5 Ways to Feel Less Concerned About Money

There are loads of different reasons you could be feeling a little uncomfortable about your finances at the moment, so we wanted to put together a few tips to help you feel a bit more on top of your cash situation.

Work a reward into budget night

Often one of the biggest things that can cause anxiety about money is that we can feel a little guilty about not doing a regular budget check-in.

If you’ve been dreading it, a great way to get started is to give yourself a little treat or reward for during or after you go through your transaction history. Put on some good tunes, order some takeout if you’ve got some spare cash and do something fun afterwards. Sometimes your brain just needs a little bit of bribery to get you over the line!

Talk it out with someone you trust

We’ve got a bit of a funny cultural thing around money sometimes, where we can feel ashamed to talk about it. But, much like other parts of life like relationships, mental health or trouble at work, you often find that opening up to someone about it can help you realise you’re not alone.

Everyone goes through rough patches with money now and again, and sometimes getting a bit of emotional support and advice can help you work those feelings through.

Make changes in small amounts

Habits can be tough to crack or change - just ask anyone who’s tried to cut down on their screen time. Sometimes when we want to save money we try and do it cold turkey, cutting down all of our spending at once, but that can lead to burnouts where you end up blowing those hard-earned savings on a night out or online shopping.

Willpower is like a muscle - you’ve gotta ease your way into switching up your habits. Start with small things you can do every day, like making your coffee at home or taking public transport to work once or twice a week. Bonus points if you take the money you were going to spend and move it ASAP into a good savings account!

Make it easier to pay off your debts

Debt can feel really tricky to manage, especially when it’s coming from a few different sources. The biggest tip is to avoid the debt increasing as much as possible. This might include freezing your credit cards or any Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) service so that you can’t add to the debt. If you have lots of different kinds of debt, you can look into consolidating your loans - which means you’ll just have one debt to pay off, often at a lower interest rate.

There are also debt payment strategies you can use to give yourself a bit of structure. Common strategies include the snowball method, where you pay off the smallest debt first, before moving on to your bigger ones, or the avalanche method, where you target your biggest loans first. They have their own benefits and drawbacks, but remember that either way it’s vital that at the very least you make your minimum payments.

Seek help if you need it

A lot of these solutions are more about helping you out if you’re feeling the squeeze - but it’s important to know that if you’re feeling really overwhelmed, you’re in crisis or struggling to make ends meet, there are free services out there that can give you some advice or help you out.

If you don't know where to start, call the free National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007. The helpline is open Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 4:30pm AEST.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples can call the free Mob Strong Debt Helpline on 1800 808 488. The helpline is open Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 4:30pm AEST.

They’re both organisations that are there to hear you out and help you get in touch with other organisations. They hear from all sorts of people with different backgrounds and circumstances, so there’s no judgment in giving them a buzz.

The following content has been created by Year13 in conjunction with Westpac as part of a paid partnership. The information is general advice only, does not take into account your personal circumstances and you should do your own research and seek advice before acting on this content.