What if you were able to come out of this time of social distancing and economic crisis with a stronger and healthier financial life? What if you looked at this as an opportunity to take a little bit of your extra time each day to work on your finances?
Since it takes me about 35 minutes to drive to work in the morning and 45 minutes on the way back home, I have an extra 1 hour and 20 minutes of my day that I don’t have to drive while I’m working from home that I can use to accomplish something. This doesn’t even take into consideration all of the networking and social events that would usually take up some of my time throughout the week.
Obviously, your situation is different than mine (and probably a whole lot different if you have kids at home who would otherwise be in daycare), but I’m guessing that we all have at least a little extra time right now that we can dedicate to our personal finances.
It looks like we’re going to continue to practice our social distancing skills at least through April, and now is a great time to work on creating a better financial situation, so I’m giving you 30 days of stay-at-home personal finance wins throughout April.
Unfortunately, I understand that there are many who have (and who will) lose their jobs during this time of uncertainty and objectively will not come out on the other side of this with a stronger financial situation. Hopefully, many of these personal finance wins can help to lessen the blow and make things easier on them. On the other hand, I think that many of these wins are still relevant to those who are fortunate enough to be in a position to not have to worry about their job and their finances to help them build a healthier financial life.
Day 5: Commit to Yourself
As hard as it can be for some, it’s important to make a commitment to help yourself financially before considering helping others. You can’t be filling in someone else’s hole with the dirt that you’re digging out from underneath yourself. While there may be people and small businesses struggling around you or friends and family who have lost their jobs that you feel compelled to help, you have to make sure that you’re in a position to do so first. It doesn’t do anyone any good if you trying to help someone get through a tough time ends up devastating your own personal finances.
Commit to yourself and to creating a stronger and healthier financial life. Doing so can help to put you in a position to never have to think twice about what your personal financial situation allows you to do for someone else.
Just like the flight attendants say, put your own oxygen mask on first before helping others.
30 Days Of Stay-At-Home Personal Finance Wins
- Day 1: Understand The CARES Act
- Day 2: File for Unemployment or Short-Time Compensation
- Day 3: Request Forbearance
Day 4: File Your Tax Return (Maybe)
