How can I save money during a pandemic?

1. Cut back on alcohol
Alcohol and other forms of entertainment can be a lot more expensive than we anticipate. Just think about it, before the pandemic, you would meet up with your friends every other Friday night and on weekends and spend a lot of money on booze. With the pandemic sending many people into lockdown and with the shutdown of bars and clubs, hanging out outdoors has thus been temporarily suspended. However, lots of people still buy alcohol to drink from the comfort of their homes, hence, still spending a significant amount of their budget on drinking. If you thus want to save money, you can cut down on some of your drinking habits, or stop drinking altogether if you wish. This is a lot easier said than done, as many people do not know how to stop drinking. Do not worry, as it is a process that takes time. You can start by reducing the amount you consume weekly, and gradually progress on from there. You can also opt to join a support group if you wish, since meeting people who are going through the same struggles as you are may make the whole process easier for you.

2. Cancel unnecessary subscriptions
In this modern age, there are plenty of subscription services that we pay for. This may be Spotify, Youtube Premium, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and so on. If you would like to save some cash you may need to do an evaluation of all these products and identify which ones you need. Of course, all are wonderful and serve a particular purpose in your life, but you may realize that you use some more than others, or perhaps find that maybe you only use a particular platform a couple of times a month. Rank all of these in order of priority, which will help you pinpoint those that you use best and use. Alternatively, you can downgrade your package to a less expensive one for a certain service and save some money.

3. Cook more often
In this pandemic, a lot of people may be working from home, and doing homeschooling. You may thus find that you have a lot more responsibilities to take care of in a single day, especially when the kids are home. It can thus be quite tempting to order take out every night, as it is quite easy, fast, and convenient. There is no problem with ordering takeout, however, it can get pretty expensive when you do so every night, especially due to charges affiliated with delivery. Consider cooking some meals a couple of days a week to save some money. Moreover, to make things easier for you, you can try doing a meal prep twice a week, in case cooking daily can be a challenge due to your work and home responsibilities.

4. Re-evaluate your budget
During the pandemic, we are all staying indoors longer than we normally would, and as such certain expenses such as the water, electricity, or phone bill might go higher than usual. The best way to work around this is to redo your budget. Take away money allocated for outdoor things such as memberships and entertainment and reallocate to things that might need more money, such as groceries. Remember as well to include a section on saving. Having this actual plan will help you be transparent to yourself about your spending, and you will thus not end up buying things you do not need.