Managing Your Mental Health When Money's Tight

Given that 77% of Americans feel anxious about their financial situation, you're not alone if you feel money affects your mental health.

In fact, when we spoke to Spill psychotherapist Graham Landi, he explained that the biggest factor that connects money, shame, and mental health "is that we define ourselves by it. If I have less than you, I feel like I'm worth less. It’s about how we measure our own value in terms of financial worth or - and this is important - perceived financial worth."‍

‍

Here are the stats:

💙 46% of people with debt also have a mental health diagnosis
‍💙 86% of people with mental health issues and debt say that their debt makes their mental health issues worse
💙A study by the Better Sleep Council found that personal finances were the third greatest cause of sleep problems, with 60% of poor sleepers living paycheck to paycheck.

‍

Everyone's mental health suffers from time-to-time, and we’re prone to making poor financial decisions when we’re totally burned out.

Are your stress levels reaching the point of no return? Do you feel like you’re one Zoom call away from packing up your Yeezy’s to go live on a desert island and befriend a soccer ball?

Yeah it can be rough. But here are several things we’ve found to be helpful when we’re low on money and good vibes.
‍

Ways to Help Manage your Financial Stress
‍

💬Reach out: Think of bottling up your stress like someone dropping a mentos in a bottle of Coca-Cola, screwing the lid back on and giving it a good old shake – the pressure becomes too much and, well… you know how it ends (and if you don’t plz don’t try this. Just google it.)  

If you’re worried about money you’re not alone – 73% of Americans rank their finances as their number one stress in life. Have a chat with a close family member or friend and tell them how you’re feeling.

Talking it through with someone could help you come up with a solution you may not have got on your own.

‍

🌺 Glow up: You deserve to feel good and there are so many ways you can do this without spending your precious dollar bills y’all.

If you’ve got a spare avocado sitting in your kitchen looking all lonely and sad or perhaps some natural yogurt left in the fridge, you can make a super easy homemade facemask from Marie Clare’s glowing skin blog.

Pop a couple of cucumbers over those eyes and get that skin looking ✨FRESH✨

‍

💸Create a budget: Budgeting can be beneficial for our mental health for several reasons. It can help to reduce anxiety and stress, provides a sense of control and enhances your financial confidence. 🌟

Lay out your finances and make a budget you can actually follow. Budgeting is KEY to helping you create and maintain financial stability.

      💭How much do you spend on bills?

      💭What are you spending money on daily?

When you sign up to Cleo, you’ll automatically get access to the budgeting and saving tools so you can learn how to build credit.

She’ll connect to your bank account and generate smart insights based on your spending to help you budget and save in a way that suits YOU. Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.
‍

‍

🌳Take a walk: Research shows just a 10-minute walk can help improve your mood. So, when you’re feeling overwhelmed with your finances and having trouble concentrating, take some time to go and explore the great outdoors.

Need some inspo for your route? Check out free route planning apps like Under Armour’s ‘Map My Walk’ (iOS/Android) and let those legs take you places you ain’t ever been before.

‍

✏️ Reflect: Us humans tend to spend way too much time thinking about what’s wrong in our lives and forgetting about things that made us smile and what we’re thankful for 💫
‍

Spend a few minutes reflecting on your day and list 3 things that made you smile. No pen or paper? A couple of free apps you might wanna use – ‘Day One Journal’ (iOS/Android) and the ‘5 Minute Journal’ (iOS/Android.)

‍

✨Mindfulness: It’s the practice of paying close attention to your breath and how you’re feeling in that moment. If you’re feeling super stressed right now, take some time to check in with yourself.

There are loads of different ways you can do this including having a good stretch, chilling out to whale sounds, or getting those paint brushes out and channelling Bob Ross 🎨

Approximately 36 million Americans practice yoga regularly making it an increasingly popular mindfulness exercise and 86% of people report a reduction in stress (yaaaaass!) – it can also help to improve strength, balance, and flexibility. Ready to take on the downward dog?

Check out ‘Yoga with Adriene’, her videos get millions of views (she also has the CUTEST pup, Benji.)

There’s also a ‘Yoga for Beginners’ app (iOS) which gives you access to loads of free workouts.

‍

Thanks Cleo, I'll Never be Stressed Again

‍Ok so as much as we’d like that to be the case, we both know that’s not true.

It wouldn’t be right for us to tell you to “Stop stressing about your finances”, because the truth is, everyone’s circumstances are different and when mental health is involved, sometimes trying to build up the energy to deal with it is tough.

But hopefully some of these ideas will help keep those stress levels low by putting self-care first.
‍
And if our ideas didn’t help, you could try Michael Scott’s stress relief program. 👀
‍

‍

Enjoy this post? Give it a share or send it along to a friend. You never know, it could make a big difference.
‍‍Big love. Cleo 💙