Your debt is leading to sleepless nights…
A lot of smart and savvy women manage to juggle full-time jobs, or handle their businesses, while at the same time managing their households by looking after children, their partners, keeping the house clean, buying groceries, cooking, scheduling activities, caring for extended family, and then maybe even having to walk the dog twice a day.
Yet often, these same smart and savvy women struggle and get frustrated because they just can’t seem to get the same handle and control over their finances – especially when it comes to debt.
Maybe you’ve tried to cut back on your grocery shopping or forego buying yourself that new pair of shoes. But that doesn’t seem to make much difference to your level of anxiety as you’re always worried about how you’re going to pay for the next bill that’s due.
The worst feeling is when you can’t seem to find the money to sign up one of your children for an activity. Or maybe you just pay the minimum on your credit card bills and watch as the payments barely make a dent in the amount that you owe due to the high interest being charged. Maybe you even use your credit card at times just to make ends meet every month.
In times like these, you likely push all those thoughts away because it’s just too much to face. You may have even considered getting a part-time job to help with the bills and paying off your debt, but that just doesn’t seem possible given your already hectic schedule.
So, what’s going wrong for this to be happening?
Getting In Control Of Your Debt
In this article, I will walk you through some of the steps that many of my clients have taken to control their monthly bills – and especially their debt – which then sets them on a path towards financial freedom.
Imagine being able to breathe easily month after month, knowing your bills are all paid, AND knowing that you have a solution towards finally paying off your debt – once and for all.
Imagine feeling safe and secure knowing that everything you need to pay for month over month will be looked after and not kept as just worrying thoughts and numbers running around in your head.
I’m going to share three common reasons why many women struggle to get control over their expenses and especially their debt, and I’m going to share some of the fundamental principles in how you can turn that around.
3 Reasons You Struggle To Control Your Expenses
Reason #1 – You Don’t Have A System
Many women just keep all their expenses in their heads or use a “pay as things come up” approach. They know that certain bills are due at certain times, and they pay them – hopefully on time – or when they come up, hoping there will be enough in their bank accounts to cover everything.
Automatic payments help with this, but their bank account balance decreases without really knowing the big picture. This leaves them with a sense of worry and uncertainty. Did I miss something? Will I have enough? What if something “big” comes up? How will I pay for that?
Simply put – these women just don’t have a system for managing their finances.
Putting an expense planning system in place is simple. With a few hours of focus and gathering of information, all your regular and occasional financial obligations will now be in one place for you to see your big picture. You will know precisely what money is coming in and what money has to go out. Right to the minute – month over month – and for a lifetime.
Reason #2 – You Track But Don’t Plan
Many women struggle to get control of their debt because they don’t have an effective system to project their financial needs into the future. They track their expenses, but they don’t plan for them.
There is a HUGE difference in why planning over tracking is the only solution to feeling in control of your money and paying off your debt.
By switching from tracking expenses to planning for them, a dramatic mental shift occurs that keeps you ahead of the curve and in control of your money. But what is the difference, you ask? Tracking expenses usually involves monitoring your spending by keeping track of receipts and putting the data into a data file of some sort AFTER you have already spent the money.
In a nutshell – tracking is looking backwards, and planning is looking forward. Making this one simple shift is the key to breathing easily and sleeping well at night when it comes to establishing financial freedom.
When you switch from tracking to planning, you will have a clear system readily available to you that will show you EXACTLY how you can pay off all your debt (and how long it will take you) IN ADDITION to having all your financial obligations under control month over month and for years to come. It’s that simple.
Reason #3 – You Turn Away From Your Feelings
When something makes us feel uncomfortable or overwhelmed, the easiest thing to do is to ignore those feelings and shy away from the very thing that is making us feel uneasy. Not knowing exactly how you will pay your bills or pay off debt is what creates a lot of uneasy feelings. If you don’t think you have a solution to a problem, turning away from it and hoping that things will “just work out” is a temporary solution. But eventually, the money dragon will rear its head again, and it may be even bigger this time.
It may not be easy to do at first, but it will serve you better to acknowledge that you are afraid to face the unknown when it comes to managing your expenses and debt and then pat yourself on the back for admitting that.
This small but powerful mental shift will help you gather the momentum and focus required to get your expense planning system in place. You may even admit that you need some help to get there.
Once you’ve made that mental shift, the next step is blocking a few hours to focus on your situation, gathering the information, and then plotting the numbers into a manageable and easy-to-use spreadsheet. This is exactly what we do together in my 90 Day Financial Freedom Journey program.
Not sure how to use a spreadsheet? It’s very easy to learn; there’s only one type of calculation required. If you can use a smartphone, you can create and manage a simple and easy-to-use spreadsheet.
When you do this, you will have created an easy-to-use custom-built planning system that shows you exactly where your financial obligations lie – to the minute – to the month – and for a lifetime. You will now also be able to come up with an action plan to pay off your debt, and this will give you peace of mind, restful nights, a feeling of empowerment, and freedom.
Let’s Look At A Real-Life Example
Gale, a client of mine, was a woman that ran a hectic household and managed a full-time job. She recently found herself very stressed and on the verge of giving up on her finances and was considering asking her family to lend her money to help her pay off some of her debt. She just couldn’t get a handle on it all.
She had a lot of expenses to pay and a lot of debt that she feared would never get paid off. Even though she paid her regular expenses on time, for the most part, she never felt comfortable knowing that everything was going to be paid on time or if she had enough to pay it all. Her debt loomed over her. She had no expense planning system.
Gale was too embarrassed and ashamed to ask her family for financial help. It was only once she admitted to herself that she had to do something to get a handle on it that she decided to face her fears about money and do something about it!
Gale booked a clarity call with me, and I walked her through how the 90 Day Financial Freedom Journey Program would change all that.
The result? Gale is now in control of her finances. She pays all her bills every month on time and knows exactly how much money she has at any given moment. Best of all, she even has a solid action plan that will see her debt-free in the very near future.
Summing It Up
Your debt doesn’t have to be a stumbling block that you think about every day, over and over. In fact, your debt can be the catalyst to actually taking control of your financial future.
When you turn into your feelings (instead of away from them), create a system, and start planning instead of tracking, you begin the journey to your own financial freedom. And what a fantastic feeling that is!
I specialize in helping women take the fear out of managing their expenses so they can gain control of their finances, especially when paying off their debt.
And if you’d like to talk to me about how I can help you do that, all you have to do is book a free 30-minute clarity call with me right here.
Let’s talk!
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