Finding yourself in a tough financial spot stinks, but it isn’t unusual. People occasionally find themselves struggling to balance many financial responsibilities, surprises, and more, and when this happens, it can feel especially frustrating.
If you are currently facing a situation where you’re struggling to make ends meet, never fear – you can make a game plan for the short term to begin organizing the situation and feel more empowered to tackle it head-on.
Strategies for Organizing a Short Term Game Plan to Get Your Finances Back on Track
A good short term game plan for getting your finances in order, especially when you are struggling to make ends meet, is possible with some smart strategies.
1| Begin by identifying the exact issue that’s causing a strain on your finances.
Are you a chronic over-spender? Do you have a hard time turning down a sale or an opportunity to spend money on event tickets with a friend? Have you found yourself facing an emergency unplanned expense?
Tracing the root cause of your current financial strain is important. When you know exactly where your resources need to go, you can begin relieving pressure effectively.
2| Prioritize your needs (and put your wants on a shelf for later).
Be very honest with yourself – what are your true needs and wants in life? For example, you need to ensure your housing and food sources are secured. While you may really love binging Netflix shows, a subscription isn’t something you absolutely need to survive. When you’re trying to make a short term game plan to get better control of your finances, get real about what your needs and wants are – and make a point to focus strictly on the needs for now.
3| Identify your key financial goals.
When you’re struggling to make ends meet, it can be easier to “zone in” on what you most want out of your financial situation by identifying one or two key, short term financial goals you’d like to meet. When you have a short term goal or two identified, you can use those as your focal points for your saving and spending habits – until your situation is improved, working toward meeting those short term goals can become your financial priorities.
4| Determine what needs to happen right now (and what could wait for later).
When you find yourself in a financial crisis and you’re struggling to make ends meet, it’s easy to fall into chaos mode – you feel the urge to do whatever you can to try and fix all your problems right now. Unfortunately, you can’t always solve all your financial issues in a single day!
Instead, take a minute to breathe and look at your different financial issues. Which problems need to be handled first? Which problems have due dates or deadlines looming on the horizon? What can wait and be handled later? While your problems may all seem equally urgent, there’s a good chance that at least one or two of them can wait until you solve some other issues first.
5| See what options are available for repayments on loans or bills.
Many people see their monthly balance on a bill or loan and believe that paying that exact amount is the only way to approach it. In many cases, you can negotiate with lending companies, creditors, and other corporations to determine a much more appropriate repayment plan. Rather than struggling to make payments on your current arrangement with a creditor or other company, contact them and see what your options are. Often, you’ll discover that there are other plans you can use for repayment that are less straining on your monthly finances.
