Mom’s Money

Feel Better to Function Better - How Fatigue Affects Your Pocketbook

I’ve been following a few methods for re-energizing myself during those sleepy afternoons I experience more and more often lately.  Simple methods, really, but I’ve found that when I started thinking about the days in which I don’t take a few minutes to rejuvenate, I fall off the “frugal wagon.”

For instance, instead of fighting that sluggish feeling, I give in and just close my eyes for 15 minutes.  It’s usually just enough to make me perk up again.  Another trick is one I saw on You Tube.  When the stress of the day starts to overwhelm me, I just close my eyes and roll my eyeballs around from side to side and up and down.  This works by sort of “stretching” the muscles around the eyes which relieves the strain that could be causing my stress and fatigue. Speaking of stretching, even a quick walk around the block to stretch my muscles and lungs can revitalize my whole mental and physical being.

I’ve also found that a cup of real coffee will pick me right up, that is, if I don’t overdo and have three or four cups.  I had been avoiding caffeine, but now I indulge in one cup and it works.  I do not, however, drink a whole pot like I used to.  That just destroys the whole benefit you get from the caffeine boost and you end up more tired than ever.  Another food related pick-me-up is eating protein and avoiding carbs.  I learned that little tidbit when I went on the South Beach Diet.

So, you ask, how is this low-energy and fatigue robbing me of my frugal living pledge and ruining my finely tuned budget?  It’s quite simple, really.  If you’re like me, you’ll find that when you’re tired and stressed, every effort seems to be enormous and makes you exhausted to even think about what’s ahead of you.  You start making short-cuts throughout the day.  See if any of this sounds familiar.

First, you are too exhausted to keep up your money journal, so you quit tracking the money you’re spending as you go about your errands.  Then, you eat out at work because you were too tired to pack a lunch.  Now, you’re on your way home, too tired to face the kids just yet , so you decide to let them stay in extended care at their school or daycare, which costs you even more money.  You call your husband, ask him to pick up the kids and to swing by the neighborhood convenience store for a few items because it was too much of an effort to do your regular grocery shopping as planned.  Of course, your husband has a sweet tooth and sees this as an opportunity to grab a candy bar, or two.  And, kids, go ahead and grab a couple bags of chips.  We can see where this day is headed.

Yup… to top it all off, you call for pizza delivery for the family dinner that night and put it on your credit card because you didn’t have the energy to stop at the bank to get some cash out of the grocery money account.  That snowball just keeps rolling.

Avoiding the destruction of your hard-fought budgeting success is something of which you can take control.  Don’t let fatigue take over your new frugal lifestyle.  It takes more than a paper filled with numbers to create and maintain your budget… it takes your focused physical and mental energy.  Take time out for yourself today and get back in the game.