At the time of writing, we are at the tail end of a global pandemic, mental health is more fragile than ever before and stressing is at an all-time high.
Stressing about the minutia is already hardwired into our UK DNA – this pandemic is just making the issue even worse!
More than two-thirds of adults report that they are feeling somewhat or very worried about the impact the pandemic is having on their lives.
There is no doubt that these feelings of worry and stress are spilling into all aspects of our lives – but is there a hidden cost that stress is having on us?
1. Binge eating – the food bill
I know personally, this is at an all-time high. With working remotely for employment – I have one hand on the keyboard and the other in the fridge.
I’m not sure exactly what it is but when I’m stressing about my deadlines (because the line between work life and home life are becoming increasingly blurred), I throw caution to the wind, crack open a cheeky tub of mint chocolate chip and stuff my face with happiness.
On the face of it, you may ask – how is this costing me anything other than swapping my sadness for joy?
Well, unfortunately, these tubs of ice cream are not free. At the rate I’m going through ice cream, I’m close to needing a mortgage to sustain the habit.
Although ice cream may not be your vice, whatever foods you’re turning to for comfort will no doubt start to bring your weekly food bill creeping up.
2. Binge eating – the clothing bill
This is most definitely flying under quite a few people’s radars but with the increasing consumption of comfort food, comes the increasing waist size.
I know I’m guilty of it – I will never understand these people who exercise to ‘feel good’. It’s all a big lie if you ask me.
However, whatever way you spin it – stressing is causing us to eat much more and travel restrictions are making it much harder to stay active and burn those calories.
Inevitably, eating more calories than we are burning is going to cause our clothes to shrink.
Unfortunately, this will mean we will no doubt need to venture ou- well… buy online – some new clothes that will actually fit! And annoyingly – clothes ain’t free either.
3. Unpaid sick leave
With companies struggling to survive, most businesses are looking at ways to save as much money as possible.
Well, I suppose this was happening before COVID but this is more prevalent now than ever before!
Stressing is a sure-fire way to get yourself feeling under the weather and nudge you towards skipping work. Maybe you’d just prefer to stay under the blanket to binge watch your favourite Netflix programmes.
It’s super uncommon for small businesses to give their employees sick pay and resort to the government’s Statutory Sick Pay (or SSP) guidelines to pay sick employees.
SSP currently sits at £96.35 per week. Unless you earn less than £5000 a year – you’re going to be seriously out of pocket.
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4. Relief for your stressing
When we have pent-up stress, we are going to be looking for ways to get some relief – enter… stress relief habits!
These can be super healthy like going to the gym, doing some yoga, or taking up a hobby. However, some of these can also be not so healthy, like increasing your alcohol intake.
You can also opt to take medication should your stress get out of control but this is neither healthy nor unhealthy – only necessary should your GP suggest.
What do most of these stress relieves have in common? They cost money…
Gym memberships, on average in the UK, are around £40 per month. This isn’t astronomical but definitely adds up if you look at the bigger picture – it’s nearly £500 a year!
Alcohol is obviously the most costly with taxes being imposed by the government which makes buying it much more expensive plus you may consume it quickly depending on your level of stress! Of course, it is only recommended to consume the recommended daily amount.
Medication can be free if you’re exempt but it can cost around £9 to get subscription medicine and possibly more if you’re buying it over the counter.
5. Paying for convenience
Before I even start this – I am 100%, whole-heartedly guilty…
If you’ve been stressing all day, the last thing you want to do is jump onto cooking dinner. The easiest thing to do is to reach for the phone and have a chat with Papa John.
As much as I love that guy, he preys on my helpless wallet like a lion on a zebra.
Even with the ‘Feeding The Fam’ £24.99 ‘deal’, you could easily do it yourself for £5 but you pay that extra £19.99 for the convenience.
6. Forgetting/losing valuables
The final way that stressing is costing you money is the inherent forgetfulness you tend to have when you have 1,000,001 things on your mind.
Putting your bag down next to you on the bus and forgetting to pick it up when you get off? Depending on what was in the bag, that’s going to cost you some serious dough.
The best way to overcome this is to insure any valuable items so you can get your money back but this is just another way that stressing could cost you money.
The Roundup
There are plenty of ways that stressing is costing you money. However, the real key thing here is to do what you deem is necessary to get you to a place that will reduce your stress levels.
Stressing is a quick way to ruin relationships, hit your bank balance, and make you feel pretty crumby – all in one fell swoop.
Remember, stress does cost you money but if you spend some money to keep your stress levels down, you should see it as an investment into the quality of your life rather than an unnecessary cost you should be avoiding.