Scenario: I make about 30k per month and spend all of it. The worst part is I don’t know where I spend it and I don’t know where to start to figure it out. Every time I look at my accounts, there are too many transactions to make sense of. I feel overwhelmed and defeated every time, so I just burry my head in the sand and do nothing. I am having severe anxiety and am ready to make a change. I need help getting started…where do I start?

What I’d do:

It’s great that you’ve acknowledged the way that you feel about your money, especially when you do nothing! What would you feel if you had clarity?

The easiest tactical place to start is in an app called You Need A Budget (YNAB).

Connect all of your bank accounts and credit cards and then begin to assign a job to the dollars that you currently have.

As you spend money, you will categorize your spending and begin to see where you spend your money.

You’ll likely still experience those anxious feelings while categorizing your spending at first, but as the clarity comes the feelings will subside.

This is SO common! The truth is that you must stare the overwhelming feelings of anxiety, fear, or embarassment in the face and pay attention to your spending! Start small. Ask yourself why you ignore your spending habits…what emotion do you feel? Then feel it and accept this.

Money is emotional and it’s okay to feel emotions around your money.

Would you rather know your situation now and be able to make a change or look back on your life 20 years from now and have nothing?

Why did the golfer carry an extra pair of pants?

In case he got a hole in one.