How to Deal With Financial Stress?

Money is an integral part of our daily life. While it’s normal to worry about them from time to time, you can’t let these thoughts take over you so much that it starts affecting you. In today’s unstable economic environment, in which various money troubles can literally happen to anyone, financial stress has become a reality for many. This article will help you or your loved ones cope with daily pressure.

What Is Financial Stress?

The term “financial stress” is quite broad. It’s used to describe any situations and experiences related to money. It may be their shortage, lack of savings, upcoming major purchases, health problems that require expensive treatment, and much more. While small worries are okay and might even be beneficial as you adapt and become more resilient, prolonged emotional stress drains your body’s resources, and you may experience severe effects of financial stress.

When you constantly worry about various problems, including the bad financial situation, your body produces cortisol, the so-called “stress hormone.” On the one hand, it improves attention, increases blood circulation, and helps synthesize glucose, which allows you to survive “danger.” On the other hand, it’s impossible to stay in such a state all the time. The constant excess of cortisol levels causes dysfunction, inflammation, depression, and more. That is why you need to know how to manage financial stress to prevent deterioration of health.

Financial Stress and Mental Health

Constantly being anxious about money affects your mental state, which in turn gradually affects your physical health. Here are some of the main symptoms that show you need to deal with financial stress as soon as possible:

• problems with sleep;
• increased anxiety;
• irritability;
• panic attacks;
• conflicts in personal life;
• the emergence of addictions;
• depression, and more.

Your issues do not end with mental problems. They can continue in the form of metabolic syndrome and diabetes, reduced immunity and long-term treatment for even simple diseases, an increase in the number of inflammatory markers in the blood, the development of migraines, and so on. It’s important not to bring the situation to such a neglected state and start managing your money in the early stages.

The first signals that your body may send you may be an increase in heart rate and panic when talking about money. Often during stressful periods, there is a sharp weight gain or loss. Also, you can constantly mentally return to large purchases or loans. All the symptoms and diseases described above are closely related and clearly indicate that you need to solve the money problem since it is the root cause.

How to Get Out of Financial Trouble: 5 Tips

When you realize that your main health issues are due to money problems, you need to understand that constant worrying and thinking without action won’t lead to anything. It’s important to ask yourself just one question, “I am struggling financially; what can I do?” Based on our experience, we have developed five effective steps that will help you minimize emotional stress and improve money management:

1. Adjust the regime. Dealing with financial stress should start with working on yourself. Try to improve your sleep schedule, eat right, work out, or go for regular walks in the fresh air. Get rid of things like surfing social media, junk food, caffeine, lack of exercise, etc.
2. Identify anxiety triggers. The reasons for your stress may be different. It’s essential to determine what exactly provokes it and work on it. It could be debt relief, higher wages, or an additional source of income. Make a list of your financial challenges that will allow you to live life to the fullest after getting rid of them.
3. Create a budget. This step is mandatory in any manual on how to fix financial problems. Budgeting helps keep all your expenses and income under control and get a detailed picture of your current state. Any online budgeting planner visualizes your transactions and helps identify weak points.
4. Set realistic goals. Your budget should be based on what problems you want to solve. Trying to cover them all at once might seem overwhelming, so you should develop a step-by-step plan to reach your goals, like getting out of debt. For example, the debt snowball method pushes you to pay the smallest debt first.
5. Optimize financial flows. The budget you develop allows you to determine what expenses you can refuse (usually purchases from the “wishes” category) without compromising the quality of life. You can also find a part-time job, monetize your hobby, or work overtime for a while to get extra money.

These are fairly simple but effective steps to reduce emotional stress due to money problems. As with any big task, they need to be dealt with gradually, step-by-step. And if you are unsure how to cope with financial stress on your own, consult with pros. Experienced analytics will conduct a comprehensive assessment of your condition and recommend the best ways out of your situation.

Ways of Managing Money to Gain Financial Confidence

The key to dealing with financial setbacks and the resulting stress is keeping track of all income, expenses, and savings. Choose a budgeting plan that suits you, such as the 50/30/20 method, and stick to it. Platforms like Saldo Finance will help you control all transactions as they automate this process. Knowing exactly where your money goes, you can channel financial flows in the direction you need. Also, the presence of an emergency fund is a guarantee of your peace of mind. Experts recommend saving an amount that covers your expenses for three to nine months. In case of a job loss or sudden illness, you will be calm because you’ll have something to live on.

Try to minimize the use of credit cards. They create the illusion that you spend your own money when they are not yours. Instead, collect discount cards and coupons that allow you to spend less on purchases from time to time. If your debt seems overwhelming, talk to lenders about your situation rather than try to hide from them. In most cases, such companies are ready to go along and revise the payment plan or provide a repayment holiday to get their money back eventually.

Our last piece of advice on how not to stress about money is that you should increase your financial literacy. By understanding the basic economic processes and knowing how money works, you will be able to arrange proper finance management with more confidence.