Here's How I Survived 3 Months Without Any Income

There are a lot of things I love about being a freelancer -- the flexible working hours, getting to choose which projects I want to work on, and spending the day in my pajamas to name a few. But one less glamorous aspect is that there's no paid time off. When I'm not working, I'm not making money.

I recently had my second child and took three months off for maternity leave. We still had my husband's income to rely upon during that time, but our budget was definitely a lot tighter than we were used to. Here's how we got through it.

We planned ahead

Fortunately, an unpaid maternity leave is an expense we could plan for. We knew roughly how long we had until our baby arrived and we used that time to save as much as possible so we'd have something to live off of during those months when I wasn't working.

We kept this money separate from our emergency fund, because the two serve different purposes. Emergency funds are supposed to be for unplanned expenses. We wanted to reserve those funds in case something unexpected came up either while I was off work or after I went back.

We cut back our expenses

Trimming our budget wasn't easy with a newborn in the house. Not only did we have doctor bills to pay for, but we also needed diapers, clothes, and all the other baby supplies. Since those were necessary, I didn't have any problems buying them. However, I did my best to shop around and make sure I was getting the best possible deal first.

We tried to keep unnecessary purchases to a minimum, though. We avoided activities that cost a lot of money and steered clear of online shopping as much as we could. If there were things we really wanted but didn't need, we made a mental note of them for later.

We used our credit card rewards points to pay our bills

Usually, I like to treat myself by spending the cash back I earn from my credit cards on things I enjoy. But given that money was tight for us, I chose to put that cash back toward my credit card bills instead. It didn't make a huge dent, but it did save me a few hundred dollars.

We couldn't count on a ton of credit card rewards every month, though. Primarily, we had to rely upon our savings and budgeting strategy to keep our costs manageable during this time.

Find what works best for you

I'm comfortable with the financial choices we made during my time away from work, but I know they weren't the only things we could have done to keep our costs down. For example, we could've gotten rid of some of our streaming services temporarily to get a few bills off our plate. But we didn't feel this was necessary, so we didn't.

And if things had gotten really bad, we could've fallen back on our emergency savings or taken out a personal loan. But again, we found this wasn't necessary for us. That doesn't mean they're not good strategies for some people, though.

When you find yourself in a tight financial spot, it's best to weigh all your options before deciding how to proceed. You might be able to solve the problem by finding ways to increase your income without cutting spending at all. The typical side hustle generates about $483 per month and some can rake in well over $1,000 per month. Or maybe you can shop around a little more before you buy anything, to make sure you're getting the best price possible.

There probably won't be any one move that'll solve your problems. It usually takes a combination of strategies to get your finances back on track. It can take time as well, so don't get too frustrated with yourself if your savings account balance isn't growing as quickly as you'd like.