La cuesta de enero translates as ‘the January hill’.
There isn’t really an official English equivalent, but examples found in the media include ‘January money worries’, ‘January slump’, ‘January belt-tightening’ and ‘post-Christmas crunch’.
In Spain however, la cuesta de enero is a recognised and well-known expression.
The official Dictionary of the Spanish Language defines cuesta de enero as the “period of economic hardship that coincides with this month as a result of the extraordinary expenses incurred during the Christmas holidays”.
As you may have guessed, this situation is not unique to people in Spain.
Unfortunately, la cuesta de enero also coincides with an overall increase in prices and utility bills, as well as las rebajas de invierno, the winter sales.
This means that many Spaniards are even more stretched financially over the course of the first month of the year, but it still doesn’t stop them from spending around €200 on average on the rebajas.
La cuesta de enero officially starts on January 7th, the day after Three Kings Day, which also marks the end of Christmas and the return to work and reality, making that January uphill that bit more challenging.
TV programmes and news sites will run articles advising on como superar la cuesta de enero (‘how to overcome the January slump’).
Interestingly, Spaniards also say that you have to ‘tighten your belt’ as a way of explaining that you have to cut costs: apretarse el cinturón.
If you want to say that you have to ‘dig deep into your pocket’ to allude to spending more money than usual unwillingly, Spaniards say rascarse el bolsillo (scratch your pocket).
So the next time money is tight during the first month of the year, remember that this is so common in Spain that they even have an official expression for it.
Examples:
Si quiero superar la cuesta de enero, tengo que gastar menos estas próximas semanas.
If I want to overcome the January uphill, I have to spend less in the upcoming weeks.
Hay que apretarse el cinturón durante la cuesta de enero.
You have to tighten your belt to overcome the January slump.
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