Difficult financial situations can quickly become financial nightmares quicker than you can say Godzilla versus Mothra. You could be seeing A Nightmare on Elm Street, complete with Freddy Krueger waving past due bills. How do you deal with these nightmares without losing your sanity and still ensuring your family’s well-being?

Mortgage Woes

If you find yourself looking down the barrel of a foreclosure process, you need to take a good, hard look at your situation before it becomes too late. You have several options that may be able to help this situation:

• Contact the bank or financial institution that issued your mortgage. You will probably be assigned a representative that will attempt to help you with your payment plan and schedule.

• Contact the Home Ownership Preservation Foundation. This non-profit foundation is geared to helping people facing foreclosure.

• The United States Department of Housing also has personnel and resources available that can help you resolve your mortgage payment difficulties.

Feeding and Clothing Your Children

If you are a parent, you know how heart wrenching it can be to see your children go without sufficient food or appropriate clothing. Check out these helpful ways to ensure your children’s well being:

• Make sure your children are signed up for any school meal subsidy programs. Many of these programs will provide breakfast and lunch at a reduced or no-cost basis.

• Visit your community food panty. If you are eligible you will receive food on a regular basis that can help feed your entire family.

• Visit local thrift shops. These organizations have clothing available at a very low cost.

Automobile Breakdowns

Having a reliable automobile can mean the difference between a full paycheck and one that is reduced because you weren’t able to get to work. In addition, auto repairs can become expensive. While prevention is the best medicine and you should attempt to keep your car in good shape, if you do need unexpected repairs, consider using a PayDay One loan to cover these costs.

These types of loans will give you an immediate loan to pay for those repairs. The repayment of the loan amount will occur when you receive your next paycheck, so you will need to budget accordingly.

Medical Treatment

It’s an unfortunate reality that millions of Americans are not covered by health insurance. There are several ways you can get medical treatment for you and your family if you don’t have insurance.

• Visit the emergency room if the health situation is an emergency. Hospitals are required to treat patients who are experiencing a medical emergency.

• If you are treated at a hospital, go to the medical facility’s billing office. Many people don’t know that there is a possibility of having the bill waived if they don’t have a job and therefore do not have the ability to pay.

• Use the medical learning centers of your local hospitals. These centers offer basic health care services at a greatly reduced cost.

Health Insurance for Your Children

We covered some ways to get health care should you not have insurance. But making sure you have insurance, especially for your children, should be paramount. This insurance will prevent medical care costs from becoming overwhelming. There are several ways to obtain insurance for your children.

Make sure you investigate all the program plans that are offered by major insurers such as United Healthcare, Aetna and others. The sites of these carriers will usually have a way that you can compare the benefits and costs of their programs.

Websites such as gohealthisurance.com will also give you the tools to compare many different insurance options. There are programs available through public health care programs, which can be found on Benefits.gov. This site will let you see if you and your family are eligible and for which programs.

Getting Additional Money

Money, or the lack thereof, is generally the basis of financial nightmares. Let’s take a look at some ways you can add additional income to your family’s budget.

Get a second job. An additional full- or part-time job will add to your family’s bottom line. You may only need to have this second job temporarily until you overcome any current financial hardships. If your regular work schedule doesn’t allow another job, consider doing odd jobs that will fit into your schedule. These can include housekeeping and childcare.

• Sell some of your possessions. You can use local classifieds or sites such as EBay and Craigslist, to sell your possessions for quick cash.
• Use the old tried-and-true method of recycling for cash. You may have scrap metal or other materials that many recycling centers will give you cash for.
• Sign up to be a medical testing subject. Your local medical facility may need medical subjects and often pay their test subjects well.
• Sell your plasma or sperm. You can realize up to $200 per week, depending on your physical attributes. Do be advised that some of these donation plans do require a time commitment.

CONCLUSION

Financial nightmares don’t have to ruin your life. Just stare Freddy Krueger in the eye, take a deep breath and deal with those financial aspects that are causing you concern.