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Worrying about money is something that almost every single person experiences at some point. Give these 5 awesome ways to banish money worries a try and start living a more relaxed life.
Often in life, you may find yourself with too much month left for the amount of money you have. This can cause massive worrying about money.
While we can’t always control how much money we make or expenses that might crop up during a month, by making a few lifestyle changes, you can eliminate the feeling that you’re on the edge of disaster.
After being over $107,000 in debt and putting living expenses on credit cards for years, I made these changes, and it has made all of the difference in mine and my family’s lives.
This post is all about ways to stop worrying about money and live a more carefree life.
1. Eliminate Debt
We’re just going to start with the big one first. The best way to eliminate worrying about money is to eliminate debt. This may seem like an overwhelming task and miles out of reach, when what you need is to get rid of your money worries today.
Unfortunately, like me, it probably took you years to accumulate the amount of debt that you have, and getting rid of it doesn’t happen overnight.
However, there are some great ways to get out of debt, and most people when they follow a step-by-step plan, eliminate all of their debt within 2 years.
I highly recommend checking out Financial Peace University. This is the plan that enabled me and my family to pay off over $107,000 in debt in less than 2 years. After living debt-free for the last 4 years, I can say that I do not spend my nights awake worrying about money anymore, and have been able to navigate through job losses and changes.
2. Plan, Plan, Plan
One of the biggest factors in getting rid of my worries about money was to start using a daily planner. Planners give you a place to track your plans for the month, and this can have a great impact on your finances.
Here are 4 things you can keep track of in a planner that will help you chase all of that worrying about money away:
1. Meal Plan
Plan out your meals for the week or even the whole month, and avoid not only the money worries with how to have enough money to eat, but also avoid the dreaded debate on what to eat each night.
If things happen like they do in my house, anytime we’re undecided on food, it always spirals down to a horrible back and forth of “What do you want?”.
Meal planning can side-step these dreaded conversations, help save money, and also afford you the opportunity to make healthy meals.
2. Navigate busy evenings
Do you have a night or two where you won’t be home to cook? Writing out your schedule for the week will allow you to identify days or evenings that may be really busy, and might impact your ability to cook dinner or even be home to eat.
Tracking these busy dates in a planner can allow you to identify these hurdles ahead of time, and figure out a way to navigate them.
3. Habit tracking
Your habits have a strong impact on your daily routines, and your routines directly impact your money. Some great habits to track in your planner that can have tremendous benefits include: abstaining from soda, having a no spend day, reading a book, reading the Bible, spending time in prayer or meditation.
Tracking your habits daily is a great way to baby step your way to a happier, healthier life.
4. Identify important dates
Do you have any birthdays, anniversaries, or special occasions coming up? Using a planner to track upcoming special dates can help you to budget more accurately for your month.
3. Get Rid of the Ordinary and Strive for the Extraordinary
Basically, this can change your whole outlook on shopping. Many people have jumped on the Marie Kondo bandwagon, and others have made fun of it. In a nutshell, she urges you to only keep things you love.
While I personally don’t agree with all of her methods, this tip on getting rid of your worrying about money, goes hand-in-hand with this one piece of her philosophy.
Stop buying lots of random things, such as clothes.
I used to go to the outlet malls and discount stores and buy a few new pieces of clothes frequently. This resulted in my closet being stuffed with clothes that I never wanted to wear and that didn’t last.
One day I considered taking a trip out to do some more shopping to add to my already full closet, I just couldn’t find anything in the closet I wanted to wear. Nothing fit correctly. Nothing was really “my style”, and most things were faded or had holes.
If you find yourself in this same position, I recommend you do what I did. Ditch all of the cheap, ill-fitting clothes. For the price of 2 or 3 of those tops, you could have 1 nice top that fits you perfectly and you can’t wait to wear. For the price of 2 pairs of those too-tight, not quite short enough or long enough jeans, you could have 1 pair that you look amazing in.
Choose to pay a little more for 1 of the things that make you feel great, in exchange for 3 of the things that make you feel…ugh. Then, only buy a few items. You don’t need 20 tops. You only need 7.
Apply this to other items besides clothes, and you can have a simple, elegant home, an organized kitchen, and a clutter-free life filled with only things that are worth your money.
[RELATED POST: 8 Simple Living Ideas for Escaping an Overwhelming World]
4. Use Free Resources
There are so many free resources available now, and most people do not utilize them, or even know they are available. My favorite free resources is the local library.
The library of 2021 is not the library of your childhood. I remember visiting the library when I was a kid. It was a quiet place full of books, but today, you might be surprised at what all your local library has to offer.
1. DVD’s
Most libraries now carry a large selection of current and classic movies across all genres. Not only can you rent them for free, you usually get them for a week or more. So no worries about returning them by the next day, even if you ran out of time to watch it.
2. Events
Many libraries now offer lots of different events for children, adults, seniors, singles and families. From special guest teachers and game nights, to movie nights, you can find all kinds of free entertainment.
3. Technology
Most libraries now provide computers and sometimes tablets for you to use while you’re in the building. Instead of having to buy expensive devices, you can utilize the ones at the library for free or a small daily fee.
By utilizing technology outside of your home, you can lower the amount of time you spend online, which can be beneficial to your health.
4. Books!
Did you know that there are many benefits to reading? Some of my favorite benefits include, lowering stress levels, living longer, and improving your focus.
If you have gotten out of the habit of doing daily reading, today is a great day to pick up the habit. Check out all 10 of these great benefits of reading every day.
5. Do a Monthly Budget
One key to taking control of your money, so as to quit worrying about money, is to start doing a monthly budget. If you’re like me, you probably heard the word “budget” with a negative connotation most of your life. I avoided doing a budget for the first 20 years of my married life….no lie.
Don’t be like me. Start doing a budget today.
First of all, a budget is not negative. It’s one of the most positive things I do every month now. These are the three big reasons to start a budget today:
1. You get to tell your money where to go
Are you tired of wondering every month what happened to all of your money? Where did it all go? Where is the $1000 worth of stuff in my house, since that $1000 isn’t in my account anymore? The truth is, it just gets frittered away.
By doing a budget before you get paid each month, you get to decide where every dollar of your paycheck is going to go before it ever hits your account.
2. Just stick to it
After creating your budget, your job is easy….just stick to it. You have $200 to spend on eating out? Yay! You get to decide which restaurants get blessed with your money this month. When the $200 is gone, then you’re done eating out.
You have $75 to buy that new purse you’ve had you’re eye on? WooHoo! Go get it, then don’t get anything else this month.
Take my word for it, having limits on your spending actually feels very freeing.
3. Set yourself up for success
By creating your budget at the beginning of the month, you are setting yourself up for money success. You will no longer feel the fear of running out of money, or those sleepless nights worrying about money and where it all went.
[RELATED POST: The Importance of Budgeting and 7 Surprising Benefits]
6. Pay Attention
It seems like everywhere you turn now days, you hear the word “intentional” It’s been so used and overused, a lot of people just tune it out. Really, it’s just a fancy word for paying attention. One of the leading causes of money worries comes from worrying about running out of money or not having enough money each month.
You can remove this aspect of your worry by paying attention.
If you are like I was, you may not know how much money you have each month, how much needs to go out, or what the big picture of your finances actually looks like. Five years ago, I thought ignoring the details would keep the worry away, but it wasn’t until I started looking at the details all the time, that the worry disappeared.
The best way to do this is write down your spending….every….day.
This may seem difficult and like it might make you crazy, but I can attest to the opposite effect. By looking at your spending and writing it down every day, either on a transaction printable or on a spreadsheet, you will know exactly how much money you have at all times.
Another benefit to writing your spending down every day, is that it makes tracking your spending quick and easy. Most days, you won’t have more than 2 or 3 purchases, so it shouldn’t take you more than 3-5 minutes to stay up to date.
You will eliminate any surprise deductions from your account by tracking your spending each day. It’s easy to lose track of receipts and memories of purchases. By writing it down each day, you’re sure to know every expense before it comes out of your account.
7. Be Realistic
This tip has proven to be the hardest one for me to get a grasp on. For the first year that I did a budget, I hardly ever stuck to it. I finally had to come to grips with the fact that my budget was a fantasy.
Creating a budget that isn’t realistic will be impossible to keep. So, keep it real.
Here are some hard facts and questions you might need to address:
1. You have to eat.
Don’t budget $200 a month for food, if it really costs you $600 a month. Now, cutting back on snacks and sugary drinks will not only help your budget, but they’ll improve your health.
Some cuts to your food budget can be good, but undercutting your budget in an effort to save money to a point that you can’t actually feed yourself or your family will just cause you to fail that month.
2. Are you really going out to eat?
Here is where I failed most of the time. I’d budget $0 for eating out and say we’re never going into a restaurant this month. However, I knew my daughter and her family were coming to visit at least one weekend that month, and we would want to take them to their favorite restaurant.
Budgeting for this trip out, along with nights that I knew we wouldn’t get home until 9:00, just makes sense.
Avoiding restaurants, again, is not only beneficial to your wallet, but also to your health. However, setting your self up for success with a realistic budget and some self-control will go a long way.
3. Do you have blow money?
Blow money is essentially money you get to blow, or spend on anything you want. It could include entertainment, eating lunch out, or a purse you’ve been eyeing.
Having money budgeted as blow money is important, because being successful at eliminating worrying about money means that you feel like you can spend money on things that are important to you. Feeling constrained by your budget can make you feel more money worries.
Be sure to budget in a reasonable amount of money each month for you (and a spouse, if applicable) to spend the way you want. I also highly recommend making it in cash, so as to keep from overspending.
Being realistic about these aspects of your money can help banish all of that worrying about money each month, because you will have a solid plan.
I personally use these seven steps every day, and I can tell you that my life will never be the same.
I hope this helps you with a few ways to get started in eliminating your worrying about money to begin moving toward a more carefree life.
If you have other methods that you have implemented in your life to eliminate money worries, I’d love for you to share it in a comment below.
