For many people, this Coronavirus pandemic has been financially debilitating. Many people are working less hours, out of work, experiencing business losses, or have been furloughed. Some are experiencing medical debt or funeral costs.
There is no denying that this is a very difficult time. I thought it might be helpful to pull together some tips for saving money right now. In some ways, being quarantined at home has decreased our spending. We have hardly used any gas, we have not had doctor’s visits, and we have not spent money on outside entertainment.
There are many ways you can decrease your spending, though, in addition to these savings. Check out my round-up below:
∞ Menu planning – One of the biggest areas we have been saving money on is groceries. We are definitely eating more food now that everyone is home all the time, but we have also been trying to limit our trips to the store. So that means we are menu planning again! We have been trying to use up the food we have in the house and not overlook things in our basement shelves and downstairs freezers. We are also making sure to plan lunches, which takes the guesswork of what we are all going to eat every day! Check out my related posts:
- Menu planning
- Stretching your dinner dime… dollar
- Waste not those leftovers!
- Making the most of the whole bird
∞ Online shopping – We have been doing more online shopping than before. Some items are very hard to find and are more expensive than usual. I have been using my price list to make sure we are still getting a good deal on anything I buy online. I also try to shop from my laptop when possible so that I can use the Honey extension I have written about before. Honey automatically gets you the best coupon codes available and on Amazon tells you whether you are getting the best price among their sellers. I also use Amazon’s Subscribe & Save program each month. Be sure to check those prices, too, though, as prices can change at any time. Check out these posts for details:
∞ Making things homemade – This has been a necessity as some things like bread and yeast are not as available in stores. So we have been using our bread machine a lot more. We can go through a whole loaf of homemade bread in one lunch! As usual, we try to make other things homemade, too (salad dressing, desserts, croutons, bread crumbs, soup stock). Check out my past related posts:
∞ Saving with coupons and apps – With being home more, I have been doing a better job keeping up with cutting coupons, checking sales fliers, and using my money-saving apps. My favorite coupon site is Coupons.com. We also get the Sunday paper, which includes paper coupons and sales fliers. The Aldi and Schnucks fliers come in the mail separately. Check out my two posts on how to use your smartphone to earn and save money.
∞ Entertainment savings – Now that families are home more and some people have more time on their hands, people are turning to various entertainment options like streaming services. I am so glad that we got rid of cable years ago and got our Roku. It has saved us so much money! There are also numerous free entertainment options available these days like videos of performers reading books or performing concerts in their living rooms. There are even Broadway musicals being offered free online!
- Follow up on ditching cable – we love our Roku!
- Free entertainment to help you survive coronavirus social distancing – a very comprehensive list!
∞ Creating less waste – A side effect of us being home more hours in the day is that we are creating much more trash! So we are trying to be cognizant of this and use reusable items as much as possible, turn off lights in rooms we are not in, reduce water usage, etc. Check out my related posts for specifics on these areas.
Do you have any more tips you would like me to add? Please share in the Comments section!
Surviving on a tight budget 
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