9 People’s Pandemic Money Diaries

Andrew, 35, Oregon

Employment status: I work in the service industry – business dining, to be more specific. I have been placed on leave effective June 1, with my employer collecting health care premiums through the end of August, if I’m on their plans. Fortunately, I’m using my wife’s plan which is not only better than any plan my company offers, it’s also cheaper. We don’t have a return date – I hope it’s no more than 90 days but I have a bad feeling it will be much longer.
Annual income before the pandemic: $80,000 base + 8-10% bonus
Current income: To be determined later
Monthly housing costs: $3000 mortgage and stupid taxes and interest
religion: $26,000 student loans, $3,500 credit card debt, $445,000 mortgage.
Groceries (monthly): Fuck tons now! I usually get free coffee and food at work (all day!). Since my wife and I work from home and eat all meals here, we have doubled our food spending.
Facilities: $400 to $500. It depends on how much we spend on running the air conditioner.
Entertainment (Netflix/Spotify): Netflix, Starz (horrible! They tried to cancel and forced me to stay for $0.99 a month, which is smart and obviously I’m not the only one), Comcast is the worst and spends $250 a month, cell phones $175 a month vs. $235 a couple of months ago, Xbox Live $50 $10 per year, other streaming services ~ $10 per month.

Are you spending more or less at the moment? Less now. Saving on gas, car insurance (not much, you assholes), discounting on cell phone data plans, etc. Overall, we’re saving money because we’re not spending hundreds at Target on useless crap 😃 My wife’s job is strong and her company has recently hit record sales Although it closed its retail stores and shifted its business model to more dot-com.

Biggest financial concerns right now: My wife and I have worked hard to reduce debt, increase savings, and be financially responsible. We have $20,000 in savings, I have 145 hours of vacation/PTO, and my wife will get her bonus in August. I hope this pandemic does not affect the situation but this is a small sacrifice to pay in the current climate. I’m anxiously waiting to hear if the benefits will be extended beyond the end of July – the restaurant industry is in an absolutely bad spot. Every week we see another popular restaurant, restaurant group or high-profile chef say they are closing their business permanently. What will all these workers in the industry do?