How to Deal with Financial Stress

In a time where many people and businesses are having trouble keeping up, managing financial stress has become more important than ever. The way you manage your stress can have a big impact on your personal, professional and financial wellbeing. Dealing with your situation effectively is the best thing you can do to reach a happy outcome and get your finances under control. To help you get started, we’ve put together 7 tips for how to deal with financial stress.

1. Identify your financial stressors

Financial stress gets overwhelming very quickly. If you want to have any chance of navigating the situation and finding a solution, the first thing you need to do is identify what’s causing your stress. 

It’s often helpful to make a list. Include details about your bills – such as credit cards, loans, utilities and mortgages – and your regular repayments. Compare these repayments against your budget and look for ways to reduce your expenses or manage your debts more effectively. Using your list to identify your stressors and make a plan can go a long way to dealing with financial stress in the short term.

2. Make one decision at a time

Attempting to tackle your financial stress all at once is challenging. Studies from the American Psychological Association have found that our self-control is depleted by making hard decisions one after the other. This eventually leads to a breakdown in willpower that makes it difficult to keep your money in check.

Instead, work within your plan and take financial decisions one at a time. Space out your spending to make it easier to keep yourself under control, and prioritise paying your existing bills before allocating money for your other needs. If you need help with your bills, contact your lenders and talk to them about setting up payment plans.

3. Track your spending

Tracking exactly how much you’re spending is one of the most important things you can do to manage financial stress. That’s a challenge for a lot of people, with 43% of all Australians reporting that they don’t really know where their money goes. If that sounds familiar then the best thing you can do is pinpoint exactly what you are spending your money on.

For some of us that might mean writing out a list of daily purchases by hand, or you could simply check your banking apps throughout the day. Knowing how much you are spending each day prevents those small purchases from adding up across the month and hurting your overall financial health.

4. Prioritise the important things

Whether you’re managing your business’ money or your own, handling financial stress means taking care of the important bills first. Your financial obligations should be taken seriously – that means paying loans, credit card bills and utilities before spending money on other things. If your spending outstrips your budget then it’s time to rein yourself in and prioritise the things you can’t do without.

5. Avoid spending temptation

If using your willpower to control spending is proving difficult, avoiding temptation altogether can be a major boost. For many people it’s easier to avoid going out than it is to avoid spending money unnecessarily while you’re out. That doesn’t mean you need to stop spending time with your friends. Instead, try choosing social activities that won’t encourage impulsive spending, such as visiting a park rather than going shopping. Or, if you do need to go shopping, make a list of exactly what you need and leave your credit cards at home so you won’t be tempted to make large purchases that are out of your budget.

6. Deal with financial stress properly

Financial stress takes its toll, and we each have different methods for coping with the strain. If you are experiencing financial stress then it’s important to monitor how you are handling the situation. Avoiding unhealthy coping strategies is the best thing you can do to break the cycle of bad habits and deal with your stressors. It’s also important to remain alert to whether your stress is causing conflict between you and the people around you.

7. Seek professional support

You aren’t alone when dealing with financial stress. Your friends and the people around you can offer support, but there are also a range of professional services available to people experiencing financial issues. Having professional assistance to manage your finances can help you get your debts under control and minimise your stress levels. A professional can even help you negotiate with your creditors to settle your debts or arrange more manageable repayment conditions.

Struggling to Manage Your Financial Stress? Let Business Savers Help!

Financial stress is an unfortunate fact of life for many people. If you need help keeping up with your bills, loans and financial obligations, professional financial stress management is the best way to get on top of your debts! The team at Business Savers are experts at dealing with financial stress and finding solutions that help you get your life back on track. We work with individuals and businesses of all sizes, providing services, such as voluntary administration and creditors’ voluntary liquidation to help manage your financial position and find relief from your creditors. Contact us today to find out what your options are, or call us on 1300 069 155 to book a confidential consultation with our expert team.