What To Do When You Continuously Suffer From Financial Relapse

3 min read By eCompareMo on September 10, 2015

Do you still remember the first time you said to yourself you will lay off the sweets to cut down your sugar intake? If not, then you’ve probably fallen off the wagon many times before. While you can still fend off the excess calories with exercise and proper diet, breaking your financial promises can cause serious consequences later on—most especially when that change is long overdue.

Let’s face it: starting all over again whenever you fall down can be a dragging task, especially that you may have already been starting for several times now. However, don’t fret; falling down is part of becoming better when it comes to handling your money. So what are you supposed to do when you’ve been going back and forth to the financial rut?

Trouble in paradise

If there is one thing common among people keep on relapsing back to their old yet destructive financial habits, it’s because of one thing: people keep on falling down because they become too strict with their money-saving habits. While spending money is a good habit, becoming obsessed with it will only cause troubles; the more you deprive yourself even of life’s simplest pleasures, the more you crave for it.

When you go overboard with your money-saving methods and become too stingy with yourself, you become more prone to falling off the wagon. Once you succumb to the first taste of satisfaction after a purchase, it is easy to fall down the downward spiral once again and next thing you know, you’re back to becoming a horrible spender.

Simplicity is key

People keep on making their money saving habits complicated to the point that they lose sight of what’s important. In case you feel like you’re slowly veering away from your original and it has become more of a self-imposed punishment, you need to step back and realize this: saving is more about spending less and eliminating unnecessary expenses.

However, while the key to saving is putting away those extra pesos instead of buying this and that, keep in mind that you also need to keep your urges in check. Once you didn’t indulge every now and then, you may start to get the itch to spend and it can slide down to the dark side. With this in mind, what are the ways on how you can avoid falling off the wagon of irresponsible money handling again? Here are the steps to avoid falling down again:

1. Have a goal in mind. Do you feel like saving five digits by the end of the year? Why not? If you have a solid number in mind that you want to hit, you can have a good sense of direction on how you will save your money. In case you start lose motivation when saving or the urge to overspend kicks in once again, just think of the goal you have in mind and you can easily get back on track.

2. Learn how to forgive yourself. When you go back to your wayward money habits again, it is easy to beat yourself up—and the price to pay is actually more, especially if you surrender to the idea that you won’t get better with your money skills. By forgiving yourself and acknowledging that we are all prone to these speed bumps, you will make it easier for yourself to move on and start again.

3. Don’t give up. At times, it seems discouraging to start again with your money saving methods, especially if you’ve already tried—and unfortunately failed—several times. However, the most important thing here is starting all over again, regardless of how many times you fail. What matters more is that you try again because you have to.

To err is human, but to forgive yourself and start again is something that’s more important. When it comes to money matters, it is never too late to start again and become wiser and more mature with your money. After all, it’s better to pick up again than just wallow in utter defeat.