Debt Fatigue

photo by naturalhomecures34

I have been working a lot at my real job lately, working some long hours, many different shifts, and often I have difficulty sleeping (especially when I work until midnight). I often toss and turn, unable to sleep, and in my mind I am often writing fabulous blog posts! If only I could get them online! So it seemed fitting that I finally get back to the blog (lack of time this week being an issue) and finally put it out there. 

Something that has been nagging at me lately is the concept of debt fatigue. Haven't heard of the concept? Well, it is a concept that I heard about when I first started reading the blog posts of Gail Vaz-Oxlade. She basically talks about the feeling that people experience when they have been in debt for awhile, they have been working at tackling that debt for awhile, and they begin to feel as though they are never going to see the light at the end of the tunnel. In Gail's 2009 book Debt Free Forever, she states that you "start spending again after being overwhelmed by the amount you have and the seeming futility of your debt repayment process. You've given up and gone shopping". I have started feeling a bit of this fatigue myself. I have not gone off the deep end and started spending crazily. I have barely gone on any unnecessary shopping excursions except to my local dollar store (limited opportunities for damage to the budget!). However, I have grown quite tired of the position in which we find ourselves here in this household. I crave having a bit of financial wiggle room. I can definitely understand what makes people want to just say "chuck it!" and whip out the credit card and book a trip to the Caribbean. I'm not going to do it. But I do not feel that I have the motivation to get serious and start fighting the debt monster right now.