How much have you saved since COVID & what did you buy w/stimulus?

[QuarterMillionMan]

When I saw $181 gym membership I was shocked too. As for my car insurance which is due in July, I'm curious to see how much I'll save with the 15% discount. During COVID I cooked entirely all my meals except 1 large supreme Pizza Hut pan pizza. Prior to COVID, I bought a 12 roll of toilet paper and still have 4 rolls remaining. I'm dreading having to hunt for more which might be in short supply. I have boxes of Kleenex that I could use or I might buy table napkins if I can't find toilet paper. It'll all go down the drain anyway.

[disneysteve]

QMM if it comes to that flushing napkins may be a bad idea. They are not made of the same stuff as toilet paper and tissues and may well clog your sewage line.

Toilet paper is pretty readily available here. It may not be the brand or variety you prefer but it’s not hard to get anymore. I just bought a big pack of our regular stuff on Wednesday.

[Scallywag]

Didn't save anything extra from our budget as our budget is already really tight. Managed to save the stimulus check - I am going to stimulate my own household first, sorry.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Disneysteve you are right. Table napkins or Kleenex would be a last resort if I cannot find toilet paper. And I was a plumber for 10 years and can easily unclog my toilet if needed. Everyone should keep one of these toilet augers at the ready because you never know when you might need it. Most people don't even know this tool exists until you have to call a plumber to unclog your toilet and have to pay $150 for the service call.

[Chris1980]

Put mine in the bank until i know my job is safe after that it will go to my mortgage trying to pay off a 30 year loan in 15.

[docstudent]

My gym membership is arguably one of my few guilty pleasures. I workout 5 to 6 times a week, so I definitely use it enough. I’m embarrassed to say that my gym does not have a (pool, track, or basketball court). However, it’s a positive vibe and extremely good energy. The upside is I can walk to the gym and it’s just so close to home. The price is very comparable to others in my neighborhood, so it’s not overwhelming shocking. Most of my friends in NYC ...pay the same or more.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Not sure maybe $1k on eating out March and April? But spent a bit more on groceries stocking up. Curious how this month plays out.

[scfr]

We are saving less. I'm definitely not complaining because we have not been hit nearly as hard as so many others, but I've lost approximately $1K in income so far and we know DH's business will be way down this year (don't know yet by how much because he's just entering his "peak season"). Although we have saved on gas and car insurance, we made $380 in purchases that were entirely due to the pandemic: air purifier tower + extra filter, pulse oximeter, 14 cloth face masks, 30 surgical style face masks (and I'm sure we'll be buying more plus replenishing the N95s left over from an ages ago pandemic), seat covers for the car w/ fabric seats so we can wipe them down, extra hand soap and cleaning supplies. And then there's the extra utilities (home more so more electricity & water, plus more laundry) which is hard to quantify. Before the pandemic we ate out once a month. Now we've averaged takeout once a week with decent tips but now we're reverting to our old ways and so I think it's time to do takeout again and help the local restaurants.

We're in decent shape because we had hit our retirement "number" early so less savings really means less extra savings.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you are young and healthy and have a job, please over save because you never know what life is going to throw at you down the road to set you back. It's better to be ahead than to count on catching up later in life and then not being able to.

[bjl584]

Looks like I've saved around $500 in the past 2 months.
I haven't received my stimulus check yet, but it's going toward taxes when I get it.

[riverwed070707]

Haven’t saved any. Feel like I’m bleeding money. Just put a new roof on my 4 plex last week ($13k). Switched all my insurance policies in March that went into effect May 1 so I missed out on all those discounts/refunds and had to prepay 1 year for most of my policies to get the best price ($2000 in prepaids across 5 policies). Paid all my property taxes at the end of March even though we got an extension (3 properties roughly $7k total). My side business doing wedding planning hasn’t “lost” money exactly since all of my clients have rescheduled but there’s no money coming in and I’m doing double the work. Refi’d my primary (1400 up front there). I’ve been saving for all these things but regardless I feel super broke haha

[disneysteve]

Haven’t saved any. Feel like I’m bleeding money. Just put a new roof on my 4 plex last week ($13k). Switched all my insurance policies in March that went into effect May 1 so I missed out on all those discounts/refunds and had to prepay 1 year for most of my policies to get the best price ($2000 in prepaids across 5 policies). Paid all my property taxes at the end of March even though we got an extension (3 properties roughly $7k total). My side business doing wedding planning hasn’t “lost” money exactly since all of my clients have rescheduled but there’s no money coming in and I’m doing double the work. Refi’d my primary (1400 up front there). I’ve been saving for all these things but regardless I feel super broke haha

You may still get an auto discount if your policy qualifies.

It sounds like none of your recent spending had anything to do with COVID. So the question really is if your normal everyday spending, not counting the one-time unrelated things, has gone down?

[JBinKC]

That would be a really nice thought to get a stimulus payment. Even though I would have qualified for one in 2019 I made too much in 2018 from a one time capital gain windfall and filed a paper tax return so I won't get any stimulus check. I guess what I saved by doing my own taxes ( which is a book of many forms) was for naught. To make matters worse they raised my real estate taxes by 75% in 2019. To add food prices are rising much faster than what their inflation data claims.

[disneysteve]

To make matters worse they raised my real estate taxes by 75% in 2019.

How did that happen? Heck, if they raised our property taxes by 75% I would have to seriously consider selling the house. That would be an extra $6,000/year which would be ridiculous.

[riverwed070707]

You may still get an auto discount if your policy qualifies.

It sounds like none of your recent spending had anything to do with COVID. So the question really is if your normal everyday spending, not counting the one-time unrelated things, has gone down?

Probably but I don’t think it’s changed dramatically. Less in gas by maybe $100/mo between less commuting and lower gas prices. Refunded sports fees for DDs soccer season and vball camps. We eat art home most of the time anyway so no change there. Couple less trips to the bar. I don’t think it’s probably made more than a $500 difference since this all started

[cypher1]

I don't have an exact monthly figure, but with gyms closed I've saved 32 per month, plus at least 50-70 saved in gas for expenses. Groceries have gone up a little bit. I found with more free time I've been shopping online for hobbies (guns, tools, biking equipment), but also selling items.

I just realized since I canceled my euro trip after spring finals, I saved at least 1500-2000 (still bummed though). Had I gone on that trip last week, I wouldn't be enable to refinance and save another 90 a month (although now it sounds like interest rates have dropped even more).

As for stimulus check, I got 600 which I used towards a mountain bike. After reading the previous thread on donations, I decided to put that 600 towards a charity (haven't decided on which one yet).