Reset, recharge, and recenter unconventional ways to use your Lifestyle Spending Accounts this Fall

Summer’s coming to an end, and with its end comes a long list of fall and winter worries. Suddenly, you’re asked to consider back to school, meetings, sports games, and a slew of holidays, costumes, gifts, and parties.

How about using your Edenred’s Lifestyle Spending Accounts to take a weekend camping trip, a Pilates retreat, or even some cooking classes to help you recenter, plan, and get ready for a new season.

Edenred makes it easy for your employees to participate in common wellness benefits guaranteed to help them live happier and healthier lives.

We also make it easy to check your balance in the Edenred mobile app, grab your benefits prepaid card, and start planning!

Option A: Why you need to take a weekend camping trip

Did you know that 73% of parents are stressed just thinking about the back-to-school season, let alone managing it.

There are several ways you could use this weekend camping getaway to re-center:

1. Use your time to plan for the events that stress you out the most. Just take a minute to wrap your head around it mentally and set some calendar reminders.
2. Use your time to plan out your fitness goals, mental health goals, or hobbies you’d like to pursue.
3. Use this time to connect, and spend time with your family and friends, while setting expectations. Intentional quality time is a great way to help you ease into the busy season.

How to use your LSA

Use your funds to purchase a tent, a tent tarp, temperature appropriate sleeping bags; headlamps, flashlights, or solar lanterns; a camp stove (if there is no grill onsite), food, ice, cookware & utensils, a cooler, firewood (if not available onsite), a first aid kit; matches or lighters; insect repellent, sunscreen, and trash bags. You may also want to bring a multi-tool, board games or cards, and outdoor chairs or stools.

Just remember to bring the right clothes, shoes, a phone charger, and your toothbrush and well on your way to being ready.

Option B: Why you need to attend a weekend Pilates retreat

Did you know doing Pilates can boost your immunity, improve your cognitive function, strengthen your core muscles and bones, and improve your sleep? It’s also safe for people of all ages and fitness levels. Using a weekend to reconnect with your body and meditate may be a great use of your time.

There are several ways you could use a Pilates weekend to re-center:

1. Reconnect with your body: During a Pilates retreat, you get to spend an entire weekend focusing on your body and its needs. Pilates is known for its focus on mind-body connection, which can often get lost in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. This dedicated time can help you tune into your body’s signals and needs, which will not only improve your physical health but your mental well-being too.
2. Use the downtime to journal and meditate: Retreats often include downtime for personal reflection. This could be the perfect time to start a journaling habit, helping you to process thoughts, emotions, and stressors, enabling you to approach the new season with a clearer mind.
3. Set goals: Use the retreat as a dedicated time to consider what you “need” to do and what you might want to achieve. Writing your goals down can help you get a sense of purpose and direction, and will help reduce feelings of overwhelm.

How to use your LSA

You can use your funds to pay for Pilates classes, a retreat, or for Pilates equipment for the home. If you don’t want to necessarily attend a retreat, you could still devote a weekend to completing a Pilates course and journaling your plans and goals.

Option C: Why you need to attend cooking and nutrition classes

What we eat not only affects our physical health but our mental health. And increasing number of studies show that our intake of whole foods like veggies, fruits, fish, eggs, nuts, and beans (over sugar and sugar laden breads) helps increase feelings of happiness and can help us better manage depression and feelings of depression. Expanding your knowledge of cooking and nutrition could help you prepare for a healthier and happier life.

There are several ways you could use these cooking classes to re-center:

1. Build confidence in yourself: Knowing how to prepare something you’re proud of and that’s good for you makes you feel great about yourself. And the more you learn about the nutritional content of certain foods, the easier it will be to grocery shop and meal plan.
2. Spend more time with your family: If you have kids, you’ve probably worried about what they are eating more than once. Taking these classes will allow you to not only improve your cooking skills but impart that knowledge to your growing children. They’ll be helping you around the kitchen in no time.
   
   If you live with a significant other or parents – your increased knowledge benefits the whole household and opens an opportunity to work together to make mealtimes easier. No one person likes doing all the cooking, all the time.
3. Make the goal to keep learning more: Our brains love to learn new things; it’s how they’re set up. Seeking out new recipes from different countries, or from different methods of cooking (like gluten-free or paleo) opens a new world of opportunity for you. Soon you’ll be looking at your fridge and throwing it all in one pot and creating a tasty masterpiece with little to no effort.
   

How to use your LSA

Not only can you use your LSA to attend one, or multiple classes, you can use it to do the actual weekly grocery shopping – which is awesome. If you’re lacking certain cooking utensils in the home, you can also use your LSA to purchase these.

Edenred helps you enjoy your benefits by making them easy to access

At Edenred, our mission is to make it easy to provide common-sense benefits that help you commute to work, eat healthy, and as you’ve read recenter and address upcoming busyness – which frees you up to be more productive and less stressed at work and in life.

We make it easy on your employer by helping them create and customize a benefits package that works for them.

If your company is seeking an effective strategy to attract and retain top talent, reduce turnover, and cultivate a positive workplace culture by offering a stellar benefit package, we’re here to help. Schedule a meeting with us today to learn more.