Sometimes you just need to reboot.  We’ve all had it happen with our phones and computers.  The system just gets so overwhelmed that the only way to fix it is to turn it off and turn it back on again, giving it a fresh, clean start.

I was away from the office last Friday because I needed to reboot myself.  Spring is a pretty overwhelming time of year in the Financial Aid Office, and my work and personal worlds both had me feeling a bit out of control.  So I took a long weekend to go to a small music festival (one of my favorite things to do) and disconnect from normal life.  Today I’m back in the office with the same mounds of undone work surrounding me…but I feel better than I did last week.  Because I’ve had a reboot.

Sometimes your finances will feel overwhelming and you won’t be sure how you’ll ever be able to dig out.  At those times you may need to reboot your financial plans.  Maybe you have a credit card balance that you could save money on by transferring to a different card.  Maybe your student loan payment is uncomfortably high, but you can make life more manageable with a different payment plan.  Maybe your housing cost is too high and you have to make the difficult choice to move to a less expensive situation.  If your money has you feeling like you are sinking rather than swimming, you may need to look at things from a different angle and reboot your plan.  You will experience this many times throughout your life.  But nothing is hopeless.  You just need to reboot.