Guest post by Trevor Davis
You cannot remember when you last time slept soundly for an entire night, your palms are sweaty every time you enter a store, and your stomach’s in knots every time you receive another bill. If you think you’re sick, you may want to think again. Your poor finances probably stress you out, but don’t worry you’re not the only one who’s struggling. Money is the biggest stress cause in adults, with over a quarter of them feeling overwhelmed about daily finances. 1 in 5 employees describes their financial wellbeing as very poor or poor. Most people are living paycheck to paycheck monthly.
The primary factors that trigger financial stress are the impression of feeling financially behind your friends, the inability to cover unexpected expenses, and the impossibility to reach your goals.
What can you do to relax? Should you earn more money? Should you learn how to budget your finances more effectively? Maybe both. Often, extra money leads to extra spending on all the things that you’ve been keeping in online shopping carts for a while. But if you’re not improving your spending habits, the stress you experience can impact your relationships, health, and even future.
What is financial stress?
Financial stress is anxiety, fear, and worry about your monthly budget. It’s often associated with physical symptoms like fatigue, headaches, insomnia, and other similar signs. If you have ever dealt with a form of stress related to finances, you probably know how daunting it feels.
Financial anxiety can sneak up on you anytime. Usually, you recognize the symptoms because they’re far from pretty. But the best way to determine if you’re suffering from financial stress or another form of anxiety is to check the symptoms. This type is often associated with poor coping habits, physical and health issues, losing or gaining weight, difficulty sleeping, depression, anxiety and worry. Of course, this is a shortlist of symptoms you can experience when dealing with financial stress; they differ from an individual to another.
Financial stress often takes a toll on relationships, money issues being the number one issue married couples argue about.
You shouldn’t let financial stress to take over your life or relationship; it’s the moment to change your mindset and take control over your life.
How to deal with financial stress
Stress has controlled your life for long enough; you need to leave it behind and improve your health. Here is how you can relieve financial stress.
Create a budget
You may think that creating a budget will only add to your financial stress, but it’s the best tool you can use to control your finances and lower your anxiety. The budget allows you to decide when and how you spend money. You make a plan that includes monthly expenses and ways to accomplish your saving goals. Budgeting can also help you identify strategies to put extra money toward debt.
At first, it may be challenging to make and stick to a budget, but once you understand how it improves your finances and reduces your worries, you’ll no longer find it daunting.
Create an emergency fund
You may have heard people talking about emergency funds a lot since the pandemic started. It’s a savings account you create with the purpose to cover unexpected expenses and other financial emergencies you cannot plan. Although paying for a healthcare treatment can be expensive and overwhelming, if you know you can use your emergency fund to cover it, your stress will go away. You can also stick to your monthly budget if you have extra money you can use to pay for unexpected emergencies.
If you’re in debt, put at least £1000 in your emergency account. As soon as you’re out of debt, have from three to six months of living expenses saved.
When you’re living from paycheck to paycheck, it’s challenging to build an emergency fund, so you can start by putting aside as little as £100 a month. You can also sell some of the items you no longer used and set the profit aside for tough times.
Practice gratitude
You probably know the say the grass is greener on the other side. But if you care for your lawn and do your best to keep it in its best shape, you won’t even notice your neighbor’s. Why? Because you’re content with yours.
The best way to relieve financial stress is to do things differently than you did it before. Start with curbing your need to buy something only because you want them. Keeping up with all those Instagram influencers won’t help you feel more grateful for what you have, it’ll only make you want something you cannot afford. And buying things you don’t afford will only get you further into debt.
So, identify the factors that trigger your need to buy things, and cut them out of your life. One step would be to unfollow the social media accounts that promote products and services you don’t need. Instead of waking up and scrolling through social media for half an hour, you can run in the park and improve your body shape. If you feel like your stress is overwhelming you, natural products like the ones from Organic CBD Nugs can help you relax.
Determine what you can change
When you’re experiencing financial issues, you probably have a spending problem, income issue, or a combination of both. If you determine that you don’t earn enough money to pay your monthly expenses, change the situation by applying for another job. Another option is to go back to school and qualify for a higher paying position.
If you have a spending issue and compulsive behavior, get professional help. An expert can help you identify the triggers that cause your problems and help you treat it before it impacts your life and relationship.
Remember, you control both your financial situation and psychological state, and you need to look for ways to relieve the anxiety that took over your life.
