Managing Your Budget During a Global Pandemic

Are you living on a tight budget during the coronavirus lockdown?  We understand.  To help you manage your money and deal with the unexpected costs of life in quarantine, we've gathered some tips and tricks on how to manage--and maybe even save– your money through the coronavirus pandemic.

Cut Out One Big Expense

It's easier to cut one big expense than make many small trims to your budget, explained finance expert Ramit Sethi to the New York Times.  For example, two-car families might be able to cancel car insurance on one vehicle, if everyone is working from home and driving less.  If you are a homeowner (and still have stable income), Sethi suggests refinancing, since rates are low right now.

Limit Online Shopping

When you're home all the time, it can be tempting to entertain yourself with buying, well...anything. The convenience of shopping online is incredible, but it's also dangerous. Personal finance writer Jackie Lam suggests reducing your purchases for nonessentials to once every two weeks.

To remove temptation, you could unsubscribe from retail newsletters and remove your credit card information from Amazon and other websites, since the time it takes you to go find your credit card stops you from impulse buying. Since Amazon is overwhelmed with orders for healthcare supplies and essential items right now, you're doing a favor to others by skipping unnecessary shopping, too.

Grocery Shop Carefully

If you're going to the store less often, try to make sure that you only buy things that will last--nonperishables and longer lasting fruits and vegetables like citus and cauliflower are a good bet. Even before the pandemic, the average American family wasted  $1500 dollars per year on food waste--food that was thrown away before it could be eaten. Grocery shopping more often for less items cuts that down, but right now that might not be possible. Focusing on meal planning and longer lasting foods is the next best thing. Financial expert Kara Perez advises limiting alcohol and brand name purchases at the store for the time being.

Lam also suggests batching grocery orders if you're having food delivered--try to do one large order from a service like Instacart rather than several small ones, because the delivery fees for those services can be very expensive.  If you're ordering takeout, consider ordering enough food for several days to make the most of the delivery fee.

Cancel Subscriptions You Don't Need

Subscriptions can eat up your budget. Take a close look at your credit card statement, and see if you  have anything you could cut out. For example, if you have Hulu and Netflix, maybe cancel one. If you're still paying for a gym membership, make sure to cancel it since you're not able to go anyway.

If your financial situation has changed, unfortunately you'll need to account for that in your budgeting. If you're subscribed to fun "extras" --cosmetic subscriptions like Ipsy, a wine club, etc--really consider what you need and whether you could live without it. It's never fun to make sacrifices, but  a little extra cash can go a long way in tough times.

Of course, there's one big exception here--some subscriptions actually save you money! Ours is one of those. Our data shows that our Skip Plus members save money on their memberships, because we help them avoid costly mistakes when navigating government services–-with our help, you'll never be hit with high fees for small mistakes on a form or loan application. And of course, you'll always be in the know about opportunities for government funding like grants. In the time of coronavirus, it's more important than ever to take advantage of all the help you can get to care for your family.