Now that we’re starting to feel the restrictions easing around us, you might find yourself transitioning from having FOGO (Fear Of Going Out) to FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Our roadmap to recovery means that we can now go out to enjoy dinner and drinks with friends and family, go to concerts and music festivals or even hit the highways for a fun road-trip.
With all of these opportunities now opening up to us, it’s important to remember that there are limits emotionally, physically and financially.
We’ve put together some tips on how to manage your finances and wellbeing coming out of lockdown, and enjoy summer without blowing your savings.
Know your boundaries
It makes sense to ease back into things and limit the number of social outings per week so that you don’t get burnt out. When we feel socially exhausted, we don’t allow ourselves to be present and enjoy the moment. Friends and family will be understanding if you can’t commit to plans or need to decline to get some R&R and look after yourself. Plus you’ll save some extra money by not being out and about every night!
When it’s time to get social
It’s great having live music and other events opening back up, but you may want to consider working out a budget and setting aside a percentage (perhaps look at 5% to 20%) of your monthly or weekly income for social activities. If there’s a music festival or fancy dinner you want to splurge on, put some money away in the weeks or month before so you’re not out of pocket. Balance out your high expense social events with some low key, low expense social events.
Review your subscriptions
Now that we aren’t living totally like hermits (but hey, no judgment if you’ve been loving the hermit lifestyle in lockdown!), you might not need ALL of the streaming services anymore. Go through your subscriptions and see what hidden costs might be coming out of your account. That yearly subscription expense could free up funds for a new outfit or a plane ticket for the future. Weigh up the value to the cost.
Try not to put everything on credit
If you can, avoid the buy now, pay later options. That holiday may look enticing, and you may be excited to start buying up a storm now we can be out and about, but it’s important that you live within your means so you don’t find yourself falling behind. We are still dealing with a lot of uncertainty, so locking yourself in to fixed payments could be pretty risky business.
We’re all finding our way back out of our living rooms, but it’s important to keep your finances in the back of your mind when making commitments. With the New Year coming up in a couple of weeks, consider sitting down to review your budget, to match your new or back to normal lifestyle.