Saving Money During This COVID-19 Pandemic
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, countries have been on lockdown and on social distancing. There is also the so-called community quarantine in which some businesses or enterprises are closed and have temporarily stopped their operations. A lot of people do not have income these days because they are unable to work. If you are someone who still receives compensation from your company or from the government, or if you are someone who is still able to work whether on your actual workplace or online, then consider yourself lucky.
Bottomline is that money is hard these days.
It is difficult to earn and saving money is also hard because you still have to pay for a lot of things even without income such as rent, groceries, utilities, and other basic necessities. Here are three things that you can do to save money during the pandemic:
# 1 Seek alternatives
If you can, try to find online jobs that you can do to earn extra money. Even extra ten bucks per day would help. You can easily do this from becoming a blogger. With that – even if you spend more than what you earn, you still earn some amount and it could help balance out your spending. Aside from that, you may even find other alternatives not just in your earning but also your spending.
Do you usually spend on expensive conditioners and soap? Why not get something less expensive? If you have a garden or a yard, you may also plant fruits and vegetables instead, so that you no longer have to buy these stuff from the grocery store. It could also be a lifestyle change that you can do even after the quarantine. That way you only need to go to your garden for some tomatoes and other vegetables when you want to cook.
#2 Do not buy unnecessary things
Do you usually spend a couple bucks on your extensive skincare routine? Do you plan to buy some stuff for yourself or for your house? Evaluate if these things are needs or just wants. If you really need them, then go for them. If they are only wants, you might consider purchasing them only when the quarantine has been lifted to save some money. Just think of it this way, even if you buy those expensive boots you’ve been saving up for for months now today, you won’t be able to really use them until after the pandemic. If you buy lipsticks today, no one would ever really appreciate them on you because you would be wearing a face mask all the time.
#3 Be cautious about your electricity and water consumption
You might have electronics and other appliances turned on all the time. You might want to turn off the lights and the faucet when not in use. Use less air conditioning if it’s not hot. Turn off your TV if you’re only going to use it as background music while you scroll through social media sites on your phone all day. Read books instead of too much Netflix. You have seen that show twice anyway.
Find more worthwhile hobbies and activities that do not require much water and electricity consumption. You don’t need to take a bath when you could just take a quick shower.
There are so many other things that you can still do to save money during this time. These are just a few tips to get you started. We don’t know until when this will last and it’s better to be safe than sorry. It’s better to save up some money and have lots of it afterward, when you can enjoy your money to its full potential.
