Save, Save, Save
Looking at some of the numbers that have made it to the news and it's pretty apparent that the chance of a recession has become very real. Now is the perfect time to start ratcheting back your spending. Normal life is on hold and the opportunity just is not there for any of the big draws on your spending. You can't go to the pub, you can't go to restaurants or the cinema, you don't (or at least shouldn't) have much chance of any social life. There's no point booking a holidaybecause even without the travel restrictions there's nowhere to go.
Then there's commuting. Unless you're someone that still has to go to a workplace then, again, make the most of this. You aren't spending money on fuel or public transport. Some companies are offering to refund unused season tickets and passes. You aren't putting any wear on your car and MOT's have been extended by 6 months.
If you are sensible then you should already be giving yourself a weekly allowance that you need to keep within. If you are really sensible then it makes sense to cut that allowance back. What am I going to spend money on other than a trip to the supermarket now and again?
The money that you are not spending needs to go to good use. The two main choices are either as cash or to reduce debt (or a combination of both). Each have their own advantages. If you use this money to pay down debt going into a recession then it puts you in a better position. And if you need some emergency spending then your credit line has a little bit more capacity in it. Equally, cash has advantages. There are a lot of things you can't pay with a credit card, like rent, mortgage, childcare, that kind of thing so having some extra cash in the bank makes sense. Cash is also something they cannot take away from you. There is the chance that if you have, say, a credit card that you aren't using but keep for emergencies then it isn't unknown for the company to reduce your credit limit. I had a card that I kept clear in case I ever got hit with a big bill, never looked at it for a couple of years until one day I did and saw they'd reduced my credit limit from a few thousand to a few hundred.
It's up to you. Most financial bloggers say pay debt first but personally, I like cash. My own strategy right now is to pay down a little more but I want most of it going into savings.
Reduce
Go through your spending and make a list of all the things you can pull the plug on right now. We all have a ton of non-essential stuff. I might be skint but I've got a monthly charity donation, I'm a member of the SNP and have monthly membership subs for that. I've got a Netflix subscription that's "only" 6 quid a month. If I dumped all these little discretionary commitments then that frees up £25-30 a month. Most people probably have more. Subscriptions are the way of the world now, especially with things like entertainment but it seeps into everything. Everybody wants you to take that monthly plan and it's a massive black hole for your money if you allow it.
I'm not saying dump them now but you need to know a. What you can get rid of and b. How much that saves. If conditions worsen then you know where you can liberate a little more money from. Personally, though, I'm dumping what I can right now and those savings are all going into the pot.
Staying Warm
The big thing I noticed on my first day was how cold I was when I was working from home. If I'm at home normally then I'm doing stuff and I never notice it. But sitting at a desk all day then I get really fucking cold. Now, obviously there is the discomfort of that but it also puts an unnecessary load on your immune system as well which you really don't need.
The first move is obvious. Put some extra layers on. There's a limit to that, though. My hands get cold and working with gloves at a computer isn't practical.
Another thing I found is: choose your workplace wisely if you can. One side of my house gets the sun from morning until about 1pm and the rooms on that side are really warm. I put my computer right in my front window and I've timed my day to make the most of it, start at 7am and I've done a good 5-6 hours before it starts to get cold.
At some point you need to put the heating on. My recommendation is: only heat where you are working. Central heating is fairly efficient when you are heating the whole house but do you need the whole house to be warm?
At the end of Monday I was so cold that I went to Screwfix and bought a little fan heater. You can pick one up for a tenner. I have it on the lowest setting, pointed straight at me, so it's only burning maybe 17p an hour and I don't run it the whole time.
Power
Get yourself on the lowest electricity deal you can. Now is also the time to do a price comparison and switch if you can get a better deal. Nobody knows how long this will go on for so get the best electricity rate there is.
Again, don't use power in rooms you don't need to. I've got a habit of just automatically switching on the toilet light when I go in that I've forced myself to stop. If it is daytime then you can probably do without lighting.
Internet
Same goes for broadband. Scout around for the best deal. And, importantly, talk to your current supplier. I'm with Sky and every time I tell them I'm leaving then miraculously they find a way to bring my bill down. Every time it ends up beating the best deal I can find.
Another tip, do a line check. Sky have a service check feature on their website, I'd guess most others do too. I checked mine last week and it turned out that the speed can be improved by an engineer's visit rather than upgrading my package.
Telephone
You do not need the data that you think you need. Even at the best of times. But right now you're going to be connected to the wifi 95% of your day at least. I always aim for the least amount of data I can get away with, I think I pay for 6gb and never come close to that limit. You do not need massive or unlimited allowances right now. Unless your broadband shits the bed but I'd wait until that happens before looking at upping my phone's data allowance.
I almost never make calls these days unless it's to companies, amongst friends and family it's almost exclusively text. Again, if you're at home on wifi then use a messaging service like WhatsApp and you won't touch your text allowance.
If you need to make calls for work then it might work out better to use the landline. Check your broadband package to see what you've got and compare it to your call allowance on your mobile.
Food & Drink
One of the big benefits is that I've no excuse for not making my own lunch now. Buying shit I don't need was always my downfall. Take this time to get into the habit of meal planning, batch cooking and making the most of the freezer.
I use my teabags twice. It's not just money-saving, I want to avoid needing to go out so if it makes my teabags go further then great.
I also make two brews at the same time. One in my normal mug, one in an insulated one for later. Boiling a single cup of water seems inefficient so I do twice what I need and save the other half. I've read about some people that make a big pot of tea or coffee in the morning and either put it in a flask or just reheat it in a microwave later.
Working Hours
When I start work I set a countdown timer for 7.5 hours (my contracted day) and I pause it when I take lunch or have any longer breaks (like the days my daughter was here). It is way too easy to over-work or lose track of time. I also physically unplug everything at the end of the day so there is no temptation to go back and work some more later. Keep really good track of your hours worked and what you were doing, I keep a written diary. People will take this chance to screw you, I guarantee it.
Personally, I found I do a lot more at home than I do in the office in the same amount of time so I have zero guilt about doing this. And time is money, if it isn't in your pocket then it is in someone else's.
I think that's about all the money saving stuff I can think of right now. I'm going to do a post on the mental wellbeing aspects later.
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