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mindfulness
CalmMoment.com 91
E
verything we need to know
about managing money is
summed up perfectly by
Mr Micawber in the Charles
Dickens novel David Copperfield:
“Annual income twenty pounds, annual
expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen
[shillings] and six [pence], result happiness.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual
expenditure twenty pounds ought and six,
result misery.” Or, to put it another way,
spending more than you earn will only
lead to trouble.
It’s the simplest of concepts, yet each day
millions of us break that golden rule – our
outgoings galloping ahead of our income.
Sometimes this is unavoidable – we all have
unexpected expenses that can push
us into the red (an expression dating froma time when accountants would write
negative figures in red ink) but if we don’t
bring ourselves back to black quickly, then
the problem can rapidly escalate.
According to the Money Advice Service
(MAS), which offers free online and
telephone support to anyone with money
concerns, more than eight million people
across the UK are in debt. It’s a problem that
can affect all genders, all classes and all
ages, yet despite this, many people suffer in
silence. Feelings of guilt, shame and fear can
make it hard to ask for help.
Debt charity StepChange works to
de-stigmatise the issue and urges any of us
who are struggling to talk to our relatives if
at all possible, or to contact one of the many
specialist organisations for advice.
Owing money can be enormously stressfulMoney can be a major cause of stress; being mindful
of our spending is the first step to a happier
relationship with our finances
Words: Xenia Taliotis