Life is what happens when you least expect it. No matter how hard you try, there are a lot of things that can happen to you that are unpredictable. Have you ever considered what you would do if you incurred a serious injury and found yourself unable to work? What if it was for an extended period of time? 

For many of us, the common sources of income while out with an injury could be unemployment or workman’s comp. Would that be enough for you to cover your bills at your current lifestyle? Even if you were able to continue working, is there a risk that your physical limitations could create financial problems? Read more to find out how to avoid this situation. 

 

Here Come the Medical Bills 

If you get injured, there’s a good chance medical bills will follow. Even with good healthcare insurance, the copays and deductibles can pile up and become a serious issue before you know it. At some point, you may find yourself facing a choice between covering the necessities, like groceries and rent, or your hospital bills. 

 

Time to Cut Back 

While it might feel a bit overwhelming, there’s always a good possibility you can successfully manage your finances through adversity. The degree of your success will likely depend on your willingness and ability to cut back on the amount of money you spend every month. 

The given will be you normal living expenses. You have to pay your rent/mortgage, utilities, car payment and insurance costs. Everything else you pay needs to be scrutinized. You have to eat, but there may be room to exercise a little frugality when you go to the grocery. You can also save money by not eating out. 

If your injury is bad enough, cutting back on entertainment would seem to be an easy decision. You likely wouldn’t be able to go dancing, ski, play golf, bowl or do anything else to get exercise. By the way, you might think about suspending your monthly health club membership dues for the duration of your recovery period. 

If you aren’t leading an active lifestyle, you auto expenses should drop. That includes not needing to spend money on maintenance and repairs. If you have young kids, you won’t need babysitters. You shouldn’t be planning any vacations, and this would be a good time to suspend any plans to move or do home repairs unless absolutely necessary. 

It might not sound like much of a life, but it should be temporary and making such cutbacks in your lifestyle is the only realistic way you can ensure you have the best chance for survival. 

 

Tapping into Financial Resources 

If you have been saving for a rainy day, trying to survive through an injury without money coming in could be considered the mother of all rainstorms. This might be a good time to use your savings to cover living expenses. Remember, that’s living expenses and should not include trying to sustain a frivolous lifestyle. 

If your injury looks like it’s going to keep you out of action for a long time, you might want to consider selling off assets. Selling an extra piece of land would be ideal. If you collect anything as a hobby, now might be the time to cash in on prior investments. 

This is about survival. The more you can do to survive without interrupting your basic lifestyle will pay huge dividends when your health returns to normal, assuming it will return to normal. 

 

Taking on Debt 

Jumping into the deep end of the debt pool is generally not a good idea if you can avoid it. But if you find yourself faced with a hospital bill from an unexpected injury, you may find it an option worth considering. If you find yourself in need of short-term assistance to help you handle the cost of dealing with your unexpected medical emergency, seek options you can pay back quickly, like a payday advance online or a small personal loan. As long as you payback as planned, these options can help you get past a financial bump in the road.  

If you are currently living with an injury issue, you can apply these tips now. If all this discussion in conjecture, you could really do yourself a solid by planning for the unexpected. What is the famous saying, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?”