Can we talk COVID and how it affected you financially, emotionally, physically, etc?

[QuarterMillionMan]

I've been drinking a lot more which I can afford but my liver has taken a beating and my stomach area feels sore which could be my liver telling me something so I need to cut down. Diet-wise I've been cooking more than eating out so I'm eating healthier. CDC now recommends N95 or KN95 masks. I have 100's of the blue masks and cloth masks which in my lifetime will never be able to use all but now I'm on the hunt for better masks. Haven't taken a flight since the beginning when prior to it every month I'd fly from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Since COVID, I drove twice to Las Vegas. Too much hassles to wear masks, physical distance, long lines to the restaurants, wearing gloves, etc. So staying home and drinking and repeating the cycle.

[disneysteve]

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[Fishindude77]

I've just grown horribly tired of it being the number one item in the headlines and news any time you turn on the TV, radio, internet or read something.
It's probably here to stay and we're just going to have to learn to live with it.

[disneysteve]

Financially, the pandemic has been great for us. I've remained fully employed the whole time. We've spent far less on dining out and travel, typically our two biggest discretionary spending categories. And of course the stock market has been on fire except for that blip in March 2020 which it quickly recovered from.

Physically, not so good. We were both regular gym attendees for several years prior to COVID hitting. The gym closed when this all started. It eventually reopened but we dropped our membership as we did not feel safe returning. I've exercised at home but not regularly and not nearly to the intensity that I did at the gym. My wife hasn't really exercised at all since we left the gym. We've both picked up weight as a result.

The biggest effect by far has been on me and my job. Being a front line healthcare worker has been extremely difficult. I've been a doctor for 30 years and have never really found my work to be terribly stressful but COVID changed that. In the early months, we simply didn't know what was going on, we didn't know what was and wasn't safe, we didn't have good processes or protections in place at work, and we lived in constant fear of getting sick because we were being exposed on a daily basis. Many of my coworkers did get COVID. Eventually, things slowly improved and we now have it down to a good routine and I no longer feel that I'm taking my life in my hands every time I walk in the door, but it's still a totally different feel than it used to be. We are all tired and burned out. We've lost a lot of good people over the past 2 years because they just decided it wasn't worth the stress anymore. They also closed my home site last May which was sad as we had a great team there who all really enjoyed working together, even through the pandemic. Some found other jobs within the organization; some left for other places. So where I work now just isn't the same. We don't have the same camaraderie. At my old place, we all used to go out socially on a regular basis. We weren't just friendly at work. I still go out with a couple of those people but it's not the same as working with a group of friends every day.

All of that is part of the reason I opted to drop to part time hours back in November. Fortunately we can afford me earning 1/3 less but if not for COVID, I'd probably still be full time. And at this point, I'm calculating as much as I can to figure out when I can drop to per diem. Work has just become a chore rather than something I actually enjoy. If we had universal healthcare in this country, I'd resign today. The only thing keeping me here is the health insurance which is sad.

And of course, we miss seeing people and doing things. We did enjoy outdoor dining when the weather allowed it, but it's winter here now so we probably won't eat out again until March or April. Considering how much prices have gone up, that's not totally a bad thing budget-wise but still I do miss eating out.

I agree with you about masks also. I wear an N95 all day at work and anywhere I go in public and have done so for the past several months, but it's a pain. We did make it to Disney World in October but walking around the theme parks in central Florida wearing an N95 is not very much fun. We love Disney World but I really don't wish to go back until masks are no longer needed. We have a deposit on a cruise in August but if masks are still a thing, I do not plan to go.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I still make my weekly visits to Tijuana from Los Angeles (2 hour drive). People there only have access to the J & J shot. USA must be hoarding the better Pfizers and Modernas.

[disneysteve]

Another way COVID has impacted me and my wife is in dealing with my mother. She is 91 and lives alone in a senior apartment building. The pandemic has been especially hard on folks like her. She lost a lot of the independence she still had. I took over doing her grocery shopping because her place no longer had the regular bus trips to the supermarket. For the longest time, all activities in the building stopped and though some have returned, not all have and just recently due to Omicron they've stopped again. She used to have season tickets to an area theater and go to a few shows a year. That stopped.

So I do all of her grocery shopping and other shopping (Target, Walmart). Many of her medical visits have been handled virtually so I or DW go over there to get her set up and help her with the tech end of things.

And we constantly have to remind her about masking and distancing and tell her why she can't have people over for lunch or dinner and such. It's pretty much become a daily conversation. I feel bad for her but I also don't want her dying just because a friend came over and gave her COVID. There have been multiple cases in her building, including the janitor and maintenance guy just this past week.

So all of that has been an added strain on us too.

[kork13]

I'm honestly not sure how to quantify the influence COVID has had for us. It's thrown off some travel plans, but we've managed to still take a few trips. Our finances remain goofy (some increased costs, others lower). Our stress level & mental health has definitely taken a negative spiral, but we've also been significantly more busy with work, school, a 3rd child, and so on. We regularly get sick -- for one, our kids are petri dishes... Otherwise, allergies frequently become sinus infections for us. But only once has it ever actually been COVID, and only for one of our 3 kids (everyone else tested negative multiple times). Physically, it's definitely not been good (gained weight & working out less), but that's partly also a result of just being more busy.

As with the others, I really could happily move on and accept COVID as a normal part of life were it not for two things: (1) constantly having to wear a mask; (2) the constant threat of quarantine simply for having a cold (or even zero symptoms & I was near some other guy with it).

[ua_guy]

I am a different person and there's no going back. I wouldn't say I'm wounded so much as I would say I've changed...It made me dig deep and focus on priorities. My other half and I moved back to our home state, we've changed jobs, we've started doing a lot more of what we've always wanted to do, and we've increased our financial buffer against the unknown. We've lost some family members, and that has been really hard. Covid is one of those things...either you take it seriously, or you don't. We took it seriously, the choice and effort was ours to make, and we did. I think we are better off for it.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Financially, we've been fine, as we are retired with savings and a pension. My husband had been teaching a couple classes a semester for the joy of it and I had been tutoring a few kids after school. I had long planned to stop tutoring anytime there was an influenza outbreak in the schools my kids go to, as I had always caught colds from them, and with close contact, I can't tell you how many times a kid managed to accidentally spit into my face or even into my mouth. Coughing in my face was not uncommon. So with Covid, I just enacted my flu-in-the-schools plan. Hence I have not tutored since February 2020. My husband had to finish out his 2020-21 classes online which was rough for students in a studio class.

I have always spent a lot of time alone and am a homebody. So the lack of social interaction and going places and doing things has not really bothered me much at all. For my husband its a bit harder. We love each other's company, though, and the many hours together suit us. My husband has chipped in on my gardening big time since the pandemic. The exercise, interaction with nature, and role in creating some urban beauty is good for us, too.

During this time we bought two city vacant lots and have been preparing them for fruit trees. Surprisingly, this has led us to meeting new people in the neighborhoods where the lots are. We really lucked out with the new neighbors we have. One of them, for example, works for a lawn care company and has multiple times come over with his own huge mower and mowed our lot we he saw us arrive with our little push mower! It takes him ten minutes to do what requires an hour from us. Another neighbor brings us cold water to drink. Another who keeps bees has set a new hive on our lot. And yet another has a soil augur and is raring to help dig holes when we have trees ready to go in. How lucky could we be with these folks! I had no idea I would be making new friends, masks and all.

At the end of February 2020 our first grandchild was born. We were able to drive to Minnesota (being immensely careful as at that time the means of Covid spread were not yet really pinned down). While we were there, the city went into the early shut-down preventative mode. But we got to meet the new baby before the spread became so strong. After that, all our visits were over Skype, which is okay, but you know... not at all the same as being there. And over the months, I wish I had been able to be there, because I could see my grandson missing developmental milestone after developmental milestone. He wasn't growing. He had to be coaxed even to eat....Baby went for an MRI to investigate why his head had stopped growing. But in the MRI his heart rate plummeted. He was admitted to the hospital and put on a ventilator that day. Tests were done, theories were proffered. DNA analysis was done. Turns out he had a genetic anomaly which is usually fatal to boys before birth. It was January and healthcare workers were getting Covid vaccines, but the general public was not yet. Nonetheless, the pediatric hospital allowed his nearby grandmother in to visit him. I understood that to be a signal that it was doubtful he would live more than a few days at most, and I could not be there for him and his parents.....We had to view the sparsely attended funeral by live-stream in January 2021. He was ten months old.

Vaccinations were had in the spring 2021. In October we traveled for the internment of his ashes in the rural family cemetery of his mother's family. Afterward, there was a luncheon in the town community center. My husband and I, and my grandson's parents went into the center wearing our N95s to serve ourselves lunch and carried our plates out to a picnic table. Most people, unmasked, stayed at the table indoors in this county which was, at one, time leading Wisconsin in Covid numbers....Those of us who ate outside had this little zigzag row of N95s sitting on the picnic table. Hey, my son --my grandson's father-- is an optical biophysicist working in virology. One of his latest publications was indeed on COV-SARS-2 2019.

Already, though, I have a new grandson whose due date had been the anniversary of his brother's death. I was glad he came a little early, for the contrast and symbolism of an infant death and an infant birth on the same date just seemed too cruel. But now, with stupid Omicron Covid we are committed to Skype visits only. We are trying to wait until the prevalence of Covid goes down before we travel to meet in person.

Oh, hey, you mention drinking, QuarterMIllionMan. I noticed some change, too. From March 2020 to November 2020 I just did not drink. I had no interest. I don't know why. Previously, I'd had a glass or two of red wine most every night. I think it probably was my own gut understanding that I needed to be clear headed at all times. That's how it was for me when I had a child, too. I just did not drink back then, because emergencies can come up at any time and I wanted to be clear and able to make good decisions and to drive if needed. So I think the pandemic was giving me similar feeling deep down....However, I got a bottle of gin to have at the ready with election night in November, and have been back to a nightly drink ever since!

The last thing I can think of that is different for us with Covid, is that in non-gardening months my husband and I go out to city parks for a half hour walk every day when the weather allows. I used to mostly just walk in the neighborhood, but that little dose of nature is welcome. I keep thinking I'd like to join the really nice Y near our house so that I can go there in bad weather and have more options, and then I have to remind myself-- Doh! Covid! Not gonna do that.

[srblanco7]

At the risk of understating it's impact, the pandemic has been quite the grind. As we approach two years, it's hard not to be tired of living with the risks of COVID.

The pandemic took away DD's HS graduation and has certainly put some fairl strict limits on her first two years of college. Despite that, she seems to be thriving and is killing it academically. DS didn't take well to home schooling, so the return to the classroom for his junior year of high school was welcome. We have ready access to gym quality equipment (elliptical, treadmill, free weights) and yet it seems we all put on a few pounds last year.

The addition of our "pandemic pup" a little more than a year ago was a welcome distraction. She's a (mostly!) loveable bundle of energy, and has been a welcome distraction from the headlines.

Financially, we've remained focused on our plan. We were able to invest some cash that was on the sidelines during the 2020 drop, and the recovery and subsequent rise in the markets has allowed us to surpass our FI number. Looking forward, things are still on target to allow me to cut back to four days/week at some point this year (once the weather warms) and we'll both RE in early 2023 (April 2023 or sooner).

[rennigade]

In terms of savings during the pandemic, we are ahead due to not traveling. Obviously the market has been really good the past two years too.

Mental health...I'm ok since I'm more of an introvert. It's definitely impacted my wife though. She was doing ok up until her mom died and it's been tough since, rightfully so. She's slowly getting better though.

One of the more difficult things has been dealing with daycare. If someone has covid in our son's room they close for a week. Happened twice now. Last month and this month. Guess we've been lucky so far. It's beyond frustrating though. They have to follow what the state says since they receive funding from them. I don't understand that if we had two kids in different rooms and one had to stay home due to close contact exposure, the other one would still be allowed to go. Drives me nuts. So we've been taking days off from work. Not sure how parents did it when schools went remote for a year.

My workplace just shut down the gym I've been going to. We had to wear masks when we worked out which was fine, I can live with that. I hate the fact that a place people go to to improve their health is now closed. Again, frustrating.

[bjl584]

Financially, I'm doing great. Spending less while investing and saving more. It's easy to see how that is a winning formula.

The biggest impact for me has been with my job. I'm definitely thinking about work a lot differently than I used to. Maybe my priorities have shifted. Maybe I've unplugged from the matrix a little bit. Either way, I don't place work as high up the priority list as I used to.

[mumof2]

For us it really wasn't that big of a deal, my hubby had cancer (1st time) and I have a chronic illness so we never went out that much anyways (socially), the big thigs for us were just wearing masks and the direct to boot pick up and the qr codes....but that was it...we could still order food etc...for a couple of months in our state we had a few lockdowns but we hardly ever had covid in the community so we lived a normal life....not so much now....

[GoodLiving]

It's been a slog at our house. Nothing horrific like I read/hear about with other folks. We have no children in childcare or school to worry about. I worked largely from home for about a year and a half and that also has felt like a slog. I don't care for my immediate coworkers much but I miss the other people I work with. It sure makes my job less appealing so focusing on FIRE, which according to my FA could me in 3-5 years. I wonder if covid will be done by then. There's been other things happening in the world that have affected my household that have impacted our mental health, left us feeling very uninspired. Good thing though that my only child has returned from being half a country away. Even if I don't see them as often as I would like, just knowing I can jump in the car and get there if I'm needed helps. Finances are fine, never any impact to our income, job chugged on like before and the stimulus checks were a bonus and unnecessary. We did some additional spending outfitting a minivan for travel and enjoyed some trips, more to come next year. We both also got new bikes in 2020 so for a while I felt like I was the healthiest I had ever been. I did lose an aunt in 2021 (who had covid but recovered and died of other health issues at 85 and a decade of dementia). Memorial service included flying but the cases were low, it was a really nice boost to be around family in warm weather in October. The last remaining person in that generation in my very small family is my 79 year old mother then it's my generation which feels way too weird for me. The great pause has really given us time for reflection and a chance to reprioritize what's important. Going forward, our goal is to travel cheap and slow with opportunities for focusing on health and volunteering with a lot of reading on the side. Best wishes to you all.

[ua_guy]

Something else came to mind...covid has increased my patience. So many people are so angry, so frustrated, so....violent. It's a trap. I've seen the worst of people during these times and I've made a really strong (and very difficult) effort to try to be the opposite when I go out in public and have to interact with people. Everyone seems to be struggling in some way or another, maybe harder than pre-covid.

I tend to be a loner and this "distanced" thing has been alright for me. I have no problem staying at home, working at home, or traveling a little differently to lower risk of infection/spread. That's been one of the few positive things for me. You'll notice there aren't many books on how to be more introvert. There are books on how to be more extrovert and survive in an extrovert world. A lot of pressure and anxiety has been removed from my shoulders. Not going into an office. No forced/fake social interactions (work get-togethers after work). Being able to say "no" to holiday gatherings and traditions which had probably lost their purpose long ago. The time I do spend with people now is more meaningful and intentional than ever. But I realize people struggle on the opposite side of that coin too.... Lots of people itching for the world to resume the way it was before so they can go out, be together.