Educate Yourself

People find themselves in stressful economic situations for complex and varied reasons, but the problems usually could have been avoided or minimized with more financial literacy. Managing your money is not difficult, and it can be fun and empowering. You're sure to learn much of value if you search online for "financial literacy" or "personal finance." There are many excellent courses available that will cover everything you need to know, and some of the most highly recommended ones are free.

There may be ways to resolve your financial worries that you don't even know exist. If you're a  homeowner, using velocity banking to optimize mortgage repayment might help maximize your financial health while providing the essentials needed for stability. Strategies and possibilities are abundant, and having good options will reduce your stress.

Face the Facts

Get in touch with your financial reality. Don't put your head in the sand. You need real data if you are going to get that stress to go away. This doesn't mean you should inflict your money problems on yourself, just that you should, when you're in a strong frame of mind, figure out what your financial situation is.

This quiz gives you a snapshot of your financial health when you answer 10 multiple-choice questions and also offers suggestions on how to improve your finances. You might enjoy gathering together your records of outgo and income and feeding them into a free budgeting app, which will organize them for you and let you play with the data to your heart's content. Find out what you're spending your money on. Check your credit report for a look at how your creditors think you're doing.

Take Action

Now that you are clear about your financial problems and have some good ideas for dealing with them, do something — spend less, earn more, make arrangements with your creditors. There are many online sites that will help you craft a financial plan, including a budget, for free. If you're dealing with a lot of debt, consider contacting a consumer credit counseling service. Many of these are non-profit, and some are free. Not only are they a great source of information, but they will also help you look over your entire financial situation and find a way to escape the trap of high-interest credit cards.

Accumulate a Cushion

Part of money stress is the worry about what will happen if anything goes wrong. Think how much better you would feel if you had a bit of extra money set aside, and make it a priority to do it as part of your financial plan. One simple way to accumulate a cushion is to set aside a certain amount in your checking account each month and just pretend it's not there. If you get a tax refund or bonus, just put it in your account and pretend you didn't get it. 

Once you gain mastery over your finances instead of letting them control you, life will be less stressful. Whatever the facts are, you have faced them, and you have equipped yourself with resources and knowledge that will lift you onto a comfortable financial plane.

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