How to stop the money worries

“The only way to tackle money worries is to have the courage to look the problem in the eye and deal with it.”

It seems from the?latest credit crunch report?which shows a 23% increase in overdue home loan balances and 13% increase in overdue credit card payments, that an increasing number of South Africans have money problems.?

Listening in to the people around me, South Africans have money worries to match!??

Money problems like this affect everyone. If our clients are over-spending and defaulting on their debt as the report indicates, then there is less money for them to spend on purchasing, or worse you may find that you have extended credit to them, and they are not paying you as promised.???

That creates money worries for us, as we lie awake at night wondering how to pay for rent, electricity, phone, stock purchases and the dreaded month end bills.??

The only way to deal with money worries is to tear off the blinkers, look at the problem and solve the gap between income and expenditure. The question is, how???

The following rules on solving money problems apply to both personal and company. (Apologies to the bookkeepers, accountants and MBAs for its deliberate simplicity)??

1. Look the problem in the eye!?Take a deep breath and write down everyone you owe. Include credit cards, store cards, home loans, family. Everything. Then add it up to get a total.???
2. Understand the cause of the problem – your spending.?Write down everything you are spending money including rent, electricity, insurance, food, medical, gifts, tips and what you must pay to your debtors on a monthly basis (e.g. your monthly home loan). Everything.? Add it up.???
3. Write down what you earn, subtract your expenses to work out how much is left.?Now you have a number on the size of money management problem.??

If what you owe monthly is higher than your income you have two options – either to increase your income (get a second job, increase your marketing efforts) or reduce your monthly expenses.??

Here, I am only going to speak about reducing expenses, because we can all do this:??

1. Regulate your spending.?Become conscious of your spending by listing every single Rand you spend and where it goes as you spend it.??
2. Change your spending habits.?Set yourself and your team or family a monthly budget. Talk about it and make it a shared challenge. Reward yourself for sticking to it. Buy only what is on the written shopping list (I saved up to 30% of my grocery bills like this when the children were younger, and I was a single breadwinner!).???
3. Cut up your credit cards, store cards.?Get rid of the temptation to buy what you can’t afford by cutting up your extra cards. Aim to get to one credit card that you pay off in full every month??
4. Get tough on lending.?Unless you can afford to lose the money, stop extending credit to customers (or family). Use the charity spending line item on your budget if you absolutely have to.??

I have never met anyone that hasn’t at some time been in a scary debt situation, owing more than they can manage, including myself. If this is you, the turning point starts today with the courage to look the problem in the eye and deal with it. The goal is to reach a point where your money management is in control, you have growing savings and money worries are thing of the past.??

If your money worries really feel out of control, get yourself a financial advisor to walk this journey with you.??

Wishing you a week of mindful spending and the courage to look your money problems in the eye!?

With love and gratitude,

Catherine

#Behonest #Financialhealth #Money

Read last week "Unlock your female advantage"...

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