Managing Your Money in 2020
2020 has been a year unlike any other. With rampant economic instability and employment uncertainty managing your money has never been more important. Making some small changes to your spending and saving habits for the next few months can help in the event you lose your job or your income is impacted in some other way.
Stick To Your Budget
Now is not the time for impulse buys. if you have a job that you don’t feel is solid right now sticking to your budget is the smartest thing you can do. You obviously still need to live your life and pay the bills so make sure that is taken care of first before putting money into savings. Hold off on any unnecessary purchases for a bit. Now is the best time to use the 30-day rule. If you want to buy something wait 30 days and if you still want it then buy it. This helps weed out impulse buys and will save you a lot of cash.
Keep Cash
Whenever there is economic uncertainty you will want to hold on to some cash. This doesn’t mean you need to go out and empty your accounts but it does mean you should hold on to some cash in a safe place for emergencies. Start with a few hundred or just stash away a few $20s whenever you hit up the ATM. You will have a little peace of mind knowing that you have a little extra on-hand that isn’t reflected in your bank account balances.
Hold Off On Extra Debt Payments
Your job may have been unaffected thus far, and that’s great, but now is not the time to be trying to make extra payments to pay off those credit cards unless you are certain your job is safe for the foreseeable future. Right now having as much cash as you can in the bank or on hand is the best way to go. If you suddenly lose your job you will still need to pay your bills and relying on credit cards for that is unwise. You don’t have to only pay minimums but scale back if you were planning on making big payments for a few months. That extra cash can always go toward paying off that debt later when the economy is a little more stable.
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