Back in March when the world heard about the Coronavirus or
Covid-19 if you prefer and it was making its way through every country imaginable,
there were several thoughts that passed through my mind. The main one that
stuck out was what financial lesson can we learn from this for our future.
Like many people when I heard about the stay-at-home orders,
people out of work and even the possibility of businesses closing permanently,
I started evaluating my life and necessities. I am not a minimalist by any
stretch and I also wouldn’t characterize myself as a hoarder. But, I like to
keep my deep freezer full of meats and frozen vegetables. In my pantry I always
have a few can goods, dry beans and rice. I even try to keep a couple of
packages of toilet paper and feminine supplies on hand. This habit of keeping
supplies on hand come from growing up in the south east where tornados and
freezing rain happens. If the roads
freeze overnight you may not be able to get off of your street or out of your
drive way because the land out east is rolling and not flat.
Well these simple lessons that were passed down from my
mother are what saved my sanity during this pandemic. While people were running
to the stores to buy cleaning supplies, toilet paper and food, I was secure in the
fact that I was okay. Sure, I did get tired of eating the chicken, hamburger
and pork chops in my freezer, not to mention cooking, even though most of the
time I used my slow cooker. But, I was not going hungry and I even learned how
to make bread.
Given the fact that I had food to eat the next thing to
think about was money. Thankfully, I work in an industry that was considered
essential, but I still looked at my emergency fund. I calculated my monthly
bills to see how many months my savings will last. And although I set up my
savings to cover eight months of expenses, I found out that it would probably
last a year. I didn’t have to buy groceries and I wasn’t going out to restaurants
and stores, so my discretionary spending was way down. That was the final faze
during these unprecedented times we are facing right now, that told me I was
okay and able to weather any storm that comes my way.
Its natural when you first start saving money to create an
emergency fund to fill like you will never make your goal. Or, when you finally
get to that magic number, to second guess yourself and decide that it can’t
possibly be enough money and you may need to save a little more. But, when some
unforeseen emergency hits and you realize that having money in the bank just alleviated
that added stress and you can make it through. That is the time when you really understand
how important having a plain old boring emergency fund sitting in a bank
savings account earning nada is worth it. And you are glad you didn’t transfer
that money to an investment account so you can “earn more” in the stock market
as stocks start to fall.
Keeping an emergency fund and having it in a basic savings
account so that I had access to it as needed really helped. Plus, I was able to
have meat and fruit delivered to many friends and family that were elderly, so
that they could stay safe at home and not risk possible exposure and I didn’t
have to worry about busting my budget since I had a long while before I would
need groceries.
Ms, Smart
