Five Ways To Feel Positive About Money
It can be hard for a lot of us to feel positive about money, especially at the moment. Some of us many have lost work, had our wages drop or seen overtime and extra money disappear. While others may be using up their savings for everyday purchases. Or having to stop savings due to finances. I generally feel positive about money (most of the time), but the last month has been testing. I spoke here about the financial changes we’ve made recently. But I thought I’d talk about some ways you can also feel positive about money given the current situation.
Assess your income again
It’s important to reassess exactly what you have coming in. Of course if you’re in full-time work which has continued then you can skip this step. But if you’ve been furloughed and are on reduced wages. Or you’re self-employed and not earning, or even if you’ve lost some of your additional income. Assess how much money you have coming in each month and work out how much you’ve got to live on.
Reassess your expenses
Your set expenses are unlikely to have changed as bills still need to be paid etc. But there may be some you have paused or stopped due to the current situation. You may have taken a mortgage holiday to ease the financial pressure. Or you may no longer be paying for your travel card as you’re working from home. Look at all your expenses and which ones you’re continuing to pay.
To help feel positive about money we’ve taken a mortgage holiday even though we didn’t want to. But we don’t know how long Luke will be out of work for. Our cineworld cards are on pause as the cinemas aren’t open. And we’re looking into pausing our car service plan. Especially as our car is still in the (closed) garage, and has been since December.
Once you know your new expenses you can work out what position this leaves you in. You may be surprised at how much money you have left over as you’re still working. Or if you’re on reduced wages it may help know what you now need for your monthly expenditure.
Feel positive about money by keeping an eye on boredom buys
It’s so tempting to do loads online shopping but now isn’t the time to be buying willy nilly. Our spending patterns have changed drastically. We’re not spending money on meals out, gym memberships or trips to the pub anymore. But if that leaves you with money don’t spend all of it online. Think about every purchase before you click buy. Is it something you really need? Would you have bought the item if the situation was different? Yes we all need a treat every now and then to make us smile, but we don’t need to spending every single day.
Boredom buys or impulse spending can quickly ramp up. And it can put you into bad financial habits. If you’re working this is the perfect time to start saving and come out of the pandemic with a pot of money aside. And if you’re on a limited income then chances are you need all of your money for essentials.
Continue saving for your long-term goals
Again if you’re on reduced income you may need to reduce saving, or stop it altogether. But don’t lose sight of your long-term goals. Although we feel positive about money we have stopped most saving as Luke isn’t working. But as soon as he’s back and we’re back to some form of normality we’ll start our savings back up.
You may not be going on that big summer holiday, but if you continue to save you’ll be able to pay for a holiday when we can travel again. You may not be looking to move right at the moment but it doesn’t mean you can’t continue to save for it.
Keeping some sort of normality to your finances will help you stay positive about money.
If you’re in a position to do so find ways to give back
If you’re in the fortunate position to have money (or time) to spare then think about ways you can give back. Donating to foodbanks is an important one with more and more people relying on them. You could help deliver food to the vulnerable and elderly. There are loads of justgiving and local oppurtunities to help feed the NHS, donate supplies or show your support. You can raise funds through loads of ways to support charities who are losing out on funding.
Do you feel positive about money in the current climate?
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17 responses to “Five Ways To Feel Positive About Money”
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Rhian Westbury
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Some great tips here, I know I have been watching what we ae spending our money on at the moment. The only good thing is that with the lockdown we are only spending on food really, although Amazon has been my best friend lately
Yeah Amazon has been my best friend too, and I’ve not been too bad when it comes to other online shopping x
Some really good tips and donating to a food bank is something I do everytime I shop, I used to take advantage of the 3 for 2 offers a lot x
These are great ideas. Definitely reassessing your spending and income can help you feel more positive. Working out what you can save/spend 🙂
Great idea’s I really needed to read this at the moment because with everything going on money has been a constant stress and worry. However I have tried to take positive steps and have switched my energy bills and started a saving pot, cancelling all not essential direct debits. I do think that being on top of your money situation could help you feel much more positive in general!
I think cancelling anything non-essential or pausing things which you can at the moment is so important x
I wasn’t feeling positive but I’ve had a few well paid jobs come in, my freelance stuff seems to be kicking up a notch again and I’ve almost paid off some debts. Definitely making me feel much more positive.
That’s so good that your paid jobs are starting to come through again. At least if expenses are lower it’s helping pay things off x
I love reading your money posts. Some simple yet effective tips. Also love a bit of positivity especially in these times
Great post, we also didnt want do a mortgage holiday but with everything up in the air we felt maybe we should, so far we’ve been very good at not spending anything, even on Boredom days, we are planning slight improvemnts around the house as we arent really going anywhere this year, but also while watching how much we are actually spending and have every month.
We are not in a position to save at the moment as living off one small wage, so have taken payment breaks in various ways where we can. Did you know supermarkets donate shortcoded items to foodbanks and charities – I never realised the volume of food they give on a daily basis until I saw it with my own eyes
I didn’t realise supermarkets did this, but it’s good how much they donate generally anyway x
Some great tips here thank you I know I struggle especially with boredom buys!
There is some sound advice here. I agree to keep motivated saving for long terms goals should still be on the agenda xx
Some really great tips here . We are currently struggling with wages as I’m self employed as work is coming in at the bare minimum but we are getting by 🙂
I know that feeling well, my fiance is a self employed electrician and he’s had no work for over a month now. It’s tough but we’ll make it work somehow x
We have been reassessing oour direct debits and subscriptions. It’s easy to continue paying for something without realising, so important to keep checking