Being social and going out and about and making decisions like “yes, I will get my toenails done” or “yes, I can spend $9 on that kumara (that is in fact what I saw one on sale for last week).
To this end, I am due some leave because I generally work over school holidays and a lot of weekends, but I don’t have the funds to go anywhere, so I’m going to have a stay-cation.
Due to the wisdom of my 18-year-old daughter, she thought that while she was having a gap year, she would invite her 18-year-old friend to ‘doss down’ at ours for the unforeseeable future.
That has more than doubled the panic and pressure of now trying to feed three mouths and neither of them are in any hurry to contribute financially or otherwise. It is my number one thought every minute of every day and the thing that keeps me awake at night. It’s constant.
My exponential state of panic now means that my stay-cation will most likely consist of many trips to Casa Del Clothesline, a soujourn to The Leaning Tower of Washing, a jaunt to the Tour de Cobwebs-in-the-Corners and hopefully if the weather plays the game, some days in the Hanging Gardens of Convolvulous.
I’ll also play a couple of board games. Cluedo. I’ll put my detective hat on and find where all the make-up I used to own has disappeared to and Operation ... clean the oven. You can only imagine the level of excitement I’m brimming with thinking of all the wonderful memories I’m going to create on my stay-cation.
In all honesty, I would imagine more and more people are doing this with the cost of living crisis.
The reality is that you have to work longer hours to pay the bills and these particular domestic duties (in my case) go by the wayside.
Not being able to get everything done with all the hours in a day also adds pressure while I’m at work, so using my break to play Housework-Hustle is actually okay by me.
I’m also a realist and when my stay-cation is over, I will be very happy to go back to work for a holiday.
