According to a recent study, 57.7 per cent of Australian women say they have to cut down on general spending. Studies show that women cut back on their personal shopping first, and 74.7 per cent say they have stopped buying clothes and shoes. Haircuts, facials, waxing and other beauty treatments are also on the backburner. What is of interest is spending that affects their children is the last area to be cut.

In the study, one mother said she decided to cut back on her son’s $12.50 monthly haircuts. Her friends had been telling her she was throwing money away taking her son to the hairdresser for his little buzz cuts. Buy some clippers for $30 and trim his hair at home, you’ll make your money back in no time, they said.

Following on from the initial cutting back, restaurants and movies were the next to go, replaced with nights in front of the telly. Then the gym, yoga classes and buying health foods. This was the pattern in 41.7 per cent of households, most studies reported. Next, they cut spending on their child’s private school education and activities, many mothers sending their children to public schools in the next term.

If you find yourself cutting back on a lot of life’s necessities, how about looking into a part-time or full-time work at home situation?

A British study has found that these women believe this is their “hardest decade”, with many admitting to feeling stressed, missing sleep and skipping meals. And women in their 40′s who have delayed motherhood and now have to cope with young children are almost as bad.

According to the study, the pressure on these women is putting their health at risk.

About 85 per cent of those polled said they “frequently feel tired”, and 59 per cent of these “feel tired all the time”.

Only 25 per cent get seven or eight hours sleep a night, while 75 per cent were “lucky if they get six hours” – 40 per cent of these usually slept less than six hours a night.

Meanwhile, the vast majority in their 30′s and 40′s are stressed out and have to snack their way through the day because they don’t have time to eat properly. Seventy per cent of 30-something women feel stressed on a weekly basis and 60 per cent cancelled social engagements because of the pressure.

Meanwhile, 78 per cent don’t have time to eat properly, while 31 per cent admit to snacking all the time.

Marina Crook, editor of Top Sante magazine, which carried out the research said:

“When 30-something women say they are tired and stressed out of their minds they most likely are”.

“Tiredness and stress are the ailments of our age and combined with a poor diet they cause low immunity and ill health”.

Why put up with all this madness? Find a “work at home” job. Click here for the solution.