8 ‘Good Enough’ Money Moves To Make Now If You’re Feeling Overwhelmed
Written by
Jordan Rosenfeld
Edited by
Molly Sullivan
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When financial burdens feel stressful, most people don’t need a perfect budget or a five-year plan, they just need relief. Financial overwhelm is incredibly common, but experts say the way out isn’t through strict rules or dramatic overhauls. It starts with small, “good enough” moves that lower stress, create stability and help you feel in control again.
Experts offered some simple attitudes and habits to make your finances feel lighter faster.
1. Start With One Honest Look at Your Spending
When you’re financially overwhelmed, the first step isn’t building a spreadsheet or creating a strict budget, according to Linda R. Jensen, certified exit planning advisor (CEPA) at Heart Financial Group. “I start with awareness and relief. The very first step I ask for is one honest look at the last 30 to 60 days of spending. No editing, no judgment, just seeing what is really going on.”
Once the numbers are on paper, “the monster under the bed gets smaller, because we are not guessing anymore,” she said.
Austin Kilgore, analyst with the Achieve Center for Consumer Insights, added that taking the next step, and creating a budget does not need to be complicated, either. “It’s just tracking, accurately, every week or every month, everything that comes in and goes out.”
2. Create a Simple System If You Hate Budgeting
Not everyone thrives with detailed budgets, however. For people who hate it, Jensen recommended the simple three bucket rule, where you decide rough percentages for each. Bucket one is for needs, bucket two is for “future you” (like emergency savings or retirement), and bucket three is fun or miscellaneous. You decide rough percentages for each, though she recommended 50% for needs, 30% for the future, and 20% for fun. If possible, set these up in separate bank accounts.
This strategy can help you pay closer attention to the difference between wants and needs, Kilgore said.
3. Build a Small Financial Buffer To Reduce Stress
One of the simplest and most effective “good enough” moves is creating a financial buffer, Jensen said. Even putting away just $50 to $100 to start in a separate savings account can lower anxiety. Experts say the size matters less than starting something you can sustain.
4. Automate One Helpful Task To Lighten Mental Load
Kilgore recommended setting up automatic transfers to simplify savings. This also removes “decision fatigue,” Jensen pointed out, and “protects you on the days you feel tired or discouraged.
Whether it’s auto-paying a bill or auto-moving a few dollars to savings, small systems often outperform good intentions.
“Good money systems beat good money intentions every single time,” Jensen said.
5. Focus On the Consequences of Each Decision
When everything feels urgent, people often freeze. Instead of reacting to financial “rules,” according to Dana Miranda, certified educator in personal finance (CEPF) and founder of Healthy Rich. She advised weighing the real-life consequences of each choice. This shifts money decisions from guilt-driven to intentional.
“When everything feels urgent, we put the oxygen mask on in this order: Protect the roof over your head … After that, we look at high interest debt, then rebuilding savings,” Jensen said.
When you’re feeling overwhelmed, start by taking an inventory and focusing on the consequences attached to each item. “For example, if you’re choosing between repaying debt faster or traveling more, you’ll weigh those consequences: Not paying off debt might result in interest or fees, and not traveling might make you stir crazy and hurt your mental health.”
Every decision you make with money has an outcome, and Miranda advised deciding “whether that outcome makes sense in your life right now.”
6. Use Tiny Wins To Build Momentum and Confidence
Small, quick wins can help break financial paralysis. “These changes are not huge in dollar terms, but they flip the story in a client’s mind,” Jensen said.
Whether that’s tracking your spending and finding money you can cut or save, or developing a new, simpler financial routine, Jensen said that “confidence comes from evidence. The more evidence you collect that you can act on, the more your sense of control returns.”
7. Temporarily Pause Nonessential Goals
Not every financial task needs to be tackled at once. If you’re overwhelmed, it’s OK to “press pause on perfect retirement contributions or aggressive extra debt payments for a short season,” Jensen said.
Miranda recommended quieting the noise of expectations, not turning to social media for financial advice or comparisons, and getting clear with yourself to “understand what you want your money to do for you.”
“It is better to build a small safety net and pay everything on time than to over commit to long term goals and end up back in crisis,” Jensen stressed.
8. Reframe Debt and Money Shame
Shame keeps people stuck more than any actual debt number, Kilgore said. It can create feelings of inadequacy and judgment that don’t help you move forward. While the goal is to get out of debt, remember that while there is no single solution for everyone, there is a solution for everyone, he said.
Miranda recommended thinking of debt differently, as “just a set of financial products we can use as a resource when we need them.” Reframing debt that way lets you use it as a resource to support the life you want, rather than falling back on it with shame.
Your financial picture “is not a grade on your worth,” Jensen added, “it is simply feedback on a system that needs tweaking.”
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