If things are truly tight
This site is about money that sits in your own behaviour. There are situations where that is not the point – and then we are the wrong address. Here are the right ones.
If you do not know how to pay rent, if bailiff mail has arrived, or if you are thinking of harming yourself: do not read on here – call. The services below are free and confidential.
Nonprofit credit counseling
Member agencies of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling offer a free initial budget and debt review, and can set up a debt management plan. They are nonprofits, not debt settlement companies.
National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), retrieved 2026-08-21
211: local help with rent, food and utilities
One number and one website for local assistance programmes across the United States and Canada: rent and utility help, food, and referrals to crisis services.
Phone: 211
United Way Worldwide, retrieved 2026-08-21
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
Free and confidential support, around the clock, by call, text or chat. Money trouble that has stopped being only money trouble belongs here, not in a budgeting article.
Phone: 988
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, retrieved 2026-08-21
Why this page exists
Because our premise has a limit. For most people a three-figure sum per month sits in their own behaviour, and it can be reclaimed. For some it does not, and that is not their doing. Saying both at once is not a hedge – it is the difference between a guide and an accusation.