So go into your boss and say that you want a raise starting today…simple, right?? NO
Go through your house and just sell all your stuff to pay this month’s bills…simple, right?? NO.
After speaking with my community and also knowing what I used to first turn to as a solution to get me out of the short-term financial pain the most popular choices that people turned to were getting a higher income or selling more products (if they had a business) or selling items that they had around their home.
The thing is getting a higher income or selling your stuff just isn’t the best solution. It’s a band aid. You’re not actually tackling what got you there in the first place.
Let’s talk about what you should actually be doing.
Before we talk about how to actually get yourself out of financial difficulty, I wanted to let you know that I have been there myself and got myself out of it and I’ve researched and compiled the best way to do it and create financial freedom. Want to check out the steps to do it yourself? Download my free PDF guide “The Essential Guide to Financial Freedom” here.
Stop Panicking
All panicking about your money situation is going to do is cause you to stop thinking clearly.
I am a person why runs on pressure, but I had to learn that the money pressures were something I could easily change and that I didn’t need that pressure on me. I ended up asking myself do I actually want to change the situation I was in? The answer was truly YES. It’s scary because it’s the unknown but I knew I was ready to change the lifestyle I was living as it wasn’t the situation I truly wanted for myself.
I then started to track my thoughts about my money. If I’m feeling stressed about money I start writing down all of the things that are making me feel stressed. By doing this it gives me great clarity around the items that I need to work on first. Remember there is a way out of this and that you’re not the only one in this situation.
Understanding the current situation.
What I have found is that a lot of us don’t actually know the financial situation we are in. We are only looking at it on the surface level rather than actually diving deep. Why do we do this? because we’re scared at finding out the truth. The truth is the more knowledge and information we have about our situations the better decisions we can actually make. What do we do then to understand our current situation…
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Start by sitting down and knowing all of the income you have coming in as well as all of your expenses so that you can then start to formulate a plan of what expenses can get paid and when they can be paid.
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Know what money is in all of your bank accounts, in your wallet, in jars around the house and wherever else you may keep it. Know the value of all of your assets house, car, etc.
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Get to know all of your debt, when are repayments due, what interest rates are you paying, when will you have your debt paid off, what would happen if you could make extra repayments etc.
Get your plan in place.
Stopping from panicking and knowing your current situation are now going to help you to put your plan in place.
Ask yourself…What can I do to not end up in this situation again next week, fortnight or month?
The steps I have figured out were:
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Changing my mindset around my money.
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Creating short term and long term goals around my money.
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Having a budget (knowing where my money used to go and then formulating where I actually want it to go).
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Having an emergency fund for the unexpected times.
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Creating a plan to pay off my debt.
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Creating a plan to put away savings whilst paying off my debt.
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Choosing the way, I wanted to live once I had achieved financial freedom.
I do go into more detail of these tips in “The Essential Guide to Financial Freedom”. Download here.
