How do you worry less about money?
As an overthinker, I know how difficult it can be to worry less. I often found myself worrying at the start or the end of the month, even if I had enough money to make it through the month, and could even save money. Even if you’re not in financial peril, you can still have anxiety about your finances. In this article, I will share my best advice on how to worry less about money.
Have a budget, but don’t micromanage
It’s always a good idea to have a general idea of how much money comes in and how much money goes out. In most banking apps, you can see what your recurring expenses are. You should always make sure you know how much money you need every month for rent, recurring bills, taxes, etcetera. Then you take what’s left, and subtract groceries, household essentials, travel costs, and the like. The remaining amount of money then consists of a part that’s for your savings account and a part that you can spend on clothing, luxury items, gifts or other incidental costs that aren’t essential.
Even if you have money left to save each month, you can still find yourself worrying about money. Here are some tips on how to prevent anxiety about your finances, even if you’re doing fine. If that’s the case, try to use one method to track your budget (such as your banking app, an Excel sheet, other software or with pen and paper). Restrict yourself to one method, to prevent burn-out from manually updating multiple lists and to have the best oversight. Try to avoid listing daily expenses or checking your account multiple times a day, but restrict yourself to a maximum of once or twice a month.
Keep an eye on your finances
If you know how much money you have, it can also lessen your anxiety about your finances. Avoid not looking at your bank account at all, and try to stay updated on its balance. If you find it stressful to have a low balance on your payment account, you can choose to transfer money to your savings account at the end of the month, instead of the beginning of the month. If you prefer to set money aside as soon as you receive your salary, you can also automatically transfer your savings immediately.
Set money aside for fun things
It’s important to budget, but life isn’t just about saving money for later. Make sure you always have the budget to do fun activities, go out to dinner occasionally or buy presents. You’ll have to decide how much you want to spend each month. If you have trouble spending money on fun things, having a budget can also help to actually spend the money. You already set it aside, why not use it? Examples are:
- Clothing, accessories, jewellery
- Day trips, outings, going to the museum, zoo, etcetera
- Eating out, ice cream, drinks
- Presents, birthday gifts
- Vacation
- Electronics
- Unnecessary groceries you like to treat yourself with occasionally, such as more expensive fruit, higher-quality meat, and so forth.
Focus on your long-term goals
It doesn’t matter if you have trouble saving enough or spending enough money at the end of the month, it’s always a good idea to focus on your long-term financial goals. What do you want to have achieved in say ten, or twenty years? When you’re young, retirement probably isn’t very high on your list, but it’s important to start early enough to save money for later. Equally important but (hopefully) a bit closer on the timeline, is buying a house. It’s no use setting most of your money aside from goals that far in the future, but it’s always a good idea to keep in mind what your eventual financial goals are. That way, you can also start saving to specific ends, for example in different saving accounts.
Featured image by: Kaboompics.com
