Is anyone else out there scared about their financial situation?

Am I the only one terrified of my financial future? I had big dreams for my life - it was all mapped out. At 25 I'd marry the man of my dreams, at 28 we'd have our first child & own our own home. We'd have the 2.3 children, a dog, a cat, live in the country & drive nice cars. What happened was that finances (or lack thereof) got in the way!

I did marry the man of my dreams & we do have our first child although it was much much later than my plan dictated. How can I be 34 years old (officially 'all grown up'), up to my neck in debt & have absolutely no spare money to do anything? The scariest part of it is that I'm the only one who's landed myself in this mess. Is anyone else out there suffering too?

I meet new people weekly who tell of their woes: the cleaner didn't pitch up for work this morning / the au pair wants to go back home / I had to return our BMW to the service department as the garage was so incompetent, etc. I know these are real worries for some people but I just dream of having the BMW in the first place; never mind the shoddy service. I'd like to think I'm not alone but it seems it's not the done thing to admit you're struggling to make ends meet. It feels as though I work myself to the bone each month to get paid & literally 10 days after I've been paid & all the direct debits have gone out of my account, there's £200 left if I'm lucky. Out of that has to come nappies & child costs. ARGH! What's the point? I decided then to look online to see if I could find a way to make money online - there are a lot of sharks out there, let me warn you! So, what's the answer?

First things first, ditch the plan. I have learned that life doesn't cater to your whims & it's very difficult to stick to a preconceived idea of what your life is going to look like at an age. Secondly, BUDGET. You need to know what you're spending so that you can work out a budget. Keep all cash receipts for a month & then at the end of the month go through your bank statement & cash receipts & see where your money is going - then you'll be in a good place to create a budget for yourself. They say to look at 3 month's worth of statements, but I think it's a good idea to just get going so start by looking at a month. You'll be able to compare it with the next month in advance & have an idea, more or less, of what you're likely to be spending. Thirdly, stick to your budget. It's that simple.

Finally, let me leave you with this thought ... it doesn't matter how much you earn, you'll never have enough. You have to learn to manage what you have whether it be little or large.