£££ Money is a tool that can change your life for the better
It is easy to say money is a just a tool when you have a lot of it. When you don’t have a lot of money it is hard to see it as a tool. When we don’t have much money, we see so many of our problems as money problems and they certainly are not small problems.
We can’t afford our rent, we can’t afford to pay our energy bill, we can’t afford those new shoes for our children. These can be mountainous problems that affect the quality of our lives. They cause anxiety and stress. We don’t see money as a tool, we see money as our enemy, or we see money as the solution. Money is the goal we aspire to for all our problems to be solved.
We allow money and the seeking of it to run our lives.
We are wrong!
Money is just a thing we use. Granted, sometimes that thing is just keeping our heads above water, but it is still just a tool.
‘OK,’ I hear you say, ‘so money is a tool, but knowing that doesn’t make my bills any smaller, or put food on the table so what’s your point?’
My point is that how we see money affects how we act. If we are afraid of money and see it as the enemy, it can prevent us from budgeting our spending or checking the balance in our bank account. When we look at the figures it causes us anxiety. When and if we do try then the numbers just won’t add up and even if they do, we can’t manage to stick within them. This in turn causes more anxiety and stress. We think of it as being impossible and give up.
When we change our thinking and money becomes just a tool it allows us to set our emotions to one side. We can stop focusing on the anxiety and fear because after all,
MONEY IS JUST A TOOL!
We can instead begin to focus on solutions, and how best we can use that tool. When we change our way of thinking away from seeing things in terms or good or bad we then then begin to focus on actions.
If we start with a goal, and remember money is not the goal in itself, it might be to put feed your family or to pay an outstanding bill, we can then begin to come up with strategies for using money to achieve that goal. Your plan might be:
Take out a loan with the Credit Union to pay off your debts and spread the payments out evenly over the next 12 months.
Sell some unused items to build up an emergency savings pot
Search for a better job as you have paid off your debts and have a small amount of savings and so are not as reliant on having the security of your current employment.
Tools are made to be used. When we think of money as a tool it gives us the power and the permissions to use it.
It won’t be easy, but as with all tools, the more experience you have of using it, the easier it becomes.