord. I’ve run into this so much that it’s become obvious to me that this must be really common.

If this applies to you then here’s my simple piece of advice for you to stop this madness:

Stop paying your rent out of 1 paycheck!

If you make enough in 1 paycheck that will easily cover your rent with plenty left over then you probably don’t need this advice.

(Remember, to keep yourself stress-free, make sure that your rent or mortgage is 30% or less of your after-tax income.)

If you find yourself in a hole every month because you’ve given your landlord a whole paycheck there’s a better solution:

Split the rent between 2 checks

This always seemed obvious to me so I was shocked when I realized that not everybody did the same. I never would have thought that this subject needed a whole post but I see so many struggling with this.

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Instead of paying it all from 1 paycheck, break it down. Grab a calendar and a calculator. (Your cellphone has both!) Also, grab a pen and a piece of paper.

If your rent is $1000 then half your rent is $500 (duh). Just hold back $500 from each paycheck and when rent comes you pay it without stress.

In theory.

The reason for the calendar is to look at when you’ll be getting your paychecks. This takes planning especially if you don’t have a high income. Depending on when you read this it may be too late to pull this off by the 1st of the upcoming month.

The whole purpose of this is to smooth your monthly spending out so you’re not going from feast to famine every other paycheck. Do this with all your bills, not just your rent. Ideally every pay period should feel the same with roughly the same amount of spending money each time.

When you write your plan you will have to take all your other bills into consideration. Check your bank statements, your calendar and all the due dates for your bills. This way you can see what bill needs to be paid when and from which paycheck.

Maybe the way things are set up you won’t be able to hold exactly half the rent from each paycheck. You may have to hold $600 from the first check and $400 from the next one. Even that would be an improvement.

If you find yourself in a hole every month because you've given your landlord a whole paycheck there's a better solution: Click To Tweet

Just remember if you’ve never tried this before that it might take a little while to get it right. You may have to tighten up your spending for a short period of time to get it set up right and running smoothly but it will be worth it.

I know for some of you this will seem like a ridiculous, basic post but I know there’s someone out there who needed to read this.

Relieve your stress and take control of your money.

Comment below if you see others doing this.