How do you get through a "slump"?

Everybody has them...we all have slumps. Job slumps, relationship slumps, and of course those dreaded financial slumps.

Any kind of "slump" is a bummer, let's just call a spade a spade. But there is something about financial slumps that really get us down.

Maybe you only pay your insurance twice a year and its coming up and all of a sudden you feel broke.
Maybe you are looking at the amount of money you will spend on daycare this summer and are feeling broke and "slumpish".
Maybe you just realized that your perfect budget is not so perfect and you are actually under every month.

Either way, we ALL have financial slumps. How do we get through them? What happens when you realize that you don't have extra money to spend? What happens when you realize that the next few months may be super tight?

Here are just a few things that I suggest:

1. Take this time to clean. I know it sounds odd, but if I know i cannot spend any money it forces me to take pride in what I already have. Wash your car, empty our drawers, make your house sparkle. Put together new outfits, organize your children's toys, dust the fans. I really DO know how silly it sounds... but i promise, it will give you something to do to take your mind off your money troubles, your house will thank you, AND you will find yourself being more grateful. When you are forced to look at things you already have and not dream of things that you WANT, you become grateful that you are so blessed.

2. Take this time to PURGE! Sell your dvd's, list books on ebay, have a yard sale, write a paid for blog, pawn your old earrings, sell some cd's... take this time to get rid of things AND make some money!!!

3. Take this time to look for work. Get a part time job. Babysit. Clean houses. Mow lawns. Rake leaves. Clean swimming pools. Get crafty and sell stuff on etsy.

4. Take this time to be grateful. Above all, when we get in slumps we tend to be down in the dumps and very woe is me. Well, that needs to change. God has blessed you with so much and just because things are tight right now doesn't mean you aren't so fortunate.

Keep your chin up! God's gonna pull you through this slump if you let him!