How fatigue is costing working parents money

Chancellor Rachel Reeves may be promising to tame inflation, but the truth is, I don’t need a Budget. I need a power nap from over-spending at this time of year. When she unveiled her spending plan this week, I did what any perimenopausal mum does at 50, I panicked and rummaged through our finances to see how we’d fare. With midlife fitness ambitions and a small boy to school and feed, every pound matters.

But the problem isn’t the Chancellor, it’s sometimes my own lack of bandwidth. It is the cost of being too lazy to cook in the moment, too tired to exercise midweek, and far too tired to make even tiny financial decisions. Fatigue is my most expensive habit and I’m putting it down to the rubbish winter weather.

Take the latte I buy every time I head into the office or at the gym. I know I should take one from home, but that first sip soothes my nervous system in the cold snap. Then there is meal prep. Our fridge is always full of colourful and healthy ingredients, but if my brain decides it wants pepperoni pizza, that is the end of the discussion.

Fatigue doesn’t just affect how I feel. It changes what I eat, what I buy, whether I exercise and how much effort I can summon for the smallest decisions.

This tax shows up in quiet, sneaky ways when energy levels drop and coping goes out the window. These are the little traps that catch me out every time my energy flatlines, and they do nothing to help me. I do a big weekly shop on a Saturday like a responsible parent, usually after three back-to-back gym classes when I am feeling smug enough to believe I will sauté vegetables every night.

By Tuesday, that ideal collapses. I am flinging jalapeño poppers into the oven because chopping anything feels like too much. I am telling myself that Cyrus needs two croissants for breakfast, definitely more midweek snacks, and that brie on sourdough absolutely counts as a meal, because in the moment it is Parisian, when really it’s just cheese on toast. Dinner is easier for H and C, who love chicken wings and will demolish them without hesitation. However, I detest anything with bones, and the thought of another night of chicken breast glowing in turmeric is just too much, so I end up nipping to the local supermarket for something quick.

Then there is the coffees, well, that is a category all on its own. I start with a large latte and somehow slide into gingerbread or eggnog versions crowned with cream, the kind that taste amazing but cost a small indulgence.

I have FOMO, but it still isn’t the kick I need to get out of the door. And that is how the I’m Soooo Tired Tax quietly racks up, even when I think I am doing everything right. These choices seem harmless until I scroll through my bank statement and see that my gym coffees alone could have funded a small holiday. Who spends £300+ a month on caffeine? Apparently, I do.

Fatigue shows up in the micro decisions that feel manageable in the moment, then drain your account slowly in the background.

Life at 50 can be a marathon, but small habits make the biggest difference. A few sit-ups or press-ups or even squats each day are better than nothing at all.

This is what genuinely helps:

Midlife gives you a sense of what matters, your strength, time and wellbeing. Putting it into practice takes work, but every small choice counts.

If you are balancing family, fitness, work, and finances at 50, start tiny. A habit, a tweak, a five minute pause. That single shift today becomes tomorrow’s clarity, energy, and savings.

Occasional stories, experiments, discoveries and rabbit holes from Saffron & Cyrus.