How to manage your money during the COVID-19 pandemic: Part 1
People are often resistant to making changes in their lives... However, if you want something different in your life, you have to start doing something differently. ~ Trent Hamm
According to The Economist, America has added over 30 new billionaires since March, while the five richest people in the world have gained 26% in their wealth over the last few months. Of course, this isn’t the reality for most people, many of whom are living from one month to next or are even struggling to pay the rent. For most people, now feels like a personal finance apocalypse.
When lots of things go wrong at once, particularly when those crises affect many different areas of your life, it can feel overwhelming and kind of hopeless. Remember that no matter what is going on right now and no matter how bad it seems, things have been bad in your life before and they eventually became better. ~ Trent Hamm
One of the best budgeting strategies for the coronavirus is to control your impulse buys.
Don’t spend money on fleeting blips of pleasure. Save your money for things that really matter. Once you train your brain to do that, financial success becomes much, much easier. ~ Trent Hamm
Indeed, although you might be tempted to beat anxiety and stress by spending money, now is the time to avoid unnecessary purchases.
Spending your hard earned money shouldn't be fun. That feeling of “fun” is disguising the cold hard fact that you're spending your hard-earned resources and losing all of the opportunities that those resources bring to you. ~ Trent Hamm
Some people resist this because they think that being frugal is too much effort. That’s why another great piece of money advice for the coronavirus is to balance the effort you spend with the value you get.
Your time and energy have real value, and the most frugal approach to things is the one that uses the minimum amount of your overall resources — time, money, energy and focus — to get the result you want. ~ Trent Hamm
If you do things right, frugality can even be fun. Maybe you’ll take pleasure in starting your own garden and keeping your plants thriving (something that’s possible even without a backyard). Or maybe you’ll find greater joy by limiting your treats.
There’s something to be gained in deliberately limiting our pleasures—not for any moral purpose, or to conserve money, health, or the environment—but simply because making our pleasures more occasional makes them more pleasurable. ~ David Cain
So, the next time you’re tempted to make an unnecessary purchase, take a moment to visualise your spending decision. It’s a great way to avoid financial regrets.
The way to fun and freedom doesn't come from opening your wallet, though so much of the media and social pressure can make it feel that way at times. Find your own path without spending money on forgotten things. You will never regret it. ~ Trent Hamm
Another good way to avoid a life of financial dependence is to be grateful for what you have.
Think about what you have, not about what you lack. Don't get upset with yourself if you think about the things you lack – that’s normal human life – but nudge yourself away from them, and make an effort sometimes to think about what you're grateful for. ~ Trent Hamm
Ultimately, you can experience financial benefits from COVID-19 as long as you take small steps and strive to make progress every day.
When we keep trying to apply that sense of continuous improvement to everything we do, trying to make it more efficient in terms of money, energy and time, we end up with a life where we're able to easily handle more than we ever thought possible. ~ Trent Hamm