7 Tips to Reduce Your Financial Stress
financial stress

7 Tips to Reduce Your Financial Stress

How can a hole in your pocket cause a hole in your gums? The answer is stress. Financial stress affects more than your wallet. It can have a ripple effect on your health and interpersonal relationships. In no other process can our thoughts alter our bodily functions so suddenly and so powerfully.

stress makes work an elite branch of your body's military, specially trained to take emergency measures in response to major threats. As soon as your brain senses danger, it goes into fight-or-flight mode. It sends orders to the outposts of the adrenal and pituitary glands to mobilize the hormones adrenaline and cortisol.

In this article, we'll cover ten ways to do just that. We start first by removing some of the mental roadblocks that are keeping you financially stressed. But before you start, here's how to improve the conversion rate in your online store.

The Mental Obstacles of Financial Stress

1. Start by narrowing down your choices

It’s all too easy to let the fear of making a bad choice keep you from making any choices. Maybe you have a limited amount of money to invest, or you’re worried about making a big purchase. Sometimes you can’t decide what’s most important. When faced with a multitude of options, remember this: you don’t have to make the “right” choice, you have to make the optimal choice. You don’t have to make the “final” choice. You just have to make a choice, the choice to act.

financial stress

There are tools to help you, and we're going to show you what they are. But first, let's address another mental obstacle that can keep you financially stressed. Then learn how to let go of your defeatist attitude.

2. Let go of your pessimistic attitude

The second mental barrier that leads to financial stress is pessimism. If the fear of making the “wrong” choices about your finances has left you feeling indecisive, imagine how it must feel for people who feel like they have no choice at all. The idea of ​​letting go of your pessimistic attitude is to find a way to believe that somehow, even in the most untenable circumstances, there is hope.

Organizations like America Saves exist to help you find that hope. Simple things like making a gratitude list or visualizing yourself without financial stress can also help you feel more optimistic.

Now that you feel decisive and undefeated, you’re almost ready to receive practical strategies for reducing financial stress. But first, let’s discuss how to overcome another mental obstacle to reducing financial stress. I’m talking about your life partner.

3. Stop driving in circles

Working together will help keep your financial ship afloat (and save you a lot of stress!). Working together will help keep your financial ship afloat (and will save you a lot of stress!). When it comes to finances, think of each household as a boat. If you're a single person, you'll have to pull your own weight to get where you want to go. If you have a family to support, your journey can be easier or much more difficult depending on whether your rowers row together or not.

Let's take the example of the hypothetical couple Faustin and Faustina. Faustine, a notorious spendthrift, studies the advertising circulars and reprimands Faustin for having paid $0,50 more than necessary for the soap. "But I would have had to go to two stores to get that discount!" Faustin protests, frustrated.

Even in relationships where couples are fundamentally on the same financial page, differences in priorities (she wants to send the kids to private school; her partner wants to save for college) can send the boat into circles. To keep the boat moving, partners must learn to communicate and row together.

Article to read: How to avoid high bank charges?

Tools for dealing with financial stress

Set your budget and stick to it

Now that you've removed some mental roadblocks that are keeping you financially stressed, you're ready to learn about the real solutions to financial stress. There are four basic principles for revamping your financial life: stick to a budget, cut spending, reduce debt, and start saving.

reduce financial stress

Budgeting isn’t rocket science. In the simplest terms, you put your income at the top of the page and then subtract your expenses. The remaining amount is what you can spend on other things, like reducing debt and increasing savings.

Having a written budget gives you confidence in your personal financial strategy. Which can also help you significantly reduce your financial stress levels. There are literally hundreds of apps and tools you can use to create a budget. Here are some free online budgeting sites and financial networking tools you can use: Mint.com, Geezeo.com, and Wesabe.com.

However, even people who recognize that budgeting is important can find themselves slipping up, rather than sticking to a budget. Not only do unexpected expenses—car repairs, price hikes, and Cub Scout dues—throw us over; we can also get sidetracked by fun things like dinner invitations, Starbucks pit stops, and two-for-one sales on items we may or may not need.

Reduce your expenses

Cutting back on your spending reduces your financial stress. When you create a budget, you may discover unwanted truths about your financial situation. Fortunately, the skills you’ve learned to overcome the mental obstacles that keep you financially stressed will serve you well as you navigate the challenges that budgeting can present. When your budget shows you have more in the month than in the money, the solution is to cut back on spending.

With the right attitude, cutting costs can actually be fun. Make it a game. Encourage little Faustin to earn his own Girl Scout dues by mowing lawns. Allow teenage Faustine to have her own smartphone — if she gets a Saturday job to cover the bill. Split the grocery list and split the family to see who can find the best deal.

There are also free online resources to help you save. We'll talk more about these later. With a little ingenuity and an optimistic attitude, you can and will cut back on your expenses, leaving you with more money at the end of the month to spend on other financial planning basics.

Get rid of your debts

While debt elimination, retirement, and emergency savings are all essential to eliminating financial stress, getting rid of debt should be your number one priority. Certain types of debt (mortgages, student loans, etc.) can actually be good in the sense that they help you build your credit rating.

If you have excellent credit and feel like your rates are too high on your “good” debt, you may be able to cut costs simply by restructuring your “good” credit at lower rates. When it comes to “bad” credit—revolving credit or credit cards—however, the only solution is to pay it off as quickly as possible. Here are some tips to speed up debt reduction:

  • Consolidate the balances of credit card on the cheapest card possible
  • Always pay more than the minimum balance.
  • If you are paying more than one card, always pay the maximum amount possible on the card with the highest interest rate.

Once you pay off your debt, you end up with extra money at the end of the month. Next, we talk about savings strategies.

Retirement savings strategies

Taking a close look at your retirement options and investing wisely can give you financial peace of mind. If you can't decide how to invest the money you put into your account, consider putting it in a targeted retirement fund. You tell these funds the year you plan to retire, and the fund chooses a mix of stocks and bonds that will offer the best return with the least risk based on the time you have until your expected retirement date.

Now that you've changed your mindset and mastered the basics, you should feel less stressed and more in control of your finances. At this point, it's time to have a little fun. Next, we'll talk about ways to improve your credit score.

Optimize your credit score

If your credit score is stressing you out, turn it into a game, the same way you turned cost cutting into a fun family activity. And speaking of cost savings, we talked earlier about free online tools to help you save.

Obtaining a low credit score is a long and laborious process of paying your bills on time, building equity, and paying off debt. It takes years and there are few shortcuts. However, there are several things you can do to improve your score.

reduce stress

Surf the net and save

Sites like Billshrink.com are amazing, free resources that offer lots of tips for save money and reduce costs. Remember Faustine from our hypothetical couple Faustin and Faustine? Rather than scanning flyers for bargains that would have saved pennies (which would have been burned by going to a second store to shop), Faustine would do well to investigate some of the new cost-cutting and cost-comparison sites on the Internet.

Sites like billshrink.com, billeater.com and validas.com are free cost-comparison search engines that can save you money. You enter information about what you spend on gas, cell phone bills, television service, credit cards, utilities, insurance and a host of other consumables, and these sites suggest alternatives that can save you money.

For example, If you tell Billshrink that you pay $3,65 a gallon for gas at Station X on Y Road, the service will tell you if there is cheaper gas nearby.

Sites like Billshrink cost you nothing and take the stress out of cost comparisons by doing most of the time-consuming research for you. Knowing that you’re saving money will give you confidence in the purchases you make, which brings us to our number one tip for reducing stress and saving money. Next up are coupons.

Coupons, Glorious Coupons!

Legend has it that Coca-Cola Company owner Asa Candler created the world's first coupon by handwriting tickets for a free drink of Coca-Cola in 1887. Since then, coupons have become a mainstay of American consumer life.

They’re now all over the internet with sites like Coupon Sherpa and phone apps like Pushpin. You don’t have to become an “extreme couponer” to enjoy the benefits of coupons. Here are some tips for stress-free couponing:

Learn the lingo: A “stackable” coupon is one where you can use a manufacturer’s offer in addition to a store coupon. A “double” coupon is a situation where a store doubles the value of a coupon on a certain day or time period.

Be organized: Mobile apps like Pushpin organize and keep track of your coupons for you. For old-fashioned paper coupons, you'll have to organize them yourself by date and type so they don't expire before you can use them.

Buy only what you need: A good deal isn't so sweet if that two-for-one shampoo is gathering dust in your cabinet months after you bought it. Only clip coupons for brands and products you actually use.

I am a Doctor in Finance and an Expert in Islamic Finance. Business consultant, I am also a Teacher-Researcher at the High Institute of Commerce and Management, Bamenda of University. Group Founder Finance de Demain and author of several books and scientific articles.

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