How do you deal with financial stress?

[philipma1957]

When it comes to accommodation you have to choose houses that you can afford because it is a recurrent expenditure. Some persons make the mistake of borrowing to get a house only to struggle later to renew the rent. The only option you have is to increase your income or manage what you can afford. I had to move to another house to reduce my cost of living.

I can afford a more expensive house, the issue is that I'd prefer not to spend a large portion of my salary just to accomondate myself. You can never predict what may happen in a year or two. I wouldn't want to get stuck in a house I may not be able to afford in case something happens and I'm out of work, or is simply becoming a financial burden in the long-run.

The increase of these natural disasters makes life very uncertain. The Libyan flooding gives me so much concern because it was caused by negligence and my country has some dams that have not been maintained for a long time. It will not be a surprise if such a disaster occurs.

The governments haven't taken the necessary precautions to minimize the effects of such phenomeno, however, the root of this issue is that as the years progress, we're going to face a lot extreme weather conditions more often than we're used to.

I used to be like that in my "youth" and it was a good thing to be stressing about these things, at least for me. It made me learn the value of money and most importantly to plan ahead financially speaking.
You've already the first step correctly by thinking about these things but of course you have to try not to get overly anxious. Don't worry about making mistakes, after all you're at the beginning of your journey in life and even mistakes are a valuable experience.

I can't tell you what to do because the situation is different in different countries and different times. But I can tell you what I did.
I basically went on a very "strict financial mode" where I wrote down all my little expenses and little incomes. I worked hard and earned as much money as I could then made wise investments while controlling my expenses. That helped me maximize the amount of money I saved up (income, interest, passive income, profit).

I have to emphasize that writing down stuff helped a lot, as it is not enough to just be "careful about expenses". It helps a lot to be able to visualize and analyze your expenses (and incomes). For example at the end of the month you can look back and see for example you wasted money somewhere that could be avoided or better spent. I even have a little excel file that dates back 20 years
Not to mention that it helps you to stay organized a lot better and if you set targets for yourself, it also helps you reach those targets and feel "optimistic" about your future as you would be going through life according to your plan or at least closes to your plan as possible.

Speaking of planning ahead and setting targets one of the things I did was to figure out what would be the biggest expense I would have in my life and in my country it is rent. For example today as an engineer if I had to rent an apartment specially in the capital, that would eat at least 50% of my salary.
Knowing that, my goal became to eliminate that cost. The solution was to buy a house so that became the plan. I eventually saved up enough money to be able to buy my first apartment. It didn't have to be a fancy one or a big one but it helped me eliminate a large expense. That's extra money in my pocket which I were able to save or invest to improve.

This is actually some great advice and it's confident to know that there are others who share a similar mindset to mine. Yes, I tend to worry quite a lot, but it's because I want to be a responsible adult with a settled life, and want things done in a proper way. I know plenty of other students from my university that are still jobless, living with their parents and literally not worrying about their life, this isn't something I'd ever want.

Although I'm relatively careful with my money, writing down my expenses would allow me to scroll through the end of the month and see were I spent money that I could have avoided. Now that I've mentioned it, I could probably have avoided making that order from Temu, or buying something just because it was on sale. Writing down is the key to keep track of everything, whether it's money or a reminder.

I am established. I am middle class. I have fairly good income. I also make some money mining.

But my expenses have really gone up the last 18 months. Along with my mining profits dropping.

What to do?

Change some food habits to save money.
Find a bit more work to make more money.

I am lucky that my wife and I like each other so more time in bedroom for free entertainment is something we can do.

[1714684507]

1714684507

[1714684507]

1714684507

[Don Pedro Dinero]

I am established. I am middle class. I have fairly good income. I also make some money mining.

But my expenses have really gone up the last 18 months. Along with my mining profits dropping.

What to do?

Change some food habits to save money.
Find a bit more work to make more money.

As I said in my previous comment, in the end it is a simple sum of expenditure and income. If prices go up you either spend less or you have to earn more to maintain the same standard of living. I see for example that after many years you have joined a paid signature campaign, congratulations to you and to us who see you more in other parts of the forum sharing your wisdom. With the total number of posts you have written, your manager is quite happy to have hired you as well, for SEO reasons I understand. Now I see it was
 to counteract the drop in mining profits and the rise in prices.

[Gozie51]

I've been looking for an apartment for over 6 months and haven't found anything yet. Not only is there a very limited supply, but those available are either too expensive, poor, too small, or everything combined. Thus, this is creating a huge feeling of uncertainty, as time is running out and I need to get settled down. Renting outside of town in the nearby villages isn't ideal either, because petrol is way too expensive.

Well I think that houses are all over the place except the environment that you want it and the price for it may be the reason you have not seen the type you want for your financial level. Houses have different nature and capacity depending on the compactment you are looking for because you can't compare the price of a two bed in a water logged area and in an area well designed or estate where all roads leading to it are well constructed. In essense, you have to know how deep your pocket is if you want something more cossy but I'm sure houses are not difficult to locate if you have the finance.

[KiaKia]

When COVID strikes the world I started thinking about my future even more, I used to be care free but later I started to feel worried about my family, some people died because they don't have the money to go for a doctor, many people lost their lives at that period of time, it was a disaster.

It get to the point where I started fo feel like it's the end of humanity, because if God was tired of use he would have used COVID to erase every human from the Earth, I finally concluded that this life is nothing, we came empty-handed, we will leave empty handed, I braved up and decide to work even harder and not think too much about the future.

I do trading and I mine Bitcoin too, so I am making a good amount of money, I don't want to expose myself to more businesses because I won't be able to handle it, instead, I plan to add more Bitcoin miners to my farm soon, though profit wise is down since we are still in a bear market.

If I have to wait till mining profit gets higher it will be too late to buy new asic miners as the price per miner won't be the same anymore.

[AmoreJaz]

When COVID strikes the world I started thinking about my future even more, I used to be care free but later I started to feel worried about my family, some people died because they don't have the money to go for a doctor, many people lost their lives at that period of time, it was a disaster.

It get to the point where I started fo feel like it's the end of humanity, because if God was tired of use he would have used COVID to erase every human from the Earth, I finally concluded that this life is nothing, we came empty-handed, we will leave empty handed, I braved up and decide to work even harder and not think too much about the future.

I do trading and I mine Bitcoin too, so I am making a good amount of money, I don't want to expose myself to more businesses because I won't be able to handle it, instead, I plan to add more Bitcoin miners to my farm soon, though profit wise is down since we are still in a bear market.

If I have to wait till mining profit gets higher it will be too late to buy new asic miners as the price per miner won't be the same anymore.

i guess, we do have a lot of realisations when pandemic hit the humanity. what really matters to us? how we survive in this today's world will give us an upper hand what to do next. and how to be financially free so as not to worry if you can survive if another crisis will hit us. we also become more aware of our spending habits. and i guess, a lot of people become frugal during those challenging times (pandemic days). at least, we have learned our lessons and hopefully taught us valuable points to live in this life and to live meaningfully.

[Casdinyard]

The thing is one way or another the stress of not being financially capable is going to catch up to you. The only real thing you can do about this is give yourself a breather every once in a while, congratulate and reward yourself with a whole day or week of not minding your financial woes, just like what a couple of people in here have said. It's also important that during these times of recuperation when your mind is at the most clearest state it can be, you'd have to actually formulate plans and find the root cause of your money problems, you should be able to pinpoint it by then, and create a plan that would solve this issue for good so you don't have to stress yourself over money anymore.

[abel1337]

I've been looking for an apartment for over 6 months and haven't found anything yet. Not only is there a very limited supply, but those available are either too expensive, poor, too small, or everything combined. Thus, this is creating a huge feeling of uncertainty, as time is running out and I need to get settled down. Renting outside of town in the nearby villages isn't ideal either, because petrol is way too expensive.

The reality is finding your perfect ideal apartment is harder to get compared on what majority of us are thinking. There are also other people who are thinking to stay at the same apartment that you are thinking, you are lucky if you get your ideal apartment at the rent fee that you are willing to pay. Real estate are becoming expensive day by day especially today that we have a global inflation. It's either you will pay for the rent amount asked or just accept the inconvenience of not getting what you want.

The demand is also another factor on why you can't get your ideal apartment, living downtown with a lot of traffic has always a good thing on real estate owners since the demand is always there, even if they put above market renting price, there will still be people who want to stay in it.

[Twentyonepaylots]

It get to the point where I started fo feel like it's the end of humanity, because if God was tired of use he would have used COVID to erase every human from the Earth, I finally concluded that this life is nothing, we came empty-handed, we will leave empty handed, I braved up and decide to work even harder and not think too much about the future.

Paying respect for you bro. Pandemic is really a mind changing event of our life, that was a very historic moment for everyone of us, we all thought that was the beginning of a chaotic world but it is not. Then the vaccine arrive after a year, some of us are skeptical but I urge my family to have it. Then self realizations came in, if we all survive that Pandemic where millions of people have died then there's no reason to be weak in life, work harder than before, work smarter than anyone, always think about the future.

I do trading and I mine Bitcoin too, so I am making a good amount of money, I don't want to expose myself to more businesses because I won't be able to handle it, instead, I plan to add more Bitcoin miners to my farm soon, though profit wise is down since we are still in a bear market.

We always have the same experience, I trade too during the pandemic, make a couple of money and I can survive the whole week, and just repeated it myself.

[DVlog]

The thing is one way or another the stress of not being financially capable is going to catch up to you. The only real thing you can do about this is give yourself a breather every once in a while, congratulate and reward yourself with a whole day or week of not minding your financial woes, just like what a couple of people in here have said. It's also important that during these times of recuperation when your mind is at the most clearest state it can be, you'd have to actually formulate plans and find the root cause of your money problems, you should be able to pinpoint it by then, and create a plan that would solve this issue for good so you don't have to stress yourself over money anymore.

Yeah, taking a break from work and spending quality time with the family will help a lot. Just keep yourself reminded that there are people who are having worse than this. So if they can, why not me?

Life goes ups and down. We all had to struggle financially for a time in our lives. This makes us strong mentally and gives us the courage to overcome every hardship in our lives.

[Mate2237]

Op I don't think it was the Covid 19 that caused the cost of living and the inflation in the world but it is the government policies that are causing all these things cost. Because of government policies, many businesses have fold up and Small Enterprises have reduced very well in the retail world of business. in 2019 I was renting an apartment with $60 in the university town but today that the same apartment that I was renting with that amount is now $300 - $400, and I was amazed when I went to the university town to looked for an apartment for my younger brother to start school.

Another thing I will like to talk about is the going out to look for Greener Pasture out the the country, though it has helped many youths to make in life but not all have that favour. Personally I don't advise people to go out most in this period where everything is skyrocketing in price. The governments are not planning good for the people and that is why everything is getting worst every year.

[Juse14]

How do you stay optimistic?

Life is a hope and we never know for sure what will happen to us in the years to come. However, because there is hope and noble ideals and this has become a goal in my life to be able to continue to be optimistic and dream as high as possible so that when I fall, I will fall among the sparkling stars. In fact, I am so optimistic and confident that I will still be alive tomorrow that I continue to set an alarm to wake me up every morning. Finances are not one of the causes for us to behave pessimistically, but starting from these shortcomings is what allows us to have more spirit in order to gain financial freedom. And I consider that financial freedom is just a reward from the knowledge and learning we gain and from the efforts we make to complete all the existing problems in life.

[Fatunad]

When it comes to accommodation you have to choose houses that you can afford because it is a recurrent expenditure. Some persons make the mistake of borrowing to get a house only to struggle later to renew the rent. The only option you have is to increase your income or manage what you can afford. I had to move to another house to reduce my cost of living.

I can afford a more expensive house, the issue is that I'd prefer not to spend a large portion of my salary just to accomondate myself. You can never predict what may happen in a year or two. I wouldn't want to get stuck in a house I may not be able to afford in case something happens and I'm out of work, or is simply becoming a financial burden in the long-run.

The increase of these natural disasters makes life very uncertain. The Libyan flooding gives me so much concern because it was caused by negligence and my country has some dams that have not been maintained for a long time. It will not be a surprise if such a disaster occurs.

The governments haven't taken the necessary precautions to minimize the effects of such phenomeno, however, the root of this issue is that as the years progress, we're going to face a lot extreme weather conditions more often than we're used to.

I used to be like that in my "youth" and it was a good thing to be stressing about these things, at least for me. It made me learn the value of money and most importantly to plan ahead financially speaking.
You've already the first step correctly by thinking about these things but of course you have to try not to get overly anxious. Don't worry about making mistakes, after all you're at the beginning of your journey in life and even mistakes are a valuable experience.

I can't tell you what to do because the situation is different in different countries and different times. But I can tell you what I did.
I basically went on a very "strict financial mode" where I wrote down all my little expenses and little incomes. I worked hard and earned as much money as I could then made wise investments while controlling my expenses. That helped me maximize the amount of money I saved up (income, interest, passive income, profit).

I have to emphasize that writing down stuff helped a lot, as it is not enough to just be "careful about expenses". It helps a lot to be able to visualize and analyze your expenses (and incomes). For example at the end of the month you can look back and see for example you wasted money somewhere that could be avoided or better spent. I even have a little excel file that dates back 20 years
Not to mention that it helps you to stay organized a lot better and if you set targets for yourself, it also helps you reach those targets and feel "optimistic" about your future as you would be going through life according to your plan or at least closes to your plan as possible.

Speaking of planning ahead and setting targets one of the things I did was to figure out what would be the biggest expense I would have in my life and in my country it is rent. For example today as an engineer if I had to rent an apartment specially in the capital, that would eat at least 50% of my salary.
Knowing that, my goal became to eliminate that cost. The solution was to buy a house so that became the plan. I eventually saved up enough money to be able to buy my first apartment. It didn't have to be a fancy one or a big one but it helped me eliminate a large expense. That's extra money in my pocket which I were able to save or invest to improve.

This is actually some great advice and it's confident to know that there are others who share a similar mindset to mine. Yes, I tend to worry quite a lot, but it's because I want to be a responsible adult with a settled life, and want things done in a proper way. I know plenty of other students from my university that are still jobless, living with their parents and literally not worrying about their life, this isn't something I'd ever want.

Although I'm relatively careful with my money, writing down my expenses would allow me to scroll through the end of the month and see were I spent money that I could have avoided. Now that I've mentioned it, I could probably have avoided making that order from Temu, or buying something just because it was on sale. Writing down is the key to keep track of everything, whether it's money or a reminder.

I am established. I am middle class. I have fairly good income. I also make some money mining.

But my expenses have really gone up the last 18 months. Along with my mining profits dropping.

What to do?

Change some food habits to save money.
Find a bit more work to make more money.

I am lucky that my wife and I like each other so more time in bedroom for free entertainment is something we can do.

Simple problems do come up with simple solutions but well those are just only on words or something that you could say but it would really be that so hard to integrate or make it happen
specially in  talk about that making more work to make more money. What if you do have that only skill on which you could really be able to rely on and there's no other?
For sure you would really be finding out very challenging or would really be a tough situation for you to expand out and trying to diversify if you do have that limited skills
plus having that limited finances for you do such action.

Adjusting food consumption then it would be also a choice specially if your income isnt really that enough anymore and expenses do becomes even more higher.
We arent that dumb on not to see those differences in between months on which means that adjustment is really that needed but of course on the time that you are adjusting
then better make yourself that finding other income source.

[Oasisman]

Maybe I'm stressing out too much because I'm yet to find proper housing to establish myself again after being away for over a year in the military. I'm generally an anxious person myself, but does anyone else feel the same, and how do you deal with it? How do you stay optimistic?

Nope, you're not stressing it out too much, that's normal for someone who has yet to settle down and be at least in a state of being stable in general, most especially the financial aspect. I have struggling even before Covid, but what keeps me motivated is that the fact that I am still being able to bring food to the table for me and for my whole family, that includes the in-laws and the parents/elders. So, that little thing that everybody's not noticing is something that keeps your feet moving forward.

[philipma1957]

I am established. I am middle class. I have fairly good income. I also make some money mining.

But my expenses have really gone up the last 18 months. Along with my mining profits dropping.

What to do?

Change some food habits to save money.
Find a bit more work to make more money.

As I said in my previous comment, in the end it is a simple sum of expenditure and income. If prices go up you either spend less or you have to earn more to maintain the same standard of living. I see for example that after many years you have joined a paid signature campaign, congratulations to you and to us who see you more in other parts of the forum sharing your wisdom. With the total number of posts you have written, your manager is quite happy to have hired you as well, for SEO reasons I understand. Now I see it was
 to counteract the drop in mining profits and the rise in prices.

mining income is down about 60%

I picked up 800 a month doing the signature.

I altered certain eating habits less restaurant food.

[Ultegra134]

Wow, the thread really blew up since the last time I opened it yesterday evening. I've read every single one of your replies, but I certainly cannot reply to everyone individually.

I am established. I am middle class. I have fairly good income. I also make some money mining.

But my expenses have really gone up the last 18 months. Along with my mining profits dropping.

What to do?

Change some food habits to save money.
Find a bit more work to make more money.

I am lucky that my wife and I like each other so more time in bedroom for free entertainment is something we can do.

The truth is that there's not much to do. You can't tackle inflation and increasing costs yourself; the only thing you can do is find ways to increase your income and, at the same time, reduce your expenses by avoiding unnecessary expenditures. And honestly, the most valuable activities in life are free.

Actually, I am always in a financial stress, but the stress level is always on different level. Even though I have saved money in bank account and hold crypto. I think I always feel uncomfortable, when when my monthly expenses are higher than monthly salary. Even though my bank account was always a positive number, and it was never a zero, when I moved from parents I was always stressed with tomorrows day. I find myself thinking about if something bad happens, will I have enough money to solve that. And right now, when I am a head of my own family already, the feeling of financial stress is even bigger.

I was, honestly, the exact opposite. I had a relatively cheap house and a steady job—not the highest-paying one—but along with my partner, we earned a decent income, plus signature campaigns to save Bitcoin. I was stress-free regarding money; we'd go on trips by car and vacation once or even twice a year without worrying too much. Now things are completely different, though. These times probably came to an end.

It's one of the things that you really couldn't get away from in my opinion. Try as you might to sweep this one under the rug, it will all be futile cause at the end of the day, you're spending money and you need money for daily sustenance.

If you're living well off, or at least sufficiently earning for yourself with some savings on the side, I suggest you look into a little R&R (rest and relaxation) every now and again. Go to the beach, take your family out to dinner, play sports with friends, do anything that will take the pressure and stress of living in the modern world, and you're sure to be able to deal with the stress brought by the cost of living expenses nowadays.

If you're someone who's not in the position to spend money that willy-nilly, look into other hobbies or interest. Work out, read, distract yourself and arm yourself one way or another. If you let the thoughts brew inside your brain you'd be paralyzed. Do something.

Certainly, my mind keeps racing, and I'm not actually relaxing, even when I'm resting. I can't stop thinking of what we could have done better or what we're going to do in this dire situation of not being able to find proper accommodations. My personal items are scattered along two houses and in my car because I've got nowhere to put them. Not only is this situation frustrating, but it also causes angry outbursts from time to time. It's causing a spiral of bad moods and depression.

The case you are experiencing is very different from our situation where we are not required to serve in the military because the country where I live does not enforce this rule. Usually I tend to spend a limited amount of money according to my needs to fulfill my basic daily needs. Anxiety certainly arises amidst the uncertain economic turmoil that has occurred in recent years because many people have difficulty getting money to spend on their daily needs. The difficulty of finding work has an impact on the fulfillment of life and also conditions due to recession and increasing inflation.

I try to live frugally in conditions like this and spend money according to my needs, because forcing to spend money in inappropriate categories will actually worsen economic conditions. Increasing income is a solution that must be done by adjusting whatever work can be done and if our income is stable then the problem will be resolved slowly even though we cannot solve everything quickly.

The military was the icing on the cake. I spent a year not earning money, and now I've returned to absolute zero. No income, no house. I'm only left with an enormous burden and stress. I'm generally an anxious person and an overthinker, and my mind just doesn't shut down anymore. I keep endlessly thinking, to no avail.

[Renampun]

Maybe I'm stressing out too much because I'm yet to find proper housing to establish myself again after being away for over a year in the military. I'm generally an anxious person myself, but does anyone else feel the same, and how do you deal with it? How do you stay optimistic?

Inflation in my country really makes the difficulty in earning money increasing, my family and I feel that too, but we remain optimistic because the days spent with an optimistic attitude will have a positive impact on what I will do and get.

@OP I feel you, most people in my country also have similar problem, some of them even worse because their family or people close to them are toxic.

To be honest it's really complicated and there's no other way except working more harder or go to other country that pay better.

Believe it or not, it is often the family that hinders us from developing financially, but not all, only the toxic ones, that's why some people decide to migrate to another city or country that has better pay, even though it's not easy, moving is something which is worth trying when you think it's impossible to stay in your place longer.

Taking a master's degree is really expensive, it's true you can take a scholarship program, but you need to meet the high requirements and terms.

Nowadays education is no longer the main determinant of someone's success, there are many who don't have higher education but they are successful in their lives, it comes back to their own decisions but struggling in education is something that must be tried.

[2double0]

If you get used to worst, you don't see it as worst but start seeing it as normal and it gets dealt with, automatically. You don't need to be optimistic, but to make it a habit. See there are two choices, one is to keep going with our ongoing life and other is to make a choice to change it for your better. But yes, it is also true that opportunities have vanished after Covid killed many lead members of families who were the breadwinners for them and made people totally helpless. Some who are still alive, get to hear from their families for not doing anything but our relatives never understand that there is an opportunity crisis going on in this world and we need to deal with it because inflation is the only thing increasing quietly and poverty has taken place at the homes of many middle class who were living a normal life before Covid.

[Pierre 2]

Well I am living in Türkiye and under extreme inflation. We still survive in this atmosphere mainly because families here help their kids a lot. I got help from family, not shy about it because they know how bad it is and how wages melt under extreme inflation. I also find another way to protect my wealth. Funds really helped me. Professional investors are using money wisely to be honest. I am bit worried with stock markets as can't detect time to short or long. Funds are better.

[Captain Corporate]

When you reach a certain age (not old, just over 30 is enough) you realize that stress doesn't solve your financial woes and you need to instead pivot the way your finances work. For example I was the type of guy who did not spend money on anything at all, literally nothing, and then I realized that never got me anywhere and didn't really helped me, so now I am on the "grow with debt" type of guy which many smart financial people suggest, and that works better in the end. So you need to look at what you are doing, doesn't have to be similar to mine, just look what caused your stress, and then try to figure out how you can pivot to make it better. It could be reverse of mine, who knows what yours is, as long as you find the root of the problem and a solution, they can be anything, because you test them and see the results and repeat until you find one that works for you.

[LogitechMouse]

~
Maybe I'm stressing out too much because I'm yet to find proper housing to establish myself again after being away for over a year in the military. I'm generally an anxious person myself, but does anyone else feel the same, and how do you deal with it? How do you stay optimistic?

Don't you have emergency funds to start with OP? Many have already said that we need emergency funds so that we are prepared at least if things like this happens.

I don't know which country are you living OP, but living in the province really helps as to living in a city. Expenses are way lower. If your concern is food, you can just plant crops that will give you fruits, and vegetable after few weeks or months. As for proper housing, don't you have any relatives where you can try, and live there temporarily while you are finding a proper house where you can live with.

As for what you're feeling right now compare to what I felt when COVID19 started until now, I didn't felt any financial stress TBH. Not bragging, but ever since, I already have emergency funds where I can get some money if things get worse like what happened. I'm also living in a province where food isn't that expensive to buy because we have vegetables in our backyard. As for housing, we are living in a family house currently. I just hope that you OP will stay optimistic when hardship comes like the pandemic.

Always take note that there's no problem that can't be solved. All problems have solution. Always find a way. If you need to change something like your lifestyle, do it. If you need to do something that you aren't doing in the past, but you need to do to survive, do it. If you need to plant just to lessen your expenses in food, do it. If you need to transfer to another area just to lessen your expenses, do it. If you need to find another job that's outside of your profession, do it. I know it's easy for me to say this, but I also did felt the same back when there isn't any COVID19 yet, but to cut the story, I solved it.