One of the great challenges for anyone who is unemployed is making sure that they have enough money to make it through each week. There is government support on offer for people who are out of work or earning under a certain threshold but if you have a family to feed and find yourself out of work, this governmental support is rarely enough.

Assuming that you have done everything that you can to reduce the amount of money that you’re spending each week (there are a lot of guides around for saving money and reducing your outgoings) and it’s still not enough, what should you be looking at doing?

The first thing that you can consider is remortgaging your house. Obviously this solution only works if you are a homeowner. At the moment, because interest rates are so low, mortgages are cheaper than they have ever been, so if you do have some equity in your house, remortgaging and freeing up some of that cash can be a good way of raising extra money.

However, remortgaging is not always a good idea, if you’re on a very good deal already you may struggle to get another if you remortgage and if you don’t have much equity, again it’s not a very good idea. Bear in mind also that you may wish to sell your house and the less equity you have the fewer options you will have when it comes to buying a new one.

If you don’t want to remortgage your house or are not able to, an alternative option is to get one of the many personal loans on offer out there. It’s a good idea when looking for personal loans to go for a trusted high street name like Santander because you need to know from whom you’re borrowing money. Personal loans come in all shapes and sizes and you should do some research before getting one to make sure you get the best deal that you can. A personal loan is a good way of raising cash quickly, but can be expensive in terms of interest and if you get a loan with a long term you could be paying it off for years to come.

The final option is to borrow on credit cards, in fact, this shouldn’t really be considered an option because it’s not something that you should consider doing, at most it should be a last choice. Credit cards are incredibly expensive at the moment and the interest rates are prohibitive, so if you’re tempted to simply pay on the credit card and worry about it later, you should fight that temptation as hard as you can.

Of the three options, remortgaging is probably the least expensive, but any form of debt should be considered carefully and don’t be afraid to get face to face advice from a professional if you’re not sure what is the best option for you.