Strategies for Money Management

The following suggestions may be helpful if your client struggles with money management:

  • Encourage your client to use a planner to include dates related to banking information, paying bills, etc.
  • Encourage your client to use a “to do” list that prioritizes financial obligations daily and weekly based on importance and urgency.

Recommend the following for your client to organize their financial papers:

  • Have one “special spot” for financial papers
  • Develop a daily mail routine and put financial papers in the special spot immediately.
  • Maintain a simple organizational routine and structure that they can use to sort and put away things on a daily basis (e.g. labeled file folders or boxes)
  • Consider on-line banking and automatic withdrawals for monthly payments.

Encourage your client to break down tasks into manageable chunks:

  • Develop a budget or spending plan, e.g., use a calendar system where they can visually see when they have financial obligations.
  • Keep track of expenses for one week (carry a notebook, uses a cellphone), then one month, etc.
  • Break down specific tasks to be done daily, weekly, monthly, yearly.

Encourage them to control impulsive spending:

  • Take a list when they go shopping
  • Use cash rather than credit cards
  • Carry a calculator to add up purchases as they accumulate
  • Wait a certain number of hours before a large purchase

To help your client save money for the future, he/she is encouraged to investigate the Momentum for Youth program. The government will match your client’s savings by three times his/her contributions up to $2,500. This money can be used for education, tools for work, or starting a new business.  https://momentum.org/

  • Seek assistance with budgeting and managing finances.  The following organization offers free support: