Wednesday 8 February 2012

Cheers


Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.

Wouldn't you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go

Where everybody knows your name,
and they're always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see,
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your name.

You wanna go where people know,
people are all the same,
You wanna go where everybody knows
your name.


These are the words to the theme song to Cheers, one of my favourite TV programmes.

The comedy show is probably a bit dated now as Cheers ran for 11 series from 1982 to 1993. But the words still hold true today, just as much if not more than they did back then. Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got. Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.


Where I work at Two Pennies Money Advice (known as Worcester CASH for many years), we help plenty of people who eventually decide it's time to take a break from all their financial worries. Carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders for months and often years can take everything you've got, and much much more just to get by; 'Robbing Peter to pay Paul', avoiding opening the post and answering the telephone, carrying extra stresses and strains on health, relationships, at work, with no end in sight. The wonder for those of us in these circumstances isn't why we want to take a break; the mystery is why we don't get help sooner.

And when money difficulties are resolved, we don't just take a break from all our worries, it's a fresh start - a chance to live life free of the shackles of excess debt. Living within a practical budget that works, sure does help a lot!

Here's something I've noticed about money difficulties. It's a lonely business. When money becomes really tough, we tend to not tell other people about it. Not for a long time. It is human nature to keep this private shame to ourselves, to not ask for help, to even believe a magical outcome will appear out of nothing. And we can't afford to socialise in the way we used to either. It can become an uncontrolled spiral into loneliness.

Living with money difficulties doesn’t have to be this way. But it can be. Dear reader, if you take only one message out of this post then please make it this: anyone concerned about their finances should speak to an agency that offers free professional money advice at an early stage, not leaving it too late when the easy solutions are no longer available.


Here’s something else I've noticed about money worries. One bit of feedback that consistently comes out our Money Secret Courses is that people are reassured that they are not the only one with these worries. You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same. There's really no need for pride or embarrassment to keep us away from speaking to someone who can help.

The Money Secret Course is a made-easy look at money; it reveals how to make sure you control your money, not your money controlling you; and helps us make smarter choices in our day-to-day lives. This is not a course for people with real difficulties (they need one-to-one money advice) this is for the rest of us that want to be more clued-up, to avoid things running out of control.

Three years ago I was grateful for the help of Two Pennies Money Advice and I’m told the real me came back ... not the version of me that was trying and failing to manage my way through those difficult times. I don’t think anyone forgot my name, but they might have forgotten the real me.

There are challenges going on that need to be won.

  • Individually, don’t let pride get in the way of seeking timely advice.
  • For Two Pennies Money Advice, the challenge is for continued funding. These tough times for all of us are tough for Two Pennies Money Advice funding too. I don’t want to make this into a fundraising-blog, but if you would like to make a one-off or regular donation, please do get in touch with me at neal@twopennies.org.uk.