You like to think that you’ve got your finances under control. After all, you’ve got a steady job, you’re good at budgeting your bills each month, and you never spend money unnecessarily.

That’s all great, but what happens if you suddenly receive an unexpected bill and you’ve not got enough saved up to cover that expense, or you don’t have much spare cash after paying your bills each month?

Such situations don’t bear thinking about, yet they happen more often than people realize.  Whether you’ve got such a bill you need to pay, or you worry about one surprising you soon, the following five ideas will help you take care of them:

1. Liquidate Your Assets

Everybody has valuable possessions – some more than others. If you’ve got things lying around in your home gathering dust but will raise serious money when sold, now’s the time to turn those items into cash.

Of course, not everyone wants to sell their worldly goods. But, there’s a way of getting the money you need without parting with your possessions forever.

You could get a pawn loan against jewelry if you’d like to raise money against valuable gold or silver items, and you know you can repay the loans later.

2. Get A Side Gig

You’re probably balking at the idea of getting a second job when you’ve already got full-time, 9-5 work during the week. The thing is, you could have a side gig that you easily do on your evenings or weekends and still have the time to socialize and do other fun stuff as usual.

One example might be to offer freelance proofreading services in your spare time if you’re a copywriter.

3. Raise Equity In Your Home

If you own your home, it might be good to free up some equity in your abode. Yes, it means that you’ll get money in exchange for giving up a share of your home. But, it can work out well for you if you research your options correctly.

You could get a second mortgage or a loan secured on your house, for instance, that only gets paid when you sell your property. That way, you don’t have the added pressure of paying an extra bill for a period of time.

4. eBay Your Unwanted Stuff

Following on from the first point of liquidating your assets, have you discovered that you’ve got lots of items in your home that are worth money, but you don’t particularly use or need?

If those items are from a family inheritance or just random things you’ve acquired over the years, consider selling them online through eBay or similar marketplaces and freeing up space in your home simultaneously!

You can then put the money generated into an interest-bearing savings account and use it whenever there’s an emergency bill you need to pay.

5. Downsize Your Car

The fifth and final idea you can consider is downsizing your car.

If you have a large vehicle, such as an SUV or pickup truck, and you don’t particularly travel great distances in it or carry much stuff (or people), why not sell it and buy a smaller car?

Of course, this only works if the car you buy is cheaper than the one you sell!