It is important to be able to budget your money so you get to enjoy it without blowing everything off in one day. The reality is that there are some people who spend like crazy the first few days they get paid and regret it until the next payday. This can be a vicious cycle where you believe you have the right to enjoy your money only to feel bad about it when it runs out.
There is nothing wrong in wanting to spend your own money but you need to make sure that you balance it as well. Part of that enjoyment is making sure you have some left for future use. This is why it is important to learn how to budget your funds. The better you get at it, the better you can spend your money.
One hurdle you could face when trying to budget your money is when you are stressed out. Stress can be caused by a lot of factors and there are even times when it is hard to pinpoint exactly which ones. When you are stressed out, budgeting properly might take a back seat which can put your finances in peril. This can only add to your stress level which becomes another vicious cycle you need to get out of.
When you are trying to manage your money and you are stressed out, there are a few things you can look into to help you break that cycle. If not, then you might be headed down a path that is hard to get out of. Here are a few things you can do to help you manage your finances even when you are stressed out.
Take a deep breath
Stress has a lot to do with trying to manage and accomplish a lot of things all at the same time. One of the best things you can do is take a breather and compose yourself. Trying to calm down might not seem to be what you need when you are already neck deep with things to do but it will help. It will help you see things clearly and help you budget your money better.
One of the best ways to do this is to try and exercise and work out a sweat. According to Mind Body Green, regular exercise can help people manage stress better. Working out also produces endorphins that generally makes you feel better. Taking a step back and maybe putting in some time for exercise can clear your head.
Identify the problem
One of the things you need to do to be able to budget your finances better when you are stressed is to identify the financial problem immediately. This will help you formulate a plan to address your problems. You are stressed for a reason and that is impeding your desire to manage your money better. It makes your job a lot harder than it already is.
One thing you can do to budget your money and manage stress is to write down everything that is bothering you. Create a list to help you face your problems head-on. Writing it down helps you acknowledge these problems making it a lot easier to face them. Once you identify these challenges, you are a step closer to fixing them.
You can get a pen and a piece of paper or you can type them on your smartphone. It is also a good idea to arrange your list from smallest to biggest where smallest are the ones you can easily solve. Having the chance to cross out items in your list gives you small wins that can make you do more. This momentum can help you accomplish items in your list one after the other.
Start addressing your stress triggers
Stress is really a challenging hurdle when you want to budget your money better. CNBC recently shared a survey showing that almost 30% of Americans are constantly stressed about money. One of the things you can do is start identifying your stress triggers. This will be a lot easier when you have accomplished the list mentioned earlier. From that list, you can look at the items that you results to stress and gives you a hard time when trying to manage your money better.
This can be impulsive purchases where you have a lot of clothes or pairs of shoes in your drawer and you don’t get to wear them at all. It can be items around the house that you bought simply because they were on sale. This leads to bigger payments on your card at the end of the month which stresses you out and makes it a lot harder to budget better.
Once you have identified your stress triggers, you need to work on managing it better. You can try to leave your credit cards at home. This way, you do not swipe with abandon when you see a sale sign. It is also a good idea not to save your credit card details on your devices. This helps you control impulsive buying behavior.
One other stress trigger can be accepting a lot of responsibilities in and out of work because you feel you need to do all of them to earn money. This is one of the reasons why it is important to budget your money better so you know how much you really need. Remember that if you overexert yourself, you could get stressed as well.
Put safeguards in place to prevent it from happening again in the future
If you really want to manage your money better and get ahead of stress, you need to put safeguards in place. This will help you avert stress or at the very least, manage it quickly. If you are having problems with impulsive buying, try to walk away every time you feel the urge to buy something new. Go for a run, read a book, or you can even watch a funny movie to help get your mind off the purchase.
If you are stressed out because you have a lot of debt payments to manage every month, use technology to your advantage. You can have automatic payments coming out of your checking account. You can also have a simple reminder in your smartphone regarding your payment due dates. This will help you prevent overlooking payment dates.
You can also look into debt consolidation to have an easier time in managing your payments. You get to budget your money better because you get to focus on fewer payment obligations every month. Once you combine your payment under one account, you only have to send out one payment every time. You only worry about one due date and even one interest rate every time.
Get help if you need it
There could be times when you are really having a tough time and you already need help. The first set of people you need to reach out should be family and friends. These are the ones who have your best interest at heart. You can also look at finance professionals to help you put direction in terms of your personal finance.
It is really tough to try and budget your money to the best of your ability when you are stressed out but there are ways to do it. The last thing you need is to panic thinking that there is no way out. There is always a solution, you just have to look for it and understand that some results take time.