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" You clip coupons like clockwork, pack lunches for your kids every day and wait for sales before heading to the mall. Yet, in spite of your smart habits, you still worry about money\u2014a lot. You&amp;#039;re spending more on food and gas than you did last year. Your mortgage payments aren&amp;#039;t going away anytime soon. The kids&amp;#039; college tuition is looming. And then there&amp;#039;s that little thing called a recession. You can&amp;#039;t turn on the news without hearing about it. No wonder you&amp;#039;re anxious! &amp;quot;Being barraged by a constant stream of negative information is one of the things that creates worry,&amp;quot; says Candace Bahr, managing partner of Bahr Investment Group in Carlsbad, California, and coauthor of It&amp;#039;s More Than Money\u2014It&amp;#039;s Your Life! The New Money Club for Women. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s hard to understand what applies to you and what doesn&amp;#039;t.&amp;quot; While you can&amp;#039;t control a shaky economy, you can control how you respond to it. The key? Owning up to your MO (modus operandi)\u2014how do you react in the face of financial uncertainty? &amp;quot;For many people, worry leads to denial,&amp;quot; says Bahr. &amp;quot;They put off opening their bills or pay just the minimum each month.&amp;quot; Others obsess so much that they can&amp;#039;t sleep at night. Some people even deal with money anxiety by overspending. &amp;quot;They become erratic, cutting back on trivial things, then turning around and making huge purchases,&amp;quot; says New York City clinical psychologist Robert L. Leahy, PhD, author of The Worry Cure: Seven Steps to Stop Worry from Stopping You. And then there are those who panic. &amp;quot;In an effort to save money, panicked people will unnecessarily cut things they actually need, like insurance,&amp;quot; says Nancy Molitor, PhD, a clinical psychologist in Evanston, Illinois. Does all this worrying do you any good? Not really, say experts. When you&amp;#039;re coping with a recession, a certain amount of worry can be a positive thing, according to Dr. Molitor. &amp;quot;It gets you moving in the right direction,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;But you have to keep things in perspective.&amp;quot; Otherwise, rather than confronting the cause of your anxiety and finding solutions, you&amp;#039;ll become too overwhelmed to act. You can put the brakes on worry and shore up your finances too. Here&amp;#039;s how. Deal with denial &amp;quot;When worry leads to denial, it really means that you feel stuck and alone,&amp;quot; explains Dr. Molitor. &amp;quot;You don&amp;#039;t think anyone can help you.&amp;quot; The truth is, help is out there for the asking. All you have to do is pick up the phone. &amp;quot;Call your creditors and explain your situation,&amp;quot; advises Dr. Molitor. &amp;quot;Ask what they can do for you, like setting up a payment plan.&amp;quot; You&amp;#039;ll feel a great sense of relief\u2014and a lot less worry\u2014if you take action, she assures. Motivate yourself by thinking of how much less stressed you will be after you take that first step. Also, talk to a close friend or family member who can offer words of encouragement. &amp;quot;Once you face your money fears, you&amp;#039;re often able to turn a difficult situation around,&amp;quot; points out Dr. Molitor. Ease obsession If you&amp;#039;re fretting about finances so much that it keeps you up at night, it&amp;#039;s likely because you feel helpless and out of control, explains Bahr. You need a way to release your anxiety. &amp;quot;Try keeping a pen and pad of paper next to your bed,&amp;quot; she recommends. &amp;quot;Before you go to sleep, jot down your five biggest money worries and resolve to begin acting on them in the morning.&amp;quot; Or, suggests Dr. Leahy, ask yourself, Is worrying going to help me solve the problem? Write down three reasons why it won&amp;#039;t. These simple yet effective techniques help you let go of stress and regain a sense of control. Become splurge-free Sometimes, fretting about money leads you to do things that seem counterintuitive. &amp;quot;People may cut back on buying expensive sandwiches for lunch, for instance, and then turn around and purchase a pricey pair of shoes,&amp;quot; says Dr. Leahy. They figure that trimming daily expenses saves them enough to justify a splurge now and then. Wrong! &amp;quot;You have to be able to accept limitations and say no sometimes to the things you want,&amp;quot; says Dr. Leahy. To tame erratic tendencies and get a true sense of how to spend wisely, keep a budget for a few weeks to see where your money really goes, he advises. Break out of panic mode Times may be tough, but that doesn&amp;#039;t mean you have to go overboard. &amp;quot;When you&amp;#039;re worried about money, pause, don&amp;#039;t panic,&amp;quot; says Dr. Molitor. Step back and spend a few minutes assessing your situation. &amp;quot;Take a hard look at it and be honest with yourself,&amp;quot; she says. Are you spending more, less or about the same as you used to? Has your debt increased a lot or a little? A relatively quick 10-minute inventory forces you to calm down and focus. Once you do, you won&amp;#039;t feel so panicked and you&amp;#039;ll be less likely to make hasty\u2014and costly\u2014decisions, like giving up much-needed insurance or dipping into your retirement accounts, explains Dr. Molitor. Finally, one of the best ways to let go of financial anxiety, whatever your MO, is to think about all the free things you&amp;#039;re grateful for in life. &amp;quot;It gives you a new perspective on money,&amp;quot; says Dr. Leahy. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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