With self-isolation, social distancing, and enforced quarantine being the highest priority for everyone amidst this coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, many are holed up at home trying to stave off boredom. While the coronavirus has caused some to go bonkers with hoarding and a little stir crazy at home, we decided to look at this from a glass half-full perspective by applying some Grim Maths to all the savings and money you’re not spending.
Speaking of not going out, the GOAT team talk about creative quarantine due to the coronavirus on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
Now since people have different routines on a normal week that doesn’t involve being sent into quarantine due to coronavirus, we’re going to take the average amount spent on certain things per week as a way to account for outliers higher-than-average or lower-than-average spenders, as well as to keep the math simple since our Grim Maths can get a little out of hand.
With that in mind, we’re also going to keep things neatly organised by listing all the things you’re not buy or spending money on since you’re not going out and are stuck at home in quarantine due to the coronavirus.
Keep in mind that these weekly savings are all guesstimates of the highest order and will definitely vary from person to person, so it’s by no means accurate.
- Public transport – $40 (some travel far while some don’t so this is an average)
- Coffee – $40 (2 coffees a day at $4 a pop)
- Lunch – $100 ($20 a day to account for those who pack their own and those who enjoy boujee steak lunches)
- Petrol – $50
- Post-work drinks + dinner or just going out – $225 (conservative guess and assuming you go out three times a week with a recovery day in between)
- Sports and hobbies – $80 (conservative guess based on the type of sport/hobby, how expensive it is and how often you go)
- Food – $80 (You’re eating less in general since you’re stuck at home. This was $100 but we took $20 off to account to the potential increase in snacking)
So all in all, the coronavirus quarantine means you could be saving a whopping $390 a week in cold hard money on average by simply not going out.
Now this could be wildly different to your actual situation, but the point is that you’re actually saving quite a lot of money by virtue of not going out and being in quarantine, which is about as positive of a thing as we can say about the coronavirus pandemic.
But beyond the potential savings that could be made due to being in quarantine, the bigger thing to come out of this is the loss of employment and income due to the coronavirus. Sure people saving money by not going out, but that is offset by having layoffs due to decreased demand and safety reasons.
That is definitely a conversation for another time. For now though, let’s just take solace in the thought that we’ll get through the coronavirus pandemic at some point and hopefully it won’t be too big of a hit to our bank balance.
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