If you have experienced feelings of stress or anxiety related to your finances during these difficult times, you are not alone. Finances are a crucial foundation in our lives, and when those foundations are rocked, the likelihood is that most (if not all) other aspects of our lives will feel the impact. In short, negative thoughts over money can trigger wider mental health issues such as feelings of desperation, unworthiness, and depression (find out more). Let’s look at some of the positive steps you can take in regaining control over your finances.
Remove your ability to overspend online
Your financial woes may be related to overspending online. Where physical cash isn’t being handed over, it can be easy to forget that the numbers on a laptop or smartphone screen actually represent real money in your bank account. That’s why the first thing that you need to consider if you believe that you are overspending online is deleting your methods of purchasing goods or services online. You may argue that removing your online payment methods is only going to be an annoyance when the time comes to set everything back up again, so you may convince yourself to leave your online shopping accounts open whilst making a promise to yourself not to use them. This rarely works. Humans are creatures of habit, and courage wears thin when we aren’t feeling stable. Deleting online accounts is the fastest way to ensure they cannot be used (this could include deleting accounts with gambling sites, for example).
Your bank statement is only going to be a surprise once…
Checking your bank statement is a bullet you really only have to bite once. If you are experiencing sleepless nights due to fears over not having enough money to make it through the month, our bank statement holds more answers than you may care to imagine. Aside from anything else, ignoring money issues won’t help your cause. Establishing how much money you have and organizing what can and cannot be paid immediately will give you a starting point from which payment timelines can be arranged. This should hopefully help to ease the stress of not knowing which bills can be paid and when.
Finally…savings
Even if you are only able to save a very small amount each month, over the course of the year these humble savings will come in super handy regarding things like birthdays or weddings. We are each obligated to spend our money on other people at certain times of the year. From special celebrations to social events, anxiety can ensue if we have to make our excuses due to cash flow issues. Small savings can mean the difference between “I’ll be there” and “um, here’s the thing…”.
