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Last Updated on October 26, 2021 by Work In My Pajamas
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Saving When You’re Worried About Your Job Security
There is never an ideal time to be uncertain about your job security, but the last eighteen months have put so many of us through the ringer. Many people have been put on furlough, wondering whether their employer will still be operating when their stretch is done. Others have been made redundant and have had those fears turned into reality. Even those of us who have kept a job during COVID-19 have been worrying about whether we have enough saved in case of the unexpected.
Now, even as things start to get back to something resembling normal, there are still a lot of reasons to be apprehensive as we head into the winter. We have seen the kind of chaos that a new variant can cause and there is still a lot of uncertainty in the marketplace. We should all be taking extra care to watch our savings and keep pushing for that extra security. Here are a few tips to help you save a little extra in the months ahead.
Don’t Panic
If you suddenly find yourself questioning whether you are going to have a job in a month or two, the natural response is to hit the panic button. Try not to do everything at once, whether that’s hitting the job sites or slashing your costs. Panicking is not the right way to go about creating a savings plan that will keep helping you in the weeks and months to come.
Look At The Numbers
One of the most important steps towards identifying savings opportunities is understanding exactly how much money you have coming and exactly where it is going. Sit down with your bank statements from the last several months and identify each outgoing expense. Once you understand your expenses, you can start to think about cutting them down.
Get To Grips With Your Debt
One of the biggest causes for concern, financially speaking, is always going to be debt. If you have found yourself in a position where you have multiple loans and outstanding debt repayments, it can all start to add up to the point where it feels unmanageable. It’s hard enough to handle debt worries even if you are not worried about finding yourself out of a job soon, so how can you make things a bit easier on yourself? If you are wondering how you can pay off debt more efficiently, Tally’s app takes a lot of the stress off your hands. Tally offers a custom credit line that could help you to get out of debt up to 2x faster.
Do You Need All Those Regular Payments?
When we are feeling comfortable and secure, it is a lot easier to sign up to direct debits and subscriptions. The individual costs are probably relatively low and don’t add up to that much by themselves but add them all together and that could be a big chunky of money leaving your account every month.
We are talking about streaming service subscriptions (which skyrocketed during the pandemic), gym memberships, and so forth. The kind of thing that we think we might get a lot of use out of at the time, but which end up being unused for months at a time. If you are worried about the next few months, it’s time to cancel some of those or at least see if they give you an option to pause.
Get Organized With Your Week
We all know that a lot of costs can be incurred from spur of the moment or last-minute purchases. That panic grocery shop on the way home because you do not have anything in the fridge for dinner tonight can end up being more expensive than your big shop for the week.
If you want to keep costs low, try to make sure that you have a list for every purchase that you need to make in the next seven days. Plan your meals and look for ways that you can make things stretch, such as using leftovers. Try to buy in bulk where you can and switch to generic or store-own brands instead of the big names. Take your lunch and coffee with you to work instead of picking something up on the way in. These cuts may seem small in isolation, but they add up incredibly quickly.
Talk To Your Partner Or Housemate
A lot of people panic when they realize that they might be heading towards financial trouble, but if it affects you, it also affects your household. If you share your concerns with your partner or housemate, they can not only look for ways that they can help you with making savings, but they can also help to strategize moving forward. What’s more, it is always a good idea to talk to your support network about what you are struggling with.
