The time of clear thinking has come upon us. What we mean by that is that if you’re still thinking in a thousand different directions, it might be time to stop, slow down, and start thinking about things from a much different perspective. You don’t want to find yourself unable to make the decisions that you know need to happen in order to finally be comfortable, safe, and in control of your financial life. The thoughts and decisions we make about our money matter in ways that we don’t always think about.

If you’re going to borrow money now or in the future, it’s important to make sure that you’re thinking about it from multiple angles. The first question has to be whether or not you can really afford it. With the rise of the Internet as the source of information for just about everything in our lives, there’s no longer an excuse to not know things. A loan calculator can tell you immediately whether or not you will be able to comfortably handle the loan. It’s not just about raw numbers — you still have to pay for your rent and utilities on top of the loan itself. So there’s no reason to feel like you should just go with something for the sake of going with it. You need to have a real solution, and a real plan to everything that you do.

Are there times where you want to borrow money? Absolutely. When you know that you’re going to get a return on your investment, you should definitely get a loan for your own purposes. However, when the credit product in question is just going to go to waste buying something that you don’t need, it might be time to have a little more pause and start thinking through your decisions.

You should always have a plan to repay the money. Don’t weigh it all on the possibility of getting a raise — that’s just going to make life harder for you in the long run. It’s better to really step in and think about what you can handle and what you cannot handle before you even sign your name on the dotted line. While it’s true that there are debt relief methods, you don’t want the damage to get to that point. You don’t want to find yourself struggling to make everything work just because you made a decisions in the heat of the moment.

If you have time to decide, make sure to take it. Don’t make decisions about money in a hurry. If you are a spouse and you have to make a decision quickly — make it as a couple. In fact, both people who are pooling money together need to have an equal say in the matter. Even if you are the head of household and all of the money is yours, you still need to get your spouse’s opinion. When we make our spouses feel included, things work out much better compared to the times that we don’t. Most arguments that couples have these days are all about money, so it’s important to keep that in mind while you’re thinking about your financial blueprint.

Overall, that’s all we can really say on the matter — borrow safely, borrow well, good luck!