Five steps to financial fitness

Don't bury your head in the sand. Follow our five-step action plan to financial fitness!

If you thought the recession was a pain in the neck, you're right. More and more people are suffering physical symptoms from the downturn, including stress, exhaustion, low energy levels, and back and neck pain.

For example, chartered physiotherapist Sammy Margo has seen a 25% increase in stress-related injuries in her clinic during the recession, suggesting that many people are suffering physical as well as financial strain.

There is even a name for it, Recession Strain Injury, mimicking the Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) suffered by many keyboards users.
This may sound daft, but with 6.8 million Britons owing more money than they can manage, and 9.7 million at their coping limits, a lot of people could be suffering from serious physical stress right now - and all because of your money problems.

Financial muscle

The typical symptoms of Recession Strain Injury include:

• Neck, shoulder, arm pain.
• Pins and needles in the hand.
• Middle and lower back pain.
• High stress levels.
• Low energy levels.
• Exhaustion.
• Difficulty sleeping.
• General feelings of malaise.

In other words, the next time your back is killing you, bear in mind it might all be down to your money problems, instead.

If you are suffering from any of these symptoms, you're certainly not the only one. Gordon Brown's body language suggests that he has got a bad case of RSI, and well he might. He has also chewed his fingernails to the bone, another physical manifestation of psychological distress.

Stress testing

You don't want to suffer a cranium crunch on top of the credit crunch, and there certain things you can do to avoid this new mutation of RSI.

Breathing deeply will calm you down and increase your concentration levels. So will doing gentle exercise every day, drinking plenty of water, and if you spend most of your day gurning at a computer monitor like I do, adopting a good posture and doing a few loosening exercises.

Unfortunately, this will only tackle the symptoms and not the cause of financial distress.

Five steps to financial fitness

If you're suffering from serious financial tension, the following exercises might help you massage your bank balance into a healthier position.

1) Diagnose the problem

Sit down. Take a deep breath. Now write down how much income you take home each month after tax, because these are the boundaries of your new financially healthy existence. You might be able to stretch them, by drawing any unclaimed welfare benefits, taking in a lodger, or finding a part-time job, but if you can't, you will have to live within them.

Adopt our goal on how to manage on a small budget to get practical help and tips on how to address your finances, step by step.

You may also find our video on how to save if you haven't got any money useful.

2) Take control.

Still sitting in a comfortable position, examine your monthly bank and credit card statements to find out exactly where the financial pain is located. Psychologists have discovered that writing down your problems can help. Record everything you spend, day after day, to see if you are really making best use of your money, and how much you could save by cutting back. Decide what's important in life. Cut your spending back to the essentials. If this allows you to live within your income, you are well on the way to recovery. But if not...

3) Put your life in order

Breathe deeply and work out which bills are most important to you, rather than which creditors are making the most noise. Focus on your mortgage or rent first, you need to keep a roof over your head, then any court orders or unpaid tax, including council tax, because you don't want to face legal action. Any debt that isn't secured than your property, such as credit or store cards, bank loans, HP payments and money borrowed from family or friends, should go further down the list.

If possible, you should try to snowball these debts.

4) Stay calm.

Even if you are in serious debt, the courts will protect your right to a basic standard of living. These include the right to pay your mortgage, utility and council tax bills, to feed and clothe your family, pay transport costs to school and work, and fund essential use of a car. Life doesn't have to completely grind to a halt, although at times it might seem like it.

5) Talk things over.

Speak to your partner, you will need their support to turn your debts around. Contact your creditors. Lenders, utility companies and other financial services firms have plenty of practice in soothing customers in debt, and will do their best to minimise any pain. Seek specialist help from Citizens Advice, the Consumer Credit Counselling Service or PayPlan. You can get plenty of links and tips here. Remember, you are not alone.

If you're in severe financial distress, a massage or aromatherapy session is only a short-term palliative. But if you follow the tips above, it might help you cure the condition for good.

Get help from lovemoney.com

If you're financially stressed, we can help.

First, adopt this goal. Destroy your debt.

Next, watch this video. Debt advice.

And finally, why not have a wander over to Q&A and ask other lovemoney.com members for hints and tips about what worked best for them?