During the first week of June 2020, US Labor Department showed that nearly 30 million people lost jobs due to the pandemic. A lot of them aren’t really sure if they can still go back to their previous work after the pandemic, worse, some have just received their last paychecks. Others are simply finding it hard to get a new job.
Jobs lost, businesses halted or shutdown, earnings reduced - this is the current economic situation not just in America but in most parts of the world nowadays. A lot of people find it hard to make ends meet and a lot has been living under a stressful economic crisis.
A lot of people are asking - can I still save when life is this hard? Of course, you can. Just bear in mind two things - spend less, earn more.
Saving during a pandemic is the smartest thing to do. So stop the panic and fear, fight back and start building up a stash of cash.
· Spend less You might have cut your spending on transportation since COVID19 hit the world. So think of other top three expenses that you can cut back on, and that would be rents and subscriptions, eating out and sporadic spending on clothing and material items that you want but not necessarily need.
Aside from the fact that rents are now reduced or suspended, you can also try to check whether the space you have is big for you, rent a smaller pad, and be minimalist. If you don't want to move to another space, you may try to talk to the owner to give you extensions of payment until you have saved enough for it.
Check your subscriptions and memberships, you might not really need most of them. Go for a free source of entertainment. If you have more than one credit card, you might want to identify which one is the most beneficial.
During the pandemic, it's easy to cut down one big-ticket item: eating out. Why? Because most restaurants and bars are closed. But deliveries are tempting, and a lot of backyard food businesses have sprouted like mushrooms. You can try to support those local businesses as it is still cheaper than restaurants and fastfood chains but don't overspend. Since you have a lot of time at home, cook from scratch using local produce.
Determine your needs and wants. Needs are things required for survival like water for drinking, food to eat, and shelter to live in. A want is everything else that are there to make life a little more enjoyable. In this time of a pandemic you don't really need to add more to your wardrobe if you still have decent and comfortable clothes to wear daily inside the house or when going out for groceries. You might not be needing new clothes even if you still have work because most meetings are done online.
· Earn more. This is the time to get creative when it comes to making money.
If you are among the millions of Americans without work amid the coronavirus pandemic, start thinking outside the box; whether it is starting your own business or taking a part-time job while looking for a permanent one.
Look at remote work. Remote jobs are becoming more common, with a 7% growth in listings from March to April. There might be a lot of opportunities at remote work. The payment might not be as much as when you are inside an office, but you are at the safest place while working – at home.
A part-time job will help you make ends meet while you search for a permanent gig. It is in fact, a “real option to bring in income fairly quickly” because the hiring process tends to be quicker than that of full-time jobs.
Do you know that some of the most successful businesses started during times of economic downturn? If you have a few savings and you have the mindset of a winner, this may be the best time to start your own business. Start small, but make sure your products are essential.
Don’t ever think that you can no longer save during this uncertain time. All you need is the will and little help from online tools such as a
savings calculator to help you determine how much interest you will earn based on a single deposit, a recurring set of deposits or a combination of the two. In addition to calculating interest income, it can also provide estimates of income taxes due and the after-tax future value of a periodic investment in today's dollars.
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