Trade and Travel Journal | How To Financially Thrive During This Time Of The Pandemic | Saving on a typical month is more struggling for some especially during this time of the pandemic. With dues coming in every month on your mailbox, saving a penny has been more challenging. Considering the things that we need to keep up just to make sure that you and your family are safe and can still manage to bring food to the table thrice a day.
Our traditional ways of financial survival need some tweaking because of our financial dilemma brought by COVID-19. This can be a tricky question for some because of the lessened man-hours at the work that causes smaller monthly income and with the same amount of monthly spending and even bigger for some.
Here are some ideas and tips on how to manage your moolah more effectively during this time:
- Start being a bean counter
Prevent dreading by looking ahead. You must initially take a look at your net worth: How much is your debt, what you can do to presently earn money in any way that you can because it will help you feel and think that you’re more in control.
Sasha Hutchison, a personal finance blogger recommends looking at everything, from your health savings account up to your current job that can help pay for healthcare expenses. You also have to consider the amount of your cash on hand and what is currently in your portfolio, is it shrinking? At this time, it might be difficult to collect from anyone who owes us money but it is still good to be aware that it’s just out there.
- A budget for tough times
It is good to have a constant and fixed budget to be aware of what you can only afford each month. But using its emergency version now might not be a good time to use it. It is best to have an advance plan before arriving at the moment when you already needed it. It will be much easier when you are not in search of things to cut under duress. List it down, so you can pull it out and see the plan you formulate.
What luxuries that you still want to spend on and define what are those things that you can let go of? The more you cut, the longer you can make your savings last.
- Consider Do-It-Yourself Projects
Practical skills are the best way to save money. Many people outsource practically everything, from housecleaning up to yard work. In a pre-COVID-19 time, people turned to pros because they don’t have much time to do DIYs. But with our global current situation, more time at home means fewer excuses to avoid learning and doing something unusual, like cleaning, conserving, and recycling.
- Cash cushion
Having an emergency fund is the most critical. You might probably one of those who got a pay cut, if you’re lucky enough and haven’t experienced this one yet before that happens, this is the right time to review your budget. You will never regret having an emergency fund, don’t only save when you have the chance, make saving a habit.
When we will start to go back to our normal lives, you can use that pile of cash on anything that you wanted to do or pay off any debt that you have.
Saving should be a constant practice, regardless of the presence of the pandemic or not. Getting a certain portion from our salary to save it in our bank accounts would be a bit challenging for some at first, but after some time of doing such, you will get used to it and would actually aim for bigger savings as you grow your paycheck, it’s just a matter of practice and discipline, you will just soon realized that you were able to save an amount of money you don’t