Having been through numerous recessions over the past 50 years, LERN offers you this Optional information regarding your personal finances in the pandemic. Basically we’re in a recession. Past history suggests we as individuals cut back on our personal spending, save more and sacrifice until the recession ends.
We are not counselors, so the responsibility for any of this information rests with you. We assume no liability for your actions. We hope some of the following helps some of you, as it has us. Here goes:
1.Reduce debt.
Avoid at all costs adding debt, including credit card debt. Debt may double or even triple the cost of whatever you are buying. Instead, seek to reduce your existing debt. If you can eliminate it, that is the long term goal.
2.Eat rice and beans.
Order more of your food in bulk. Aside from fresh fruits and vegetables, buy cheaper. And buy more healthy foods. Rice and beans is one good option. Just 25 pounds of rice, and 25 pounds of beans, can last an individual up to six months. And there’s almost unlimited variations of chicken, pork, ham, hamburger and fish to make each dish different.
3.Drive less.
It actually costs $.55 to drive one mile, according to the IRS. Gas is just the start, not the cost. If that place is 10 miles away, it costs over $10 just to get there and back. Combine errands. Think about ordering online instead.
4.No restaurants, no curbside or deliveries, including pizza.
Restaurant food just costs way too much. Even a good pizza can cost five times more than homemade pizza.
5.Buy only stuff you need, not ‘want.’
There’s lots of stuff you used to need, now you just want. It’s called ‘deferred gratification.’ It’s hard at the beginning, not so much when you do it. It’s what created in North America the largest middle class anywhere in the world, anytime in history.
6.Save something.
The saying it’s not how much you make, it’s how much you save is proven over and over again when the media reports on a low earning secretary donating a million dollars to some charity. Ten dollars saved now will return one hundred dollars in 30 years. Set aside a little every month. See it add up. Benefit from the emotional comfort from the start.
7.Brainstorm and create your own alternative cost-savings.
There’s other ways to save that might fit you and your circumstance. Roommates, online teaching, housesitting, turn the heat/AC down, pet walking: think outside whatever box you are in.
