Winter can be a challenging time.
As the days grow shorter and the temperature drops, many of us find ourselves struggling with the challenges that winter brings, not just on a physical level but also on our mental well-being. In our last couple of blog posts, we’ve been exploring the difficulties that winter can impose on mental health and sharing tips on how to navigate these challenges.
One big challenge experienced by many throughout the winter can be money, which has only been intensified with the Cost of Living Crisis over the past few years. Throughout this blog, we will talk about some of the challenges faced, as well as some tips to help make getting through the winter a little bit easier. We’ll get through it together!
With the colder weather, it’s reasonable that you’d want to turn on the heating to help stay warm. However, due to the financial constraints that many face this can often lead to people having to make the difficult choice of staying warm or making ends meet. This financial pressure can contribute to feelings of helplessness.
Winter also brings with it Christmas, a time when there is an expectation of giving loved ones gifts. For struggling families, this can be such a difficult time with them wanting to make sure their children have the ‘perfect’ Christmas.
Being stressed about money can be exhausting and can feel like it truly is never-ending. As such it can put a real strain on your mental health.
To try and navigate this stress, you could set a winter budget! Beginning by assessing your financial situation, which can then be turned into a specific winter budget where things like heating, warm clothing and Christmas expenses are all taken into account. Knowing your money situation and where it is going can help empower you to make informed decisions.
Through doing this you can prioritise essentials such as making sure you have adequate heating, and that you have nutritious food to maintain your well-being. This can help alleviate some of the financial stress and safeguard your physical and mental health.
Cutting back on non-essentials. One example could be subscriptions that could be temporarily paused or cancelled. Redirecting the funds from these can help provide relief for essential winter costs!
Having a winter budget with everything outlined can help you know how much money you can spend on presents and set a realistic budget. Whilst it is completely understandable to want to get something nice for the people you care about, different alternatives will be just as meaningful.
In regards to the heating and the challenges that come with trying to stay warm throughout winter, a small-scale solution is lots and lots of layers! It’s not a perfect solution by any means but will hopefully take away the worst of the cold.
Reaching out to those around you whether it be friends, family or even community for support is always an option too! There is never anything wrong with accepting help when we need it.
If you are interested in finding out more information about support for money and mental health, Mind has lots of information which you may find useful.
You can find this here -> https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/money-and-mental-health/
If you need support, we are here for you. Please reach out to us, and we will do what we can to support you!
Commenti