10 tips for keeping your finances on track

1. Take Responsibility.
   This is critical for bringing your finances under control. Where you are today is a result of the choices you have made throughout your life. You have a responsibility to yourself to learn the lessons, develop the skills and take the right actions to bring you financial security. Take care though. There is a big difference between taking responsibility and blaming yourself for where you are. Don’t beat yourself up for the choices you have made so far. Learn the lessons, adopt a new attitude and be positive.

2. Communicate with the people to whom you owe money.
   If you are struggling to meet repayments on a loan or credit card you should communicate with the people to whom you owe money. This may be an especially difficult thing to do, but it is essential.

3. Stop Spending!
   Sounds obvious, but often people who are not in control of their finances become so accustomed to spending money, that even when debt is weighing them down, they still can’t stop spending.

4. Expect to Grieve.
   Understand that finances are emotional. Revealing your true financial position will be a challenge and can often be a great personal disappointment. Take the time to get the best financial information you can and prioritise what steps you need to take.

5. Take Heart.
   It is worth remembering that you are not the only one experiencing financial difficulty. There are lots and lots of people who, at different stages in their lives, have discovered they were flat broke or not in control of their finances. Don’t waste precious time regretting the decisions you made to get here. The task now is to reposition yourself in order to achieve your goals in the future.

6. Learn the Lessons.
   Unfortunately, it is often only when you hit rock bottom that you finally have the real motivation to appreciate the principles of sound financial management. This is the time to reflect and ask yourself: “What would you do differently?” and “What are you going to do to ensure that this does not happen again?”

7. Improve your Money Relationship.
   If you are wondering how you are suddenly going to turn around a lifetime of money clumsiness, improving your personal relationship with money is one place to start. Create awareness or mindfulness is a great place to start. Respect your money and yourself.

8. Put your House in Order.
   If you are in debt, you need to take a long honest look at your predicament and make some tough changes. But first, clean up. Get off the couch and have a proper Spring clean (no matter what the month). Create order in your house and life and get motivated to make changes.

9. Revalue your Life.
   To rise above the crisis, it is important to calm down in order to think straight. There are a million things that are valuable in life that have nothing to do with money and that no one can ever take away from you unless you let them. Now is a good time to remember those things & to start to appreciate and value them more.

10. Simplify and Liquidate.
    If there is anything you own that is not important to you, sell it immediately and put the proceeds towards paying off your debt. Simplifying is about un-cluttering, but also about reducing your overheads. It is about not repeating past actions which have made life more complex and burdensome.