There are times in life when you might inevitably find yourself at a shallow financial point, and it might even be so bad that you risk losing the ability to pay any of your bills. Fortunately, there are a lot of ways that you can find assistance without having to give up various essentials that you need for everyday life. Consider the following four ways that you can receive assistance for your family.
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Get Help With Your Phone Plan
If you have a cell phone, you know it costs a lot for a plan, no matter your choice. If you have fallen on hard times, you may wonder whether you can keep your phone plan or get rid of it to save money for other bills. Fortunately, there is a solution that will allow you to keep a cell phone while also saving money. Free Mobile Service programs are funded by the Federal Affordable Connectivity Program and are designed to provide individuals and families with phone plans at no cost. If you struggle to pay your cell phone bill, go ahead and apply. There are qualifications that you need to meet, and they might be different from area to area. All you need to do to get started is to enter your zip code.
Receive Help With Paying Your Rent
If you are not a homeowner, rent is one of the most expensive bills that you have to pay every month, especially if you live in an area with an exceptionally high cost of living. If you are like most people, you are probably living within a tight budget, and the idea of having enough money for six months of bills set aside in a savings account sounds like a pipe dream, if not an outright impossibility. Not everyone can be prepared for everything, especially if emergencies keep popping up on a consecutive basis.
If you find yourself wondering whether you will be able to make your rent for the next month, you can look into emergency rental assistance programs. Most states have general emergency rental assistance. If your state does not have such a program, you can look for the housing authority in your area. Housing authorities help those who qualify by giving them vouchers so they can stay in a place without having to worry about rent. If you think that you might qualify for emergency rental assistance, there is no harm in looking into it.
Get Assistance With Feeding Your Family
If you have been to the grocery store, you might have noticed that the price of food keeps increasing, and you might have already had to eliminate items from your shopping list just so you could afford the basics for your household. If you find yourself unable to afford enough food to feed your family regularly, it might be a good idea for you to investigate food assistance programs such as WIC and SNAP. While you have to qualify for the programs and risk sitting for hours or days before you are even considered for such programs, it is more than worth it to ensure food security for your household. The amount of assistance may vary, and there are limits to what you can spend your assistance on, but you will get more than what you would get with your income alone.
Look Into Welfare
You may be someone who takes pride in providing for your family all on your own, and that is completely understandable. However, if you were to get laid off or have to take a lower-paying position, you may not be able to provide everything on your own for a while. This is where TANF, or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, comes in. TANF is also known as welfare, and this program allows you to get a bit of extra cash that you need to better provide for yourself or your family. However, as the name of the program points out, this assistance is temporary. There are strict qualifications to receive it, and you have to make sure that you use the money given to you in the best way possible, as well as look for ways to find your footing again. The welfare will not last forever, and you need to be prepared for when that happens.
While suffering during hard times is something that nobody should have to go through, it is an unfortunate fact of life. However, if you find yourself in that sort of situation, you are not alone. Keep these assistance programs in mind so they can be there for you if and when you need them.