For anyone who has to survive on a pay check, the money always runs out much faster than it comes in. For a long time, I thought I was the only one who didn't know how to manage my money. I was always short of cash. And so, I borrowed from friends, family and even the good old credit card whenever I needed what I felt at the time was "urgent" cash. Believe me, it might have temporarily improved the quality of my life, but it sure put me under a whole lot of debt!

I was discussing this with a co-worker the other day when he told me about something that changed my life. He told me that it was just for situations like this that advance cash loans were offered by the company we worked for. I knew that I should have looked at the employee manual with greater care. If I had, I would have found the advance cash loan section tucked away in the employee benefits. But now that I knew about it, I sure wasn't going to waste any time. So I put in my application and waited for my next pay check with the extra mad money from the advance cash loan.

What I got instead was a call from my boss. He sat me down and asked me questions about why I needed the advance cash loan. I tried to come up with some excuses (you must understand that I wasn't prepared to be grilled!) but they all sounded a little empty even to my ears. I had no real reason to ask for the advance cash loan except for the fact that it was possible to ask for and get it. When I told him that I needed the advance cash loan to pay off credit card debts, he sighed, looked at me and gave me a talking to I'll not forget.

He told me that an advance cash loan was meant for emergencies. He explained that not all of us have nearly as much savings as we would like, and we all needed an advance cash loan now and then to help us with sudden and unexpected expenses. Advance cash loans were not there to satisfy a whim, which is exactly what I had been borrowing money for up until then.

At first I was a little put out by the conversation but I knew my boss was right. If I was going to manage my money like a responsible adult then the first thing I had to do was not spend money I didn't have for things I really didn't need.

I didn't take the loan because I knew I could still get by without it. It was only then that I realized how lucky I was. My company's advance cash loan would have been for no interest. Not everybody works for a company that offers that kind of thing.

Some people do not have friendly companies, or even nearby family or friends that can help them out of a short term money crunch. For those folks advance cash loans are available at check cashing stores and on the net, but they are not free. The money from an advance cash loan is for an emergency. A real emergency. If you need the cash you need it, but if you can do without then put an IOU for the advance cash loan fee in a drawer and pay yourself a little bonus in a couple weeks.