This is how you wisely handle your quarantine savings
With an online shopping spree left aside, I actually save quite a bit of money during this quarantine time. And those shopping sprees were not exactly mild. But that was mainly in the first two weeks (so actually I've only cut back since this week), I think out of a sort of defiance that I wanted to spend money. Money that I normally spend on dining out and drinking a lot. I really enjoy doing that with my money and of course, I can't do that now. And yes, I fully support the #supportyourlocals, but I always end up spending most of the bill on wine and not often on food... So at the end of the line, I'm still in the plus.
And that is of course a positive point. But then you have to handle it wisely. And that's generally not really my strongest point, making smart and/or clever decisions with money. So I've made several plans for myself that you might find useful too. Plan how-to-use-quarantine-savings starts now.
1. Create an Excel sheet
It sounds so silly but it is actually really handy. Normally, I withdraw some cash without really checking my account and have no idea what I'm actually spending. This time is a good opportunity to map that out a bit. Create an Excel sheet with all your fixed expenses, your expenditures (can be from this month, but also from previous months) to get a sense of what you're actually spending. I also made a sheet with what I want to spend on certain things, so that after this corona crisis I have better boundaries for myself.
2. Set aside the money you normally spend on weekends
As I said: I really spend a fortune on food. On Moscow Mules. On wine. On shots when I've had too much of those two mentioned earlier and I think shots are a brilliant idea. You can imagine that this adds up. Costs that I am not incurring now. I have them now in a separate bonus interest account. Confronting to see what I spend, but it gives a clear picture, from which I absolutely learn.
3. Set a limit on Thuisbezorgd/UberEats/Deliveroo
I know you should go out as little as possible, but I still think picking up food by bike is the best option. Because that way you support those locals the most (the commissions from those companies are often not mild) and you still get outside quickly. But don't go too enthusiastically with those delivery apps: set aside an amount that you want to spend on them per month and don't go over that.
4. Make shopping lists
This sounds really so obvious, but I never did it. Because I never knew when I would or wouldn't be eating at home in the evening and because I didn't know what I would feel like eating. So I often found myself hungry in the supermarket, which meant I bought much more than necessary. Going into the supermarket with a list = no unnecessary costs.
5. List all the subscriptions you have
I also put this in an Excel sheet. Because gym, tennis subscription, Linda subscription, charities (some of which I didn't even recognize), Netflix, Videoland, Disney+... Individually they may not be that expensive or still manageable, but all together it's quite a hefty amount. Set a budget in advance that you would like to spend monthly on this and then see what the actual amount is. Are you above that? Then something needs to be cut.
