How To Save Money While Practicing Social Distancing
Given the current circumstances the world is in, social distancing is the new norm. If you’re stressed about your finances, or just using the time to go over them, never fear. In this post, we will go over how to save money while staying home!
This is a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.
Let’s re-evauate our budget…
Now is as good a time as any to fine tune the budget, and take into account our income vs expenses.
Maybe you’re still working but at home. Maybe you are furloughed, or unemployed. Either way, the first step in “how to save money,” is to know exactly what you have to work with.
Calculate your cash flow. Then figure out exactly how much money you have going towards your most important bills. These would be your housing, utilities, food, insurance, and automobiles.
Lastly, calculate your luxury purchases. These are things that considered “non-essential” and can be cut from your budget entirely if need be.
Make some decisions…
Obviously, you need to make sure you can handle your most necessary bills. But remember the “luxuries?”
These are simple bills you can eliminate if you absolutely cannot justify keeping them. Paying for a monthly gym membership? May as well cancel that since most gyms are closed (and you don’t want to expose yourself or others).
Do you have funds added to your budget for monthly trips to the hair salon, masseuse, or dog groomer? Those are more things you can stop paying for (or setting money aside for) in the meantime.
Don’t forget about your entertainment! Still paying for HBO-GO but never find yourself watching it (even though you’re home every day)? Cancel your membership so you aren’t throwing money away on stuff you simply aren’t using!
You will also want to check with your rental manager or mortgage company. A lot of companies are doing loan/rent forgiveness or suspension. It will be helpful to know which, if any possible, type of program your housing may fall under.
Lastly, do not adopt any new bills that you cannot afford! Don’t purchase new streaming options if it’s possible you may fall behind on the payment. Or, sign up for subscription boxes/magazines. Free trials are great, but either cancel long before your trial is over, or you may have just created a new problem!
How To Save Money As A Small Business
You may be wondering how your small business can cut costs during this time of uncertainty.
If you can close brick and mortar locations, you should do so not only for the financial benefit but because it’s safer. You can save money on a lot of paper materials by switching to green alternatives, which is also great after the pandemic passes.
Consulting with a financial service, like Rusty Tweed, can also help put business expenses into perspective, even more so at a time like this.
How to increase your side hustle oppertunity
This is something I know a lot of people are genuinely worried about right now. Maybe you’ve lost your job, or aren’t able to work quite as much due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are a lot of genuine opportunities to create extra streams of income, that aren’t scams. Social distancing might be just the time you need to get these hustles off the ground, and still be able to stay safe while providing for your family.
Working from home is saving a lot of people right now, so this might be a great avenue for you as a consultant, advisor, or another type of freelance professional.
Blogging is my current side hustle, so I’ve been getting back into that. Also, I’ve had the time to write posts so that helps, too.
I appreciate that so many businesses are waiving fees because of this pandemic. My insurance company is giving us 20% off our car insurance because we’re not driving as much.
I’ve been quarantined for over a month now and this had a positive impact on my budget. I am not spending as much as I used to before the lock down.
This is so helpful for those affected by this lockdown! I love how you included some work from home jobs. This is such a great time to start a new income stream!
These are great ideas.It is a tough time to be juggling things, whether you are working from home, an essential worker, homeschooling, etc.I will have to look at those work opportunities.
Re-evaluating budget is key as there is economical crisis that is gonna happen and will definitely need to save anticipating. Great tips . Thanks for sharing
I know it may difficult for more than others right now but we all could strive to save and wise with our finances. If there is one thing I have learned during this pandemic, it’s not to take anything for granted—be it our jobs, our families, or our finances. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I have also found that this is a great time to cook at home as much as possible.
Thank you for the tips! I love many of these and am myself working hard to make some money while all the crazy is going on 🙂 Stay safe and healthy and thank you for this informative post!
One of the things I also had to remember about saving money that we are social distancing is to not go panic or bored crazy online shopping and enjoying curbside delivery. And I’m all about remote working!
This is such an important post and I agree completely.During these uncertain times, its very important to really analyze and manage our finances.Thank you for sharing.
Great advice to avoid taking on new bills or signing up for new subscriptions/ services etc.
xo, MJ
https://lush-fab-glam.com
I find that i spend less than i wpould normally spend , but then again most stores are closed and i cannot do diy – so i suppose i might as well save few ££ while staying in
Good tips!
Not being able to go shopping/eat out has made me save money automatically!
I would also add that if you are in the position to do so, look into refinancing your home at the current rock-bottom interest rates. This could potentially save hundreds a month!
These are good tips for saving some money while we are staying at home.It is a good time to go through bills and see what is being spent and pull back on some of those things.
My husband and I are both self-employed so we are quite used to trimming the fat off our budgets and thinking outside the box to ensure we have eggs in multiple baskets. And thinking outside of the box is even more crucial now in the current economic climate, so we’re having to become very creative lol!
We’ve definitely reevaluated what is vital right now. We’re not spending on really anything but food, mostly “just in case.”
Quarantine is the perfect time to save money. I have been trying to save but bills are too much. So I think now is the time to work on my savings and this post really does help me out. Thank you for sharing.
This is so helpful for those affected by the virus. Great advice, thanks for sharing.
Great tips! I agree with you that now is the perfect time to increase our side hustle. There a lot of opportunities right now and so far, I am into content writing and email copywriting. 🙂