Avoiding Financial Disaster by Liquidating Unnecessary Assets

Sometimes life happens and you become buried under bills, debt and basic obligations without enough money to pay for even basic needs. If you’ve suffered a setback, such as a failed business, bad investment or a layoff, you may need to sell some of the things you own to make ends meet. Taking a step back and understanding what’s most important can help you make the right decisions to deal with this difficult time.

What’s Most Important Now?

Supporting a family or even just yourself is the most important thing. Basic human needs come first, such as a roof over your head, food on the table and basic clothing. You may need to make some cutbacks to ensure you can feed those depending on you until you can replace the income you’ve lost. Many of the things you own and things you pay for on a monthly basis are not as important as taking care of yourself and your family.

How You can Make Budget Adjustments and Raise Cash Fast

Putting together a financial plan will help you understand what’s necessary to feed your family and keep your basic bills paid. Remember, the adjustments you need to make are only temporary. The first thing can do is shut off anything that’s not a basic need. Things, such as cable TV, internet access and extra phone lines are not necessary and will help you save some money each month until you can afford these luxuries again. Shut these off as soon as possible to eliminate some of your monthly bills. Also plan saving hundreds on energy consumption and other utilities.

Another budget adjustment you can make includes eliminating any large car payments you currently pay. By selling your car, even if you’re upside down in it, you can eliminate or at least lower your car payment. Of course, if you need transportation, you can use some of the profits from the sale to buy a cheap, reliable car. This will also help you get cheaper car auto insurance, since you won’t need to carry full coverage.

Selling things such as a big screen TV, unnecessary jewelry, a collection of coins, video game systems, video games, computers, motorcycles, RVs or any other unnecessary items can help you raise money quickly. Listing these items in the classified ads or on eBay will allow you to unload them as quickly as possible. This will give you some money to help you get through until you can recover.

Take the time to go through all the things you own and figure out what you absolutely don’t need. Smaller items can be sold through a garage sale, allowing you to raise money over a weekend, while larger items should be sold in a private sale to ensure you get the most money possible. Even unnecessary furniture can be unloaded to help pay for your home and put food on the table. Keep in mind, a roof over your head, food on the table, the electric bill, clean water and the heat/air conditioning bill are the most important things right now.

You might struggle for a few months and you may need to cut back on entertainment, activities, unnecessary bills and other unnecessary items, but you will survive until you can recover your lost income. Use this time to find employment, work any type of job you can and sell the things you don’t need. You might be surprised how much you enjoy living without some of the things you sell.