How to Keep Your Financial Stress Low as Prices Rise - Money Tip Tuesday

Have you recently been discouraged about the amount of money you seem to be spending; you’ve asked yourself a few times now, “where is it all going?” 

The fact of the matter is that you’re probably like many others asking these questions and trying to find an answer. 

Links: 

• Watch our Budgeting webinar for tips on starting a budget
• Watch our Financial Freedom webinar to learn how to tackle pesky debt
• Follow our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages!
• Learn more about Triangle Credit Union

Transcript: 

Welcome to Money Tip Tuesday from the Making Money Personal podcast.  

Have you been looking over your accounts and wondering why it feels like you’re still struggling for cash? You’re not bad with your money, but it just feels like even in spite of your efforts, you just don’t have enough left.  

The truth is, we’ve all been hit with rising prices. From food to rising taxes, utilities, and just overall expenses. 

If you’re growing concerned about how your money is being spent, then you’re not alone.  

Gallop.com reports that a recent survey showed 61% of Americans are saying that price increases are causing financial hardship.  

If you’re paying attention to your expenses, you’re probably noticing that your dollar doesn’t seem to stretch as far as it used to.  

Costs for everyday items, particularly food, are rising. Over the last year, groceries have gone up 7.1%, full-service restaurant costs have gone up 7.2% and takeout meals rose around 8.2% according to a CPI report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Some other things may have also increased like property taxes, utilities, gas and other expenses related to your lifestyle including vacation and travel costs. 

If you feel like your finances are spinning out of control, you can take steps to minimize the effects of rising prices in your financial life.  

You need to be in control, not controlled. If you’re ready to get back into good financial shape, here are some things you can do to get there.  

The first is you need to take a deep breath, sit down and determine where your money has been going.  

This means that you’ll need to review ALL your expenses. If it helps to go through all your receipts and statements, then do that. Breaking down your credit card statements and receipts can help you visualize how much of your money is going where.  

Ask yourself specific questions like, where have you spent the most in the last month? What about the last few months? Are you dining out more? Spending more on apparel or home good items? Is it going to bill payments? Did you recently have an emergency or need to spend more on car repairs? 

If you’re overspending in certain areas, it should be obvious here and you should be able to make an effort to dial back on your spending in that category. If it’s not so obvious, then you’ll need to reevaluate your budget. 

The first and most important step to creating a proper budget is to evaluate your needs and your wants.  

This might sound obvious, but you need to prioritize your needs to be sure you’re covering all your necessities before you start spending money on things you don’t need. 

If you’re not sure what those are, the top necessities go in this order: Food, shelter, utilities and transportation.  

Break everything else down after that. Make sure you’re making payments on any debts you have, saving money in an emergency fund or retirement account, and go down the list.  

Be really honest with yourself about this. We all tend to want a lot of things but there are times in life when we need to make an honest decision to hold off on some of the things we want.  

It doesn’t mean you’ll never get them. It may just mean you’ll need to have some patience and wait a little longer. 

Changing times and adjustments in life will affect our money habits and our budget. It’s important that as things change you keep your budget updated as well. If you stay on top of those changes you’ll be better able to pivot and keep financial stress at a minimum. 

Luckily, whether you’re new to organizing your finances, or just in need a simple refresh, there are many resources available you can use to get back into shape and keep your financial stress low.  

• If you’d like tips on how to organize a budget, watch our Budgeting webinar to learn how to easily put one together. 
• If after doing your budget you realize you need more money, start drawing up a plan to work overtime, find a second job, or start a side gig. 
• If you determine that you want to work towards paying off your debt, watch our Debt free living webinar for a few options on debt reduction strategies that work for any size debt. 
• And finally, follow institutions and professionals you trust and shows like this to learn financial strategies, tips, news and more. 

If there are any other tips or topics, you’d like us to cover, let us know at tcupodcast@trianglecu.org.  Like and follow our Making Money Personal FB and IG page and look for our sponsor, Triangle Credit Union on social media to share your thoughts.  

Thanks for listening to today’s Money Tip Tuesday and be sure to check out our other tips and episodes on the Making Money Personal podcast.  

Have a great day!