Bottom sheets with a wide hem? Ok, I fixed it. TOP sheets have nice, wide hems. That's what lack of sleep does to you and it's not frugal at all, because I find myself turning on lights at odd hours of the night, munching crackers and whatever else I can find. Anything but sleep.
I've had milk, chamomile tea, valerian, rose, peppermint... whatever. Nothing works but antihistamine. Over the counter antihistamines are nonfrugal solutions, so I asked my doctor and she gave me a prescription which was cheaper than anything I've found. 125 tablets of Hydroxyzine for $12.00 is a pretty good buy, especially when I use a half tablet at a time. The problem is... well, if I could just wake up, I'd tell you about it...
I'm kidding. But on the rare occasion that I take it, it does make me loopy for about 24 hours. I wake up around bed time the next day.
So is it frugal? Maybe healthwise. I read that you don't get the full benefits of sleep until after about two and a half hours of it. Since I sometimes sleep in one hour shifts, this is probably worth it.
Anyway... I don't turn on the lights at night for one whole night. No munchies, either. That's got to count for something.
Pat,
ReplyDeleteif Benadryl works for you, Sam's and Costco sell their own brands. I get 400 25 mg tabs for about $4.00. Since almost my whole family has allergies, this works well -- I'm just trying to get the youngest to be able to swallow $0.01 tabs instead of $0.50 children's strips/chewables!
Thanks, Mary. I don't have access to a Sam's Club or Costco here. There's a Sam's Club in a neighboring town about 45 minutes away, but with the price of gas, and the fact that I don't buy that much stuff any more, it probably wouldn't be worthwhile for me.
ReplyDeleteI can get 100 tabs of Walmart brand fairly cheap, but the prescription still beats that. I forgot to add that I use a half tab at a time! Better go fix THAT now. :)
I've been struggling with this problem since my early 40s. I stumbled upon something that has helped me considerably when I went looking for bargains at the "Tower Records" going-out-of-business sale. (I'm very frugal and a consistent saver but have a weakness for that type of sale!)I bought a CD said to contain sounds for promoting sleep. I hesitate to recommend a certain one because there are quite a few of this genre, but the one I've been using is called "Delta Sleep System." Fortunately there are many bargain CDs available in this era of the "ipod revolution" so you might be able to find this or something similar at a good price.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your blog very much!
That's interesting, thank you! I think I'll look into that. I've been doing this for the last 10 years or so and it's getting to me. I don't like to have to pop a pill to sleep, but I lose any intelligence I might have after a few sleepless nights.
ReplyDeletePat,
ReplyDeleteI had this problem for many years. Later, when I looked back, I realized that my "not-sleeping-periods" often were related to emotionally stressful times during my life. Especially when I decided that everything had to be o.k. and that there were " really no problems at all".
What helped me a lot during those nights was ... going for a walk. I could do that because I lived in a very small town and during my night walks the only living beings I met were cats or night birds or other animals. It has a special quality to go out walking in the dark and I still love it.
Another thing which helped me falling asleep was listening to a spiritual audio book. No- not because it was that boring! But because of the wonderful voice of the speaker and the text which brought peace to my soul. I placed a little cd player at my bed and started this one cd every night.
Greetings from Germany.
My problem is actually caused by a health condition. I can count on the fingers of one hand the nights that I haven't sleep because of emotional problems. I never used to have a problem sleeping at all, no matter what the circumstances. That's one reason this is so frustrating to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I often get in a lot of prayer in the middle of the night. :)