The Coronavirus pandemic is currently crippling most of the industries in the modern world. As governments suspend work and advise people to stay at home for at least a month, job security will be on the line for the next few months.
Hence, you’ll need to figure out how to properly cut costs to keep yourself afloat. Unfortunately, this will be the “new normal” for an indefinite amount of time. The sooner you learn how to allocate your resources, the better you’ll be at surviving the lockdown.
Coronavirus Essentials: Spending Only on What’s Needed
Having to follow strict quarantine measures is already tough enough, but things could get even more complicated if your main source of income has been cut off as well. Hence, it’s recommended that you learn how to simplify your money matters as quickly as possible.
Listed below are 8 tips that can help you manage your finances through the COVID-19 pandemic:
1. Assess Your Current Financial Situation
Before you can figure out which expenses to cut off, you first need to carefully assess what your current financial situation is. List down your sources of income, and how much per month they’ll bring on average.
2. Identify Your Essentials
Once you’re aware of your real financial state, list down your essential expenses per month. Examples include:
- Groceries
- Rent or mortgage
- Utilities
- Any type of loan
- Childcare (if applicable)
If you’ve been spending on anything other than these before the coronavirus broke out, it’s time to evaluate whether they belong to the “essentials” or not. If they don’t, it’s best to cut them off for now.
3. Use Online Coupon Codes
Since you’ll be in quarantine, some of you may have limited chances of buying your necessities outside. Fortunately, you may have the option to purchase your groceries online and have them delivered to your doorstep.
You don’t have to pay for the full price of items either. With the help of online coupon codes from dontpayfull.com, you can buy a lot of stuff at a discount. This is incredibly useful if the discounts are applicable to items that you need to stock on.
4. Stick to the Bare Necessities
Of course, just because you can find all sorts of discount coupons, it might make you think that you’re getting good deals on certain stuff—even if you don’t need them.
Stick only to the items that are essential to your survival during quarantine. This includes food, water, snacks, toiletries, and hygienic items like sanitizers.
5. Get Cheaper Meat Cuts
Meat is probably one of the most important items on your grocery list. However, if your budget is limited, you can still get that meat in, but instead of getting your usual items, you can go for the cheaper cuts.
6. Ask for Financial Leeway
If you already know that you won’t be able to fulfill some of your financial obligations like mortgage or credit card payments, make sure that you contact the companies immediately to explain your situation.
Depending on the company, you may be able to apply for a mortgage holiday, or perhaps a freeze in the interest of your loan payments. Don’t wait for them to send you a letter regarding your late payments.
The sooner you let them know of your financial situation, you’ll have better chances of getting that financial leeway.
7. Continue Building Your Emergency Fund
Understandably, not everyone will have extra cash to spare. However, if you happen to chance upon anything extra (e.g. refunds, bonuses, birthday funds, etc.), or if you have more money now because you’re spending less, make sure that you add it to your emergency fund.
You never know how long this pandemic is going to last, so it’s better to have something to spare when you really need it.
8. Look for Income Options
Tough times are ahead, and the situation that the world is in now can get worse before it gets comparatively better. The best thing you can do, aside from staying at home, is to ensure that your finances are ready to handle your needs.
Since you’ll be stuck for long periods of time at home, you can try your luck with online side hustles, like creating a website or blog. This ensures that money will keep on coming in, even if your regular job is at a standstill.
Prolonged Quarantines Require Smart Resource Management
As sources of income become inconsistent during this time, it’s important to cut unnecessary costs and allocate your resources only on what’s essential. By learning how to adjust to the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, you’ll be able to sustain yourself even when your “normal” life has been put on hold.
