Guide to: Money stress with MoneySmart
You’re not alone if you stress about money, but it can sometimes feel like you are.
Talking about your financial situation isn’t always easy, but this is a safe space to open up about what you’re going through. Before we get into this guide we’d like to acknowledge that there might be some members of our community who are in a financial crisis and need more support.
If it’s a struggle to afford groceries, medication, transport or bills there is help available:
- Disaster Assist provides support to people experiencing money stress due to a disaster such as covid or bushfires.
- Find where to get some help with food, transport, medication and bills by searching for emergency relief.
- Ask Izzy is a search engine that will show you emergency relief available in your area - click the Money help or Food button and follow the prompts.
- My Community Directory also shows you local community centres that provide relief.
This guide is brought to you by our friends at MoneySmart, and we hope these tips give you some practical tools to cope with money stress.
My name is Heidi, I work at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) 👋
Moneysmart is a free and independent site that provides up-to-date and relevant financial information, designed to be a starting point for people when making financial decisions.
Managing your money can be stressful at times, but not paying attention to your money can make matters worse. If you or someone you know is struggling with finances, here are some steps you can take:
- Get to know your money Moneysmart’s Budget planner can help you see how much money you have coming in, how much you’re spending and where you could cut back.
- Make yourself a money plan Taking control of your money can feel really empowering. Get into the habit of tending to your finances regularly, making sure you have enough to cover bills and unexpected costs. You might be able to set aside some money for savings every week or pay down a regular portion of your debts if you have them. Download our step-by-step guide Managing your money.
- Get help if you need it Speaking to a financial counsellor is free and confidential and can help you sort through your money challenges The earlier you seek help and get back on track, the better. The National Debt Helpline 1800 007 007 is open from 9.30am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday or you can find a financial counsellor on Moneysmart.
- Talk about money with someone you trust Just like mental health, there can be a lot of stigma and shame around challenges with money. Talking about the challenges you face with the trusted people in your life can be a great support. You can call Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 or Lifeline on 13 11 14 for immediate support.
Event Details
26 Oct 2021, 5:00 AM UTC
26 Oct 2021, 6:00 AM UTC
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Comments
Thanks for this anazing respurce @Janine-RO and Moneysmart!
I love the links.
Does anyone have any favourite systems for budgeting or managing finances?
I've heard about cash envelope systems and making managing finances as part of a game to make people feel more motivated to save.
I've heard of that system too @WheresMySquishy but I feel like I'd forget where I put all the envelopes lol
I'm no expert but some of my tips are:
- Have a separate account for spending, savings and bills. Split your money up into the accounts when you get paid - or set up direct debits so you don't have to keep track of it.
- Be very realistic about your spending and jot down all your expenses. Think of everything from upcoming birthdays, your daily coffee and haircuts. Budgeting for self-care is a good habit to get into 🙂
- I plan for bills by estimating the yearly cost of my electricity, phone, gas, water, internet, car expenses, insurances, subscriptions. Divide the total amount by 12 and you'll see how much you need to debit into your bills account each month.
I love your tips Bre, especially the one about writing down expenses. I also used to write down aome expenses in a table to help me remember them.
Also, sorry about the typos in my post. For some reason, I can't edit it.
Haha @Bre-RO I totally hear you re the envelopes 😅 When we started giving my eldest pocket money, we gave her 3 jars: one for spend, one for saving, and one for donating to charity. Pretty sure it may be an idea my partner got from the Barefoot Investor - I really like how it introduces kids to the idea really early that your money can have different 'jobs'.
I found using a budgeting app to be quite helpful @WheresMySquishy - I think they're especially helpful if you want to have a concrete idea of where your money is going. There's a few you can download, we used YNAB (You Need A Budget) but there's also some good free options. I used it to track everything I was spending for a few months, which helped us to put together a budget and make sure we were planning for those recurrent expenses like car service/ rego/ insurance/ dentist bills/ electricity bills that can often come as a shock.
My other massive piece of advice that I wish that I'd followed more when I was younger is to make sure you keep track of your super! I ended up with about 5 different accounts because I'd worked in several different indusitries when I was younger/ when I was studying, and never bothered to roll them all together. It meant that I was losing money by paying several sets of fees etc- it's really easy these days to roll your super all into the one fund and to track down any money that you may have forgotten about:
MoneySmart Consolidating your super
It was one of those bits of life admin that I had put off for ages- but it was so simple to do! As my Dad likes to remind me, super really is such a good way to save for old age in a relatively pain-free way!
I also find that simple things like cooking big batches of food and then portioning off leftovers for work lunches/ freezing for when I can't be bothered to cook is a big help to my budget. I'll often end up spending way more money than I planned on things like lunch at work/ Uber eats etc, and cutting down on that is a great way of saving some cash. I only keep a limited amount of cash in my "spending" account, I find that moving money into another account really helps me to be more disciplined with saving.
