As Mental Health Awareness Week kicks off, experts warn that financial stress is still wrecking lives — so how can budgeting help?
Mention the word budget and many of us might roll our eyes. Completing a personal budget is seen as boring. There’s no getting around it.
But, what if we looked at budgets another way? What if we looked at a personal or household budget as a tool to improve our mental health? If budgeting could make us happier, could we overcome the boredom?
The links between money and mental health
The links between money issues and our own wellbeing are now well known. Our own 2025 Reader Survey found many strong links between the two. Out of a thousands respondents, 42% felt frightened, anxious or depressed on account of money worries.
The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute in 2024 lay it bare: people with mental health problems are three and a half times more likely to be drowning in debt than the average Brit.
And it gets worse — those battling both money problems and mental illness are three times more likely to have had suicidal thoughts in the last year.
Dr. Lisa Morrison Coulthard, Director of Professional Standards, Policy and Research at the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), warns:
“Financial stress is one of the greatest threats to the mental health of the UK workforce. It’s unequally impacting the nation’s most vulnerable, so we’re calling for our Governments to act now as more and more people struggle to cope with their daily financial situations.”
The chicken or the egg
A lot of the talk about money and mental health views money problems as a result of poor mental health. This is true, but it also works the other way around. Money problems can lead to poor mental health, too. We all become stressed and anxious if we can’t make ends meet. As the Mental Health and Money Advice charity says:
“In many instances, financial worries can impact your mental health causing anxiety, low mood and stress as people make difficult decisions about what they can afford. Poor mental health can also affect people’s ability to manage money for various reasons such as not knowing where to start.”
This is why a proactive measure, like putting together a household budget, is so important. By filling out a budget we can work out where we need to change things ahead of time.
Quick and easy fix
Using an online budgeting tool is the best way to go. They are quick and easy to use. By answering a few questions and spending a few minutes, we can get an instant look at the health of our finances. Follow this link to our on-site budgeting tool. Even if the budget tool shows we have a lot to do to balance things up, we’ve made an important step.
By working out our budget, we’ve begun the process of taking back control of our finances. Acting on what our budget tells us, whether that’s cutting back or bringing more in, will help bring us peace of mind. That’s got to be worth an hour or so spent on a ‘boring’ task?
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