Money Musings 💭 If you're feeling burnt out...
I’ve been languishing. Anyone else? 🙋♀️
Adam Grant coined the term and defines it as a "blah feeling" where you’re less focused, less motivated and less energetic, among other things.
I’ve noticed this trend among both friends and coworkers.
I have some theories… The stress of the pandemic, economy and state of the world, all while trying to still show up to work and do our jobs took a bigger toll than we thought. We’re trying to recover while still dealing with it all.
Many of us are reevaluating the importance of work in our lives. Other areas are craving and deserve some much needed attention.
If this is where you’re at, there’s some good news coming out of a study in the UK.
Over 70 companies are experimenting with a 4 day work week and so far (at the halfway mark) 60% said that productivity has remained the same or improved, AND six companies said that productivity has significantly improved.
Employees are feeling more energized and productive while at work because they have time to cook, exercise, spend time with family, and (gasp!) even have hobbies! 🤭
While this is something I understood intuitively, it’s wonderful to see a study confirm these results. I hope this inspires companies to follow suit.
I’m all in! I’ve implemented a 4-day work week for myself and it’s helped tremendously. It might not always look like a full day off but I’ll take a half day to visit with a friend or carve out a couple hours for a workout class.
And instead of feeling guilty about the items on my to-do list I haven't gotten to yet, I remember that I’ll be even more productive when I’m back at my desk.
Have you experienced languishing or burnout? Do you think a 4-day work week would help? Do you see this being something your company implements in the future or not a chance?
PS - Thank you to all who filled out the survey! Congrats to Nat H on winning the raffle! 🥳🥳🥳
MONEY MOVE OF THE WEEK
CREATE YOUR 2023 SINKING FUND PLAN.
Larger, infrequent expenses like our best friend’s bachelorette party, the holiday season, or even our quarterly haircut can throw our finances out of whack. We can make our lives a lot less stressful by setting aside money (automatically) 💸 each week, each paycheck, or every month for these expenses.
Then, the money is waiting for us (and earning some interest!) when it’s time to use it.
The key? Having specific accounts or buckets for each expense category so each dollar we set aside has a purpose.
Before the New Year is a great time to set this all up. Your budget will thank you! 🙏
Here's how to do it. Let’s say you want to set up a sinking fund for travel.
Think about what trips you have planned in the upcoming year (or even some you want to plan).
Estimate how much you think each will cost
Add up the grand total
Divide that total by the number of paychecks you receive in a year
Set up an auto transfer for that amount to your sinking fund
For more, get a step by step guide to sinking funds here.
YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
RENT SOME BOOKS.
This year one of my goals is to get back in the habit of following my curiosity. Reading random (sometimes very random 😆) books and finding new podcasts is something that keeps me inspired and energized. I love learning for the sake of learning!
With a lot on my plate (on all of our plates!) over the last few years I noticed I stopped reading for fun. I also stopped listening to my favorite podcasts.
As I’ve been recharging and doing less, I dove back into my curiosity plan. And while I love and am a big proponent of supporting authors and purchasing books, sometimes it just makes more sense for the budget and for my apartment (with no office lol) to rent books. 📚
If you are a member of your local library you can sync up to their digital library via the Libby app (formerly Overdrive) to rent Kindle books 📖 and even audio books galore - all for free. A frugal joy if I do say so myself!