When you’re in a committed relationship with someone, your hopes are that the relationship will last forever. Unfortunately since life isn’t always gumdrops and roses, there is the chance that your relationship could go sour.

If you’ve been with them long enough that you began to rely on each other financially, you’ll need to figure out how in the world you’re going to survive on your own. It certainly isn’t the end of the world, but having a plan of action in place ensures that you can heal emotionally while still maintaining a normal life.

Here are some suggestions on how you can get started:

Know Your Credit Standing

After a breakup you’re going to have to rely on your own creditworthiness to get things you need. For instance, if you need to move out of your home and into an apartment, having a good credit history goes a long way in ensuring you can find a place you like.

It might also be necessary for you to buy your own car, or even take out a small personal loan to keep you afloat while you maneuver things around in your life. If you haven’t been monitoring your credit very carefully, now is the time to consider doing so.

There are plenty of platforms that allow you to review your credit history and score for free or a minimal fee. Review carefully to see where you stand as it pertains to your credit history. If you happen to notice any discrepancies getting them removed is ideal. You can try writing the credit bureau or the actual creditor to have the information removed.

However, if you’re in a rush to find some place to stay you may want to work with a credit repair company. They act on your behalf to have any inaccuracies on your report removed. If you’re going to take this route, be sure that you do a little background check on the credit repair agency first.

One way to do this is to look at a testimonial video or check out consumer reviews to see how other people have benefited from using the services. Once you find a reputable firm, getting those negative marks removed shouldn’t be a problem.

Set Up a New Budget

Now that you’re on your own, it is going to be important for you to know how to properly manage your finances. You will need to set up a new budget including your sources for income and your monthly expenses. You will also want to track your spending to ensure that you don’t go overboard and cause financial trouble for yourself later on.

There are plenty of budgeting apps that you can consider that will not only allow you to set up your budget, but also monitor your spending, and track in real time when you’re getting close to going over budget.

Consider Downsizing

It may be necessary to consider downsizing some aspects of your life. If you’ve done your budgeting appropriately and realize that your expenses outweigh your income, you will need to rearrange some things financially.

This may include moving into a smaller residence, eliminating unnecessary spending, or even taking public transportation for a while. Whatever you have to do to maintain a living should be considered.

Consider Getting a Side Hustle

If you’ve done your budgeting and downsized as much as possible, but still find it hard to maintain a basic living then you may need to consider ways to earn more money.

Now that many businesses and opportunities can be done virtually, you don’t necessarily have to start putting in applications or trying to fit things into your schedule (such as a weekend job). Instead you can look into ways to earn money online such as writing, answering surveys, or even taking on a work from home opportunity. These options can give you the cash you need to sustain a decent living.

Avoid Emotional Spending

I know that breaking up with someone you cared about can really hurt a lot, but that doesn’t mean that you should forego everything you know about personal finances and start haphazardly spending on things you don’t need.

If you really can’t deal emotionally, it is a good idea to get support. You might consider things like talking with your friends or family members, or even getting professional support from a therapist if the pain runs deep. Getting past the emotional aspects of a breakup will certainly take time, but spending yourself into debt will only result in more emotional distress to deal with.

No one wants to breakup with someone they love, but sometimes, life throws you lemons. Aside from healing emotionally it is important to consider the financial aspects that you will need to recuperate from. When you have a moment, evaluate your current finances and begin making a plan to secure your future. In time, you’ll move past your relationship a lot stronger and more confident than you were before.

Getting Back on Track Financially After a Breakup is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

When J moved out of his parent’s house, he was starting with nothing. For the first half of a year that he lived alone, all he had was a used mattress (which I scored for him from a friend), some dollar store dishes (which we still have and work great) and an exercise bench.

Since my mom had gone through a divorce and then re-married, and also loves making her home perfect and therefore buys new things all the time, I came with a whole bunch of stuff when I moved in with him.

My mom set us up with dishes, forks, knives, cups, mugs, a microwave, blankets, a TV, shoe & coat racks, and several other things that she had started putting away for me when I was a toddler.

While I don’t see any purpose in replacing our plates and glasses, which are fine being a bit mismatched, there are a few things that J and I would love to replace when/if we get into a new place.

A New Mattress

The first and most urgent of those being a new mattress. Ours was donated to J by a friend of mine. It was clean and rarely used, but in storage under a bunch of boxes for years. We’ve had it for about 4 years now, and it’s horrid.

I wake up every morning feeling so sore. I can’t sleep in on weekends past 6 AM because my back starts to kill me.

I can’t sleep on my right hand side because my lower back gets a dull, aching pain until I roll over.

This isn’t just a back problem. This doesn’t happen at my mom’s house, or at hotels. We’ve been saving change for a new mattress for a little over a year, and have about $700. When we move out of this apartment, we’ll buy a new one. We’ll have to subsidize the money we have saved by about half, but I think it will be worth it.

Many of our prospects are online vendors like Casper, Purple and even Nolah. They’re all pretty affordable and are suppose to be great choices for relief from this type of pain. Might need to pony up a few more dollars for premium versions, but the reviews suggest it’s well worth it.

A Couch

Another thing we desperately need is a couch. Preferably a sectional.

Right before I moved in with J, his landlords were cleaning out their parents garage and they found two couches. They’re hideously ugly, but in relatively good shape. They noticed that he didn’t have any furniture, and donated them to us. That was about four years ago.

These couches are horrible. One didn’t last through the last move, so we have one couch and a Walmart fouton. They’re actually love seats. We’ve tried slipcovers, but they don’t stay on.

I think we’d have to budget about $1700 for a new, good quality lasting sectional. This won’t be happening until I have a steady paying job and we have some savings.

A Dyson

One thing I’ve been dreaming off for years is a Dyson vacuum. I love Dyson. J didn’t have a vacuum for three months after moving out, and I used a Future Shop gift card to buy the cheapest one I could find for him. At $40, the vacuum is a complete piece of crap, but has moved from place to place with us.

A New TV

Finally, we desperately need a new TV. The one that we have is from the early 90’s. It’s unbelievably heavy, and really, really big. I don’t mean big in screen size – I mean big. It’s only a 27″, but it weighs more than I do.

It’s a burden, but it’s a TV. We don’t have cable so it’s pointless to buy one now, so we’ll wait. I dream of a nice, sleek flat screen that we can mount on a wall. That will be about $600.

Especially since I don’t have a permanent job and still have tuition to pay, none of these things are going to be gracing us with their presence, except for the mattress, until I’m done school and find a steady, decent paying job. But a girl can dream, right?

Expensive Things That I “Need” is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.