How's people coping financially at the moment

[johnnyb47]

A bit of a personal question but how are you all coping at the moment.
Being put on furlough i was worrying about how i was going to pay the bills etc, but its not been to bad.
When working you don't realise how much dead end money you spend. The car is particularly a big expense that you take for granted until you stop using it. It takes a lock down to make you realise how much money you spend on fuel week in week out. My car has virtually been idle for 8 weeks now and reckon I've saved nearly £300 on feeding it diesel. Other things like closed shops have brought savings to. Apart from the food shopping, no other one off impulsive purchases have been made. My electricity bill on the other hand will no doubt be higher this quarter due to being at home all the while (I'll just have to wait and see.
The future finances though are worrying. With work swinging the axe at the moment and letting heads roll due to a forecast downturn in trade, we are all sitting here dreading a possible letter of redundancy.
Cycling has been a great help though over the last few weeks. It's been a great form of exercise and boredom breaker, and most of all its Cheap!
The tyre's have worn down a bit (but i have spare set) and the chain is starting to stretch but that's it. A bottle of water and your good to go for a few hours in the sun seeing the sights and sounds, and it costs nothing.
As I'm nosey and love people watching ive noticed neighbours who don't entertain exercise, there spending there way out of boredom and cabin fever. Obviously I'm not being critical towards them but I'm greatfull I've found cycling in my later years of life to enjoy, that doesn't command me to open up my wallet every time I use the bike.
All the very best 👍

 

[Knightly85]

I'm getting by fine with a mortgage holiday.

 

[fossyant]

Saving money here but had a few big bills as lock down came, so that paid for them. Fuel, Saving £40 a week. Cycling most days - I avoid weekends as it's busy - was quiet at 6 am for a 2 hour commute to the house.

Plenty of folk walking/running round the field at the back of our house. Most of my neighbours don't exercise, although next door are regular utility cyclists and opposite are out with their kids on seats on the back of their bikes.

I'm still working , but from home, and Mrs F on furlough but due back mid May, although she only has a contract until the end August, so unlikely to have work after that.

Bike is super cheap, it did need a few wear items sorting - full set of frame bearings and rear wheel bearings, but a few hours work it's done, and less than £40.

General shopping is expensive though. 4 'adults' at home, so lots of food, although, having extra time means we are eating better - i.e. all home made - I do the cooking. Only had a pizza twice since lockdown, and one lot was completely home made.

 

[Heigue'r]

Same as above,mortgage holiday,...self employed,family of four to provide for so mainly just food bills..not a penny through the door since mid march..apart from I think 128 quid child benefit..think Im going back on the 18th of this month.Construction,residential,in London

 

[PK99]

We are at the VERY fortunate end of the spectrum.

Both retired, secure pensions. At the Spend not Accumulate stage of life, so are actually better off at the moment as we are very limited on what we can spend money on - no holidays, pubs, restaurants, theatre, gigs etc...

We've been using part of the money we are not spending by going to Booker Cash and Carry every few weeks, filling the car boot and taking to a local food bank

 

[Drago]

Made no difference to me, all my income streams are independent of having to work for them. Voluntarily though, I've given my tenant a 3 month payment holiday - her family is old friends with mine, and theres no mortgage on the property so it just goes into the bank faster than I can spend it anyway.

Mrs D is fine. 3 or fher income streams are independent of work, and shes still getting full salary for working from home. Shes saving a bit on petrol though, which pays for the takeaways we keep getting delivered.

Daughter #1s business has come to a shuddering halt, but shes well insured so ultimately won't do too badly. It's a bit of a sting, but she won't lose her flat or the Porsche.

Daughter #3 is a newly qualified accountant with payroll experience, which is a massive boom industry at the moment with all this furlough stuff. Shes working from home, billing her firm for 16 and 18 hour days at the moment. Shes 23 and she reckons she might top 70 or 80 grand this year. She's knackered, but I'm proud of how hard she's working.

So overall the Farquhar clan is making out alright.

Edit. I've been using Bookers too. The let EmMS staff shop there and they accept my SAR ID.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

We're both still on full pay so no problems. Since we're not going out any more we are spending less on that so we are occasionally treating ourselves to decent food from local butcher and fishmonger etc. It's pricier than the supermarkets but boy do you notice the difference. Compared to the cost of the same meal and wine at a restaurant we are still saving.

 

[fossyant]

I have a feeling there will be quite a number of my colleagues taking retirement early, mainly to get away from the 'madness'.

Just feeling quite lucky that the weather has been so good, things might be very different if it was raining all the time. I've only touched Zwift once, and that was day 1 of lockdown. Decided I might as well ride when quiet.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Been unemployed for 6 weeks (week 7). Have been able to stagger my outgoings with payment breaks and/or 0% transfers so it's going fairly well - not in any immediate danger.

All of my professional qualifications aren't "in date" so I've booked a course to retrain but cannot complete currently.. Which is fine as above, I have vulnerable family and of the 4 of us I'm the only one who would be working away from home, my sister is WFH and self employed, mums retired and nephew is only 1

 

[Heigue'r]

Should be entitled to the self employed scheme so possibly pick up 2 months @£2500 per month..that will help a bit.

 

[Smokin Joe]

My money has gone up as my workload has increased.

 

[vickster]

Spending very little except food. Earning similar, although as a contractor I’ve offered to work less depending on workload.

I should actually be away now on what would have been a pretty expensive holiday - so in reality I have much more in the bank and earning much more than I expected (Self employed so no paid holiday).
I’ve had about 2/3 of what I’d spent upfront back so far. Rest hopefully in the next couple of months.

 

[fossyant]

Must say, trying to not worry about what's going to happen in 6-12 months, and longer. Just looking at the immediate future.

 

[DCLane]

Still working full time, but from home. Not buying lunch but otherwise no different to being at work as I went in by bike. Some of my colleagues have taken the chance to retire early which may be a mistake as I can see a swathe of redundancies happening at universities soon.

SWMBO's freelance work has gone until June at the earliest but the hospital she works at 3 days a week at have upped it to 5 temporarily once they knew she was available. Slightly less income-wise but otherwise OK.

It's the training/racing journeys, entry fees and accommodation that's stopped. We've bought a smart trainer with the ferry and race entry refund for my son's Irish race last month and aren't travelling to these: Zwift racing is free to enter. As a result we're better off from this, probably somewhere around £500 per month I'd guess.

I've bought quite a bit of home office stuff (tax deductible) and more bike bits for projects, that's all.

 

[si_c]

I work for the NHS so still full time employed albeit working from home. Mrs C is also working full-time still as she works for a company supplying PPE although all her colleagues are on furlough from different departments. So we're doing OK.

Saving quite a bit of money on not going out or spending on other things, aside from rent our largest expense is food, as others are we're spending a bit more to have some nicer food instead of going out.

Also spent a fair bit of money on bike stuff even though I've not been out since early march really (broken collarbone) but hopefully that will change soon enough. Getting deliveries for Mrs C daily though, she seems to be attempting to single handedly keep retailers alive through online shopping.