Plugging Up Your Home’s Spending Leaks While on Lockdown

This is a time of great anxiety for many of us. The Coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown are beginning to take their toll on our health, our wellbeing and our budgets. Many of us are struggling financially. Some freelancers and business owners have lost clients, some employees have lost their jobs or been placed on furlough without pay. Even the luckiest of us will likely have had to take a pay cut of at least 20%. 

Image by Igrow via Pixabay

Still, it’s easy to think of our financial wellbeing as something beyond our control. However, this mentality does us no favors in the long term. All it does is cause us additional stress, and as we all know, stress can compromise our immune function. Which is the absolute last thing we all need right now. As such, let’s look at how we can take control of our financial health by plugging up some of the spending leaks that can occur while we’re on lockdown.  

Electricity

We’re all relying heavily on our energy supply right now. Most of us are cooking more at home, but we’re also spending more on heating and / or AC since the whole household is indoors all day. Not to mention powering the myriad TVs, computers and electronic devices that the whole family relies on to work and stay entertained all day and night.

That all adds up to a lot of energy usage. While much of this may be unavoidable, spending over the odds is not. Here are some ways you can take control of your energy spend;

  • Carry out a price comparison and see if another provider can give you cheaper energy in line with your usage.
  • Limit use of TVs and games consoles to specific hours in the home. 
  • Encourage kids to read books, play board games or spend time in the garden
  • Stop charging your phone overnight
  • Stop leaving TVs, consoles etc. on standby overnight. This uses almost as much energy as if they were switched on. Turn them off at the plug. 

Auto insurance

Many of us will be overspending on our car insurance during lockdown, but this is entirely avoidable. First, see if your current insurance company is prepared to offer you a smaller premium in line with your reduced vehicle use. Failing this, there may be options to pause or cancel your policy or remove members of your family to save money. If all this fails, maybe you should consider switching to a new auto insurance provider. It’s a common fallacy that insurance companies will reward your loyalty. The truth is that they’re counting on you to let your policy roll over so they can hike up your costs.

Food

Finally, food is an essential expense. But paying a fortune for it isn’t. As important as fresh fruits and veggies are, resist the urge to overspend on them. If you don’t use fresh produce quickly, it will start to wilt and it may end up wasted. Get plenty of canned and frozen goods in and master the art of batch cooking. You’ll be amazed how far you can stretch your grocery budget. Not to mention emerging from quarantine leaner and healthier than ever.

Tia, and TipsfromTia.com  is trying to keep you looking good and
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