Literally, we can say that money can give us happiness if we spend it in the right way and with proper attitudes. Nevertheless, money can also give us troubles if we don’t know how to manage our own finances and carelessly get ourselves stuck in myriad debts.

Of course, we do sometimes face financial stress and anxiety due to various factors and reasons. Each of us coming from all walks of life and most of the times we encounter different types of problems. Whatever kinds of situations that we face overtime, there will always be ways for us to go through during the tough and uncertainty times.

Thus, before our financial matters overtake our emotions and attitudes in a negative way or resort us to unhealthy activities, here are six powerful ways that we can apply to help us overcome stress and regain control of our finances, surely our life as well.

1. Recognize and understand your financial matter

The minute we feel miserable about our financial matters, we need to identify and understand our financial matter thoroughly. This is to ensure that at the end of the day, we will be able to find the suitable way or relevant approach to solve the matter appropriately. For instance, if we are stressful about not having enough money to pay off our debts and bills, we perhaps need to recheck our budget and spending habits. Once we are able to deal with our financial crisis, definitely we can decide what we can do to change and fix the financial matter and we should be able to diminish the stress.

2. Do regular budget reviews

It is important to keep our budget organized and updated. We need to take control of our finances by finding the time to review and organize our budget. Doing regular checkups will allow us to inspect our finance that is coming in and out of our bank account. Only then we can keep a clear picture of what’s happening with our finance and the less stress we will feel by setting our priorities properly.

3. Track your spending habits

Although sometimes it is not easy to track our spending habits, we can always try to keep track of all the money we spend on weekly needs such as meals, groceries, transportation and others. There are many types of expense/spending tracker apps that we can choose and install to help us to get started. After we have seen how we spend our money, we can definitely look for ways on how to save.

Knowing that we are aware of our spending patterns, we are then be able to start making plans to overcome financial carelessness and bad spending habits. Thus, looking at our expenses on a regular basis can also guide us to plan effectively for unexpected bills and other emergency cases. Most importantly, we will feel more confident to take charge of our spending and make better financial decisions.

4. Don’t be afraid to get outside help

We shouldn’t be terrified to seek for advice or help when we are truly having financial distress and problems. One of the ways is to approach and look for a financial planner and perhaps someone who we can trust in giving advice on financial matters. They can guide us on how to plan out a budget and find the solutions. This is the best way to escape ourselves from being trapped with our money matters.

For example, if we have problems with our debt management, we can approach Counselling and Debt Management Agency or known as Agensi Kaunseling & Pengurusan Kredit (AKPK).  In fact, AKPK offers a free, one-to-one financial counselling and practical advice on money management in a way to assist us in managing our debts and spending. We are not alone in this world. Suffice to say, it is vital to express and let out all our problems to the right individuals. This strategy leads us to realize that there is a group of people that we can talk to and share problems.

5. Never ever try to add more debts

It can be said that debt can be a foe or a friend to us based on how we manage and deal with it. The more loans or credit cards that we apply, the more responsibilities of taking care of them. Getting a large loan or adding more loans or credit cards without significant reasons will only give us more troubles and surely we will encounter financial distress. Without a proper planning in handling our loans or credit cards can only limit our ability to enjoy life and certainly, this will end up building a constant stress and frustrations as we probably need to strain our cash flow and budget every month.

6. Apply simple techniques to relieve stress

Another way to curb our financial worries is by simply applying stress-relieving activities or techniques. One of the easiest ways is to laugh. As the saying goes, laughter is the best medicine. There’s no doubt that laughter can help us to create a positive ambiance. Hence, we just need to bring laughter and humor into our life to eliminate anxiety and stressful situations, though sometimes we might face hurdles along the journey.

Other than laughing, we can also spend time with fun people. They can be our families and friends. By giving each other the gift of stress relief, we can relieve stress in those around us as well and definitely, make our life more enjoyable at the same time. Listening to music, walking and exercise are also another examples of stress-relieving activities. These activities have proven benefits and they are free stress relievers that we can try.