Finding Your Financial Footing

If you are feeling uneasy about your finances right now you are not alone. A few simple moves can get you going in the right direction and give you a little more clarity to tackle the uncertainty ahead.

You may have lost your job. You may be worried you will lose your job. You may just be worried about paying the bills in general. Whatever it is you are not alone. Feeling insecure about your finances is the reality for millions of Americans.

Fortunately, there are a few steps you can take to see the bigger picture and be able to make some moves in the future.

Get To Know Your Expenses

First thing in understanding your finances is understanding what you are spending money on. Start with mapping out your necessary monthly payments like rent, bills and utilities.

Next move on to other expenses like food and entertainment. Tally up how much you spend in each of these categories for three months or so and you will get an idea of where you spend the most. You can also use some great free finance apps like Mint that will do this for you.

Get To Know Your Credit Cards & Loans

Now it’s time to look at your credit cards and loans. Gather the information and write down your balances on each as well as interest rates or applicable fees. Having this all on one sheet of paper or in a spreadsheet will give you the opportunity to see it all clearly.

Find Your Target Areas

Now that you can see what you have you will be able to find places for improvement. Maybe you will see you have balances on way too many credit cards and can transfer balances onto the one with the lowest interest rate (or open a new card with a low rate and move everything there).

Maybe you will see that your impulse spending is more than you can afford in the long run. This will give you a chance to see what you are spending and whether or not it’s worth it. Take a good look at those expenses since they are the most malleable. You can’t change your rent or car payment but you can curb your Amazon or Target purchases.

Take A Breath

A lot of the anxiety related to finances is because of uncertainty. Putting the numbers in front of you is a great way to ground yourself in facts and data. This is what you have, this is what you can control. If you get a handle on what is there right now you will be better equipped at responding to changes down the line.

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