Will You Be Ready for Your Next Financial Crisis?

When most people think of frugality, they think of people who have some kind of dire financial need, like losing a job and having to apply for welfare. While that defines the most extreme need for reassessing spending patterns, there is a lot of gray area in between there and complete spendthriftery (I know this isn’t a real word, but I like it.)

The Reality of How Often Many People Assess Their Finance Situation

The reality is most of us don’t assess our financial situation until something happens. The student loans come due and we don’t have enough to cover the payments, an illness, accident or pandemic rocks our world, or a crisis makes us take a look at ‘what matters’. Not poor, just strapped for cash. Then we go into crisis mode.

Which is a good thing. But once our crisis is over, it is often easy to slip back into what is comfortable. Crisis over, problem solved, bills are on time again, right? Wrong.

Okay, maybe not wrong, but certainly ineffective – you are still completely unprepared for the next crisis – and if one can happen, two can. This isn’t a scare tactic, it is a simple statement of fact. Financial emergencies happen.

Changing Your Financial Circumstances

There are things that only you can do to fix the situation. That’s what this is about. Not just being able to pay the bills, but truly never having to fear picking up the phone in case a collector is on the line, or worrying how you’ll get to work because your car has broken down again.

Not to say that you will never be comfortable without becoming a tightwad — because everyone’s circumstances are different, and some of us make enough money to compensate for overspending, and there are all levels of money philosophy. But I will say this as a fact: if you are never content with what you have, you will never be able to stop spending money long enough to look at all your options. If you are trapped by your choices (into a job that has no meaning to you, or a lifestyle you can barely afford) there are ways to change your life. But the changes aren’t as simple as eating out less and driving an older car.

In order to do this (and there is no easy way, here – sorry) you have to change the way you think of money. What is necessary is a level of perception. Instead of driving to work, I can take mass transit. Instead of taking mass transit, I can ride my bike.

How Do You Define Financial Necessity?

What spurs changing your definition of what financial necessity is will be different for each person. But the reality is most of us have choices that we make every day with our money without thinking about it, without realizing it. We choose not to compare prices at the grocery store (or compare stores), we choose to eat lunch out instead of packing it, we choose to buy pop tarts and Ben and Jerry’s instead of having toast with jam and store-brand ice cream.

The thing that seems to scare people about changing their lifestyles is that it all seems so HUGE. It isn’t. It works just like a snowball rolling down the hill. For me, it was bringing in my breakfast and drinking the coffee that work provided. I switched from my $7.00 per day coffee and bagel habit, hating the switch for about a month until it started to feel natural. I didn’t change much else in that month though. Now, I change things often, reassessing needs and wants and uses and places to find things cheaper.

What If There Is No Reason To Change?

If there is no big reason to change, then you may not choose to. But how much longer will it take you to reach your goals if you don’t? Can you buy a house? Can you stay home with your kids? Aren’t your goals as important as getting laid off in terms of changing your life? If not, why not?

Related:

• What Are You Willing To Give Up To Win Financially?
• Learn How To Develop a Frugal Attitude
• Slay the Little Extravagances and Improve Your Finances

Reviewed October 2024