We’ve all dealt with financial stress. It’s one of the things that adults experience at least once in their lives. For most, it can seem like a daunting experience to tackle, especially if you’re unsure where to begin.
Carrying this stress causes a tremendous impact on overall health. As one balances work, family, chores, and finances, it takes a toll on one’s physical and mental health, causing a lack of sleep, self-esteem, and low feelings of worth.
If you’ve been feeling hopeless and overwhelmed lately, here are strategies that can help you cope with this stress.
Speak With a Credit Counselor
A credit counselor can help you with your bad credit score, outstanding debt, and other financial problems. Consulting with a credit counselor can help reduce your worries since these professionals look at your finances, help you make cuts, and, therefore, eliminate any debt you may have. It may take a while, but follow the counselor’s advice and personalized plan to tackle your financial situation.
Additionally, understanding one’s credit score is another helpful way to get out of debt. Work with a credit counselor on how to better understand this score, how you can improve it, and more.
Talk to Someone
Many experts say that talking to someone can provide stress relief. Individuals with financial stress can lessen this anxiety by calling a friend or family and unloading their problems. As such, one of the most popular therapies is ‘talk therapy.’ Many psychologists use this method to communicate with their patients and hear about what stresses them, their problems, and how they deal with them.
Avoid living in your head and worries. When people share their problems, even financial problems, they seem more manageable. It’s easy for humans to spiral and think of more ways one’s financial standing can go wrong. However, sharing your worries with a loved one can help.
Ask your loved one if they’re in the right headspace to listen to your problems. If you want, tell them that you have no intention of borrowing money and would just like to vent out your financial problems to someone willing to lend an ear. This way, you can establish boundaries to help your relationship with them flourish.
They may not have the solutions for you since you would need a person with credentials for that, but just opening up to someone you trust helps unload the pressure, stress, and sadness you’ve been keeping to yourself.
Seek Mental Health Counseling
Seeking mental health counseling isn’t just for those with mental health disorders- it’s for everyone. All of us often feel bouts of sadness, hopelessness, or anxiety, especially when it comes to our financial situation. On times when you have a lot on your mind and just want to unload these thoughts, it’s best to seek counseling.
If your financial stress causes you to become anxious, depressed, lose interest in activities, or you aren’t eating right enough to interfere in your life, it may be time to seek help. You can seek help from hotlines for temporary fixes or seek a therapist.
A financial therapist can help you cope with financial anxiety and guide you to create a more robust economic foundation. These professionals would also help you recognize and appropriately respond to financial stress. While many individuals experience financial stress, not everyone knows how to deal with and manage it.
If you can’t afford a therapy session, there are free hotlines that you can call and digital tools you can use. Also, try to search for therapists or counselors that offer sessions in a sliding scale payment method. This payment method is adjusted based on an individual’s income.
Create Monthly Budget
A monthly budget helps you keep track of your expenses and practice mindful spending. A budget also helps relieve financial stress since every cent of your salary has a purpose and a designated bill to pay.
Creating a monthly budget should include your everyday expenses like travel costs, groceries, monthly rent, utility bills, debt, and miscellaneous items. Budgeting money for unexpected expenses like prescription charges or medical bills is also essential.
Practice mindful spending and prioritizing when you spend money. Decide how much you should put aside for each critical item you must spend money on, like bills or groceries.
You can use the 50/30/20 budgeting strategy, where you use 50% of your after-tax income for mandatory expenses, e.g., bills; 30% for your wants and discretionary spending; and 20% for debt repayment and savings.
And to ensure that you pay your monthly bills on time, it’s also great to set up automatic payments.
Identify Your Spending Habits
Often, the cause of financial stress is one’s spending habits. Identify these habits first. Assess yourself and see if you fall for impulse buys instead of sticking to your budget. Determine if you’d rather be practical, make meals and drinks at home, or purchase from restaurants and coffee shops.
You can start making lifestyle changes once you’ve identified these spending habits. It’s never too late to start changing your ways of spending as long as individuals know how they use their money.
Final Thoughts
The above suggestions help you deal with financial stress, budgeting problems, debt, credit score, etc. Don’t let money make you feel beaten down and impact your sleep and self-esteem. Take charge of your financial and mental situation. The only way to resolve problems is to face and solve them head-on.
