Money Management During This Quarantine Time

Most of us have been hunkering down and self-quarantining for about five weeks now. I don’t know about you, but in my entire adult life, I have never had five weeks of vacation in a row. I certainly never had vacation time without the ability to go anywhere!

These are different times; you may have been required to take a furlough or been permanently laid-off from your job. Perhaps your hours or salary have been reduced. You may be in a financial situation that you have not been in before. It’s scary.

We do not know how long this will last. There are so many uncertainties in our lives that make it easy to feel helpless. I know I do. I am not a medical worker. I am not helping to heal those that are sick. I am currently unemployed but considered high-risk, so any jobs that are available right now are not a good fit for me.

I spend a lot of my day worrying and frankly, feeling awful that there are so many things that are out of my control. Can you relate? Don’t you just wish you could wave a magic wand that paid your bills, did your shopping and, cleaned your house? What I wouldn’t give for the opportunity to have my son’s baseball season kick-off, get his Disney trip re-scheduled or rent him a tux for his prom.

If only I could get my daughter’s Senior week at college underway and her graduation re-scheduled before she has to leave for the job she has in West Virginia. There are so many events not happening; it’s as if we are all in a big limbo. It is so frustrating!

It finally dawned on me today that there is something I personally could do that would make me feel useful. I could share how I was able to get through my (our) own personal “pandemic” when I lost my job due to cancer.

My family became completely turned upside down due to my breast cancer diagnosis in late 2016. I spent most of 2017 fighting the disease with surgeries, chemo, and radiation. I was paid during that time thanks to long-term disability, so financially we were fine. However, I was let go during my treatment and had no position to return to once I was deemed fit to work again.

After being out of the workforce for two years, it was impossible for me to command anywhere near the same salary I had been accustomed to for the prior ten years. Nevermind the blow to the ego, the financial hit was huge. We needed to immediately make some life changes before we found ourselves in a hole too large to climb out of.

This pandemic may put many people in a similar situation. My first piece of advice is, do not ignore what is happening to you. Make sure you have a clear picture of your finances and how the pandemic is affecting them. While I know this is embarrassing to admit, I never really paid much attention to our finances. All I knew was that our combined income was large enough to support our lifestyle.

Wow, is hindsight 20/20! I wish I paid much more attention to our finances when things were good. I had to start paying close attention once they were not so good! And, that is precisely what you need to start doing today – pay attention! Take a look at your last three months’ worth of bank statements and see where your money has been going.

Use your bank statements to make a list of your monthly income and expenses. Only include your necessary monthly bills such as mortgage, gas, electric, cell phone, etc. Once you have that list completed, determine your average monthly income based on your deposits. Does your income cover your monthly bills?

Lastly, where else has your money gone? I would suggest you pay particularly close attention to food. I was shocked when I added up the amount of money our family was spending each month on take-out. It was insane! We saved over $600/month once we eliminated take-out, and I started meal planning.

What services have you been using? If you were like us, this list may look familiar:

• Laundry
• Landscaping
• Cleaning Service
• Massages
• Manicures
• Hair-coloring
• Uber

Can you take on any of these services yourself? I’m betting you can! Before you start feeling sorry for yourself, remember, this is only temporary. Once this pandemic is over and you are back to work, you may be able to have these services re-enter your life.

In the meantime, take a deep breath and know that you’ve got this. You can do what you have to do. I found the hardest part was seriously looking at where we were spending money. It was so much easier to be ignorant and believe everything was fine.

Here’s the good news – we survived and I know you will too. Most likely, your family will have to make some changes and keep each other accountable. Luckily, there are lots of resources for you and folks like me willing to help show you the way.

Keep a watch on your inbox as I will be putting together some new posts dedicated to living more frugally during this time.