The cost of financial stress
I was listening to NPR Friday evening while preparing for my garage sale, see below, when a story on the effects of financial stress came on. Basically, it exists and is rising.
I know whenever Hubby and I have a big financial decision to make it creates a lot of hand wringing and furrowed brows. An About.com story explains how "anxiety over money can negatively affect health in several ways."
People cope by self-medicating with alcohol, smoking and food. They cut out health care and other expenses that improve their well being. Folks may lose sleep, which can affect critical thinking, and experience "unhealthy emotions" like anxiety, frustration and hopelessness.
So what to do? First take this true or false quiz to determine in 10 questions if you suffer from financial stress.
Then make a household budget (here's info about mine). If you need motivation here are 12 good reasons to start a budget .
Get tips to get out of debt here. Good luck and remember to ask for help when you need it.
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About The Bargain Hunter
Daily News staff writer Julia Scott loves to find bargains on everything from groceries to Gucci. Her tips will help keep your hard earned cash where it belongs - in your pocket.
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the first thing i did when i took over the bills ( husband was in the feild) was create a spreadsheet- it was very useful in showing after bills, how much we had left. Its amazing how trips to the grocery store we ended up buying things we really didnt need or use. i now have started to save my reciepts and that has really made me more aware of where the money is going. i was at a candle party (and i resisted the urge to buy any- yay me!) and one of the gals mentioned that she was a recovering impulse buyer. So she put her credit cards in a ziplock bag with water and then froze it. (haha literally freezing her assets) she said when she sees something online or at the store she cant just swipe it- it has to melt (which she informed me took several hours to do) and you cant microwave it because of the magnetic strip.
Love the ice tip!!! ~Julia