Around 2.18 million Americans have been infected with the COVID-19 virus. The whole country is under lockdown, and the economy is facing some difficult times.
As the economy plummets, millions more will face new wage cuts or lose their jobs. In essence, COVID-19 has created a crisis that the world hasn’t seen for the past 100 years, so thinking with a cool head is of the utmost importance.
In this article, we’re going to share five useful tips for keeping in touch with your finances and staying on top of the current situation.
1. Reprogram Your Credit Card
According to credit card statistics, an average American has 2.35 credit cards. Likewise, most of these cardholders have some additional benefits on offer from banks and lenders alike to help cope with the current crisis.
If such an option is available to you, seriously consider looking into it more thoroughly, and determine whether a loan rescheduling is in your best interest. Also, it’s best to talk to a debt adviser first and come up with a joint solution before signing the dotted line.
2. Cancel All Unnecessary Subscriptions
The gym, various magazines, and internet pages, all these subscriptions are great and offer a lot of fun, but there’s simply no time for games at the present moment. Canceling all non-essential plans and re-evaluating your home budget should be your top priority.
Utilities, food, and a roof over your head are things you cannot afford to cut. Yet, new clothes, summer resorts, and video games — are. Instead, everything you save extra place in an emergency fund, just in case for those rainy days that are sure to follow.
3. Check Your Auto Insurance Plan
Most auto insurance companies base your monthly premium on various factors, one of which is the car’s mileage throughout the year; the more miles you drive, the higher the premium.
Since you’re probably driving a lot less than usual, it would be wise to ask your insurance company to recalculate your premium and save some extra cash in the process.
4. Cancel Your Children’s Mobile Plans
At the moment, most kids around the world aren’t going to school while the lockdown is in place. Instead, they are just sitting at home under your constant supervision. So, if you’re one of those parents that bought your child a mobile phone to keep them busy, now’s the best time to cancel those plans. They probably spend too much time using them anyway — 15.1% of children spend over four hours using their favorite gadget.
The kids aren’t going anywhere, so why waste money on new devices they can’t even use for one of the basic purposes? If anything, you should use this lockdown to spend some more time with your kids. Lead by example and teach your children how to be frugal; reinforce their positive money habits early to set them up for success later on in life.
5. Do Your Homework
Internet shopping has truly become the store of tomorrow. And not just for buying clothes and expensive, hand-crafted jewelry, but for paying bills and ordering bare necessities too.
Since you can get almost anything online, it’s time you learned the virtue of comparing prices; your home budget will thank you for it. Namely, on the internet, two adjacent tabs are more than enough to realize which brand offers the better deal.
Also, if you are already working remotely and saving time on the commute, this could open some freelancing windows so you could join the 57 million freelance workforce.
Conclusion
Ironically, most of these tips are useful even without a global pandemic in place. In a (strange) way, the current COVID-19-induced lockdown has helped us realize just how much we spend on non-essentials. So, stop wasting money and start saving money instead, today.
