We’ve talked a lot about de-stressing our lives, but I know from decades of working multiple jobs at once and just scraping by that money plays a HUGE part in de-stressing. I’ve learned so much over the last year about trying to lower my stress level that seemed to be infinitely flaring up without one specific cause and the thought of money was the first thing that I identified as my stress trigger.
When we try to reduce our stress, which can ultimately lead to health concerns like the risk of heart decease, diabetes, digestive issues, depression and anxiety, we need to think of it as what the people that I ignored at the gym described as “full body workouts.”
We need to de-stress as a whole body in a well-rounded sort of way in order to get the results we are looking for. Being mindful and being able to pin point what your triggers are can help but sometimes, as we’ve discussed in the past, you can’t change some situations with a snap of the fingers. Relationships and life is just plain hard.
When it came to my work, I knew I had a to make a change when Covid introduced me to what my life could be like at home. At the time, my son was only a year old and when I had to resume my regular work schedule that included nights, weekends and over an hour (at least) in the car each way, I felt completely overwhelmed. I made the change to working from home in March 2023 and although I had to take a 20k pay cut and change careers completely, it has been one of the very best things that I have ever done for myself.
However, with that amazing change that has greatly impacted the quality time that I get to spend with Giovani, the time that I get to work on the things I want to do (like write) and the time that I get to work on improving my health through exercise and healthy eating, the loss in salary really impacted me.
The way that I dealt with it might not be for everyone, all of our situations are different, but I took a scissor to the things that I paid for and cut my costs. I went through every single card and tracked the last few months of debits and then went on a cancelling spree. You wouldn’t believe the things that I had forgotten I signed up for!
Another way that I helped myself was to make a budget, which I will admit as a list-maker was a little bit anti-productive to my stress because then I started budgeting, like, every penny. That was obviously not working after a while.
I did wind up having to get a second job on nights and weekends and with that job, which isn’t ideal but by working at home the part-time job didn’t add to my stress because I can still do drop-offs and pick-ups for my son. It generally doesn’t feel like I’m working all day long and running from place to place, because I’m not!
With my checks from my second job, I set up my direct deposit to be split into different accounts. If you only have one savings and checking account, consider opening up more. This not only helps your credit score, but it also allows for your funds to be set aside for different things. I have a gas & grocery fund so that I only use one of my debit cards for gas and I don’t need to factor that into my budget anymore. I also have a savings account for my son that I add to right from my direct deposit. This account is a just-in-case-account. I have used it for Christmas and his birthday presents/parties, and I have used it for buying him clothes or something that needs when money is tight. These are accounts that I completely forget about and they add up without me watching. They are actually even at separate banks so that I can really keep them out of my mind when I’m checking my bank app.
I also learned about investing. I love following finance people on Instagram because I learn so much and it starts making me believe that I can save for the future as someone who has to count their pennies all the time. Even we can put a little aside for later!
I’ve added some of my finance book recommendations here because I learned a lot from these. I opened an S&P 500 account for myself and my 5 year old and I have been steadily adding to it from the direct deposit in small amounts ($50 per bi-weekly check for me and $30 per check for him).
I hope that some of these tips help you to de-stress a little and encourages you to research and create your own financial fitness plan for now and in the future!
Namaste my friends & thank you for following me on this journey to healthy living, a whole body practice as it seems!
