Money can be a big worry in people’s lives, and it might seem as though you never have enough for the things you want to do. This can be stressful, especially when you also have debt to deal with. It might even lead you to take out more debt to enable you to get what you want, but of course, this would just add to the problem and certainly not solve it.
The reality is that money is important in life, and being able to handle it properly is crucial. You’ll be able to buy what you want (within reason, of course) and not get too stressed about your finances, which will help your health. The key is setting personal financial goals. Read on to find out more about how to do exactly that.
Assess Your Current Situation
Before you can make any changes, big or small, to the way you deal with money and before you can set any personal financial goals, you’ll need to assess your current situation and work out what it is you want from life and what isn’t working for you at the moment.
It might be that you have a lot of debt, so you’ll want to clear that before you can go any further. It might be that you have something specific to save for, and therefore you’ll need to get all the prices and understand how much it – and anything related to it (for example, if you buy a house, you won’t just be paying for the mortgage; you’ll need to pay taxes and utility bills as well). It might even be that you find spending money to be therapeutic. If that’s the case, investing in junk removal to declutter your home will help you see that your purchases weren’t necessary, and you can start fresh.
The point is you need to be in a good place to start when it comes to setting financial goals.
Define Long And Short Term Goals
We’ve mentioned some goals above, but there are many more to consider as well. They will be personal to you, as you are the only one who knows what you really want and what you need. However, one thing that everyone will need to do, no matter what their financial situation or what their goals might be, is to think about both long and short-term goals.
Once you have worked out what a long-term goal is (saving for a house deposit could be part of this category, for example) and what a short-term goal is (this might be where paying off debt would come in, for example), you can prioritise your goals. It might be that your long-term goals seem more important, but they will be easier to deal with once your short-term goals have been reached. This is why it’s worth looking closely at everything and working out an order to reach each goal.
Reduce Spending
Once you know exactly what it is you are saving for or paying for, your next step is to reduce your spending on unnecessary things. We’ve mentioned how having a declutter is a good idea, but this is just the start. You’ll need to look at everything you are currently paying for and determine what you can reduce and what you can cut out entirely. You also need to embrace the idea of planned spending. Instead of picking up snacks and candy at the supermarket when doing your usual shop, think about ordering in greater quantities from a preferred Canadian snack and treats store and benefiting from a bulk saving. This is something you can repeat with most areas in which you spend.
Once you do this, you can put any savings you make towards your goals. This will help motivate you to keep saving as time goes on.