UKC

There seems very little scope for spending money at the moment. We must have saved a tidy sum over the last 2 weeks or so, as not going out for meals or entertainment or buying petrol. If you can't think what to do with the cash you're not spending, you might remember that charities are suffering a huge drop in their income, if for no other reason than that many fund-raising events are not happening. You could do worse than find your local food bank, as I understand they're seeing a drastic drop in their income at the same time as having a massively increased demand for their services. I know lots of people are dropping a few cans in the collection boxes at the supermarkets, but cash is equally acceptable and allows food banks to buy those things most urgently needed. Sorry if this comes over as a bit bossy, but we all need a nudge occasionally.

Good post.

I have given some to our local food bank, some to a tree-planting charity (environmental catastrophe goes on, plague or no) - and spent a fair bit on plants, seeds and kit for the garden, and on three fruit trees, as I need something to do and growing some food and trees seems constructive.

I am being careful with the rest, in case life doesn't go according to plan in the coming months.

My Andrex shares are doing very nicely thank you.

That made me smile.

Likewise, the war chest is full but I'm not splashing out just yet. Work is very insecure at the moment and I'm not banking on the self employed grant until the money is in my pocket, I have a feeling it won't exactly be a land of milk and honey after the virus is over either.

Going to give it a month or two and see how the stock market is looking or maybe go into more property if there are any bargains to be had. 

Saved money?! Fat chance!! Having to do weekly shops means no reduced section. Food costs a fortune like that! I barely spend anything on fuel and practically never eat out so no money saved there. 

I'm about start some work on Monday after my usual stuff all got scrapped, so at least there will be some money coming in!

I was thinking I should donate to our foodbank, but it won't be out of money saved from the lockdown but rather out of savings from previously.

Mostly just sitting on it for now. Before the restrictions came into force I went on a shopping spree locally. In the last 18 months some good businesses have set in Holmfirth. I'd like think these will make it through this.

I'll have to have think about which groups I'd like to support with at this time.

alright for some, most of us are losing money! still having to buy food and pay rent, and after last months pay check comes in, no guarantee of any income in the coming months...

Perhaps my post should have been a little more sensitive and I should have made it clear I was thinking more of retired people like myself who probably, at the moment at least, are not suffering much financially. Apologies if I raised your ire.

I'm still working but still spending far less so supporting local and small businesses. Mostly breweries at the moment mind you, stocking up on beer I don't need and a couple of crowdfunding initiatives.

There could be a lot of empty houses in 12 months time. But no renters.

Anything interesting?

Retirement age or coming up to it are probably the times when people have money invested, stocks, pensions etc. So not a good time for many.

The Sex Pistol's song line "Cheap holidays in other people's misery." instantly sprang to mind when I read that.

I have a larger  household than usual, which is a joy. We're ordering a takeaway meal once a week because  it supports local eateries and keeps the young folks' morale up; ordering a veg box and a crate of wine has done both those things and helps to cut down the supermarket trips. Yes, you're right, I will look into food bank donations.

Easy jet were offering 36 euro to any destination for future bookings.. just to get money in the door, free amendments later. It's a gamble, there might be no easy jet by Autumn! 

Just popped down to "plants galore " to stock up on stuff for the garden so supportng local business and making an effort to grow a load of home veg though the summer!!!

Agreed with the food bank idea and i pop a few bits in the food bank bin in the local supermarket when I'm there

Last year i made an effort to give 1% of my free time and 1% of my take home pay to charity which is only a little but i feel it helps

I’m going to save close on £250 a month in fuel & about £100 in bits of food I’d buy for work & other impulse purchases. I’ve been trying (and sometimes failing) to resist a bit of online shopping, but apart from that, anything left over at the end of the month is going into our joint savings account as per normal for future emergencies. Both of us are in secure careers but it’s always good to have something put away just in case. 
I’ll hopefully be starting a second job in a fortnight, picking fruit & veg on a local farm, so that’ll go directly into the savings account too (and hopefully pay for a new garden shed along the way). 

I've made a number of donations this month, and if this is still going on next month and I'm still being paid will make some more then.

Our household costs have gone up. The Mrs is working from home so the heating is on every day plus extra electric use. 

She is also cooking real meals, multiple burners going and loads of pans on the oven and it seems to me that the cost of ingredients is more than the cost of junk food. 

I will be salting away as much money as possible over the coming months, the more I save the less I need to pull out of the business to live on, the less I need to take out the more that is there to pay the bills and look after my staff. Of I can forgo my wage for a month it will come close to covering the 20% for my people (10 employees). Most of them are planning on using their extra money to clear credit card bills and pay down as much debt as they can. Most of them are happy to take a pay cut rather than loose someone so paying down debt whilst on 100% pay gives them breathing space if wages have to drop. 

With the current shortage of toilet paper I've found another use for all those fivers I've been saving

Making the most of it to reduce overheads and loans, while we can. The real pain for me is to come, the recession will impact the construction industry, demand and timber prices fall, thus the roadside price of logs for saw mills goes south too.  

New plastic ones can be rinsed and reused. 

Anyone close to retirement should have their money in non-volatile things like bonds which won't have taken a hit anywhere near like the stock indices have.

US treasuries and UK gilts have done well recently but a huge portion of the bond universe is down between 10% and 30% in the last month. Many have underperformed equities.

The long standing advice was always that you should have enough money saved up to survive for 6 months, that's not the same as 6 months wages and of course there will always be times in people's lives when saving isn't possible but a lot more people should have savings than do.

Maybe this will make a few people stop and think a bit harder about how they spend their money, not that that will help the economy recover which seems to exist in large part on people buying crap they don't need.

I was going to send it to a Premier League footballer's "GoFundMe"

I spent quite a bit paying off 3 trade accounts at suppliers as I knew their cash flow situation would be tight paying wages. Many small traders have done the same to hopefully help prop up the supply chain until we get out of this mess. I currently have a pile of products waiting to go out after this has ended.

Bit swings and roundabouts with us.

We're now saving on commuting costs (minimal anyway), kid's after school clubs, Rainbows, swimming lessons and a couple of other things.

However, we're spending more on gas, electricity, water, food at home (no school dinners) and a couple of other things. At least the internet is now unlimited.

We don't really go out that much anyway, but keeping my wife out of Costa is a good thing!

I had some work done on the car this week by a local garage - I've been putting it off and thought I would help him by putting the business his way. He's still getting some work, but the MOT thing is hitting him hardest at the moment.

We've bought a few things online - at least it's keeping someone in a job somewhere.

However, we're a bit concerned that my wife might get furloughed soon, as we found out today that 4 of her colleagues have been for 4 weeks. At least if that happens, she'll be able to look after the kids full time while I'm working, but it could really affect our house move, which is currently on ice until things start to return to normal. Therefore, anything spare is going into savings at the moment, I'm afraid.

Once we've moved, there's a few things we need and some work done to the new place - although that won't help local businesses in the short term, it'll be a cash injection later in the year. We'd already ordered a new bed for my youngest to replace her toddler bed and that was already being delayed due to their workshop suffering flood damage, so no idea how this will affect them on top.

I find this a little tactless: you seem to be assuming that everyone's in the same lucky position, which is far from the truth in some cases.

That assumes you intend buying an annuity and living off the pittance it will pay out. Many people will use draw down from dividend income. You can't make blanket "should" statements on things like this particularly as what is happening now is a once in a hundred year kind of event. On the other hand, some people will have retirement income from fat final salary schemes or public sector arrangements guaranteed by the tax the rest of us pay for whom such arrangements can be nothing but a dream. The advice for those able to retire on such generous terms can be quite a bit more generalised -- count yourself lucky, and don't go bragging about it at times like this.

Gone into Gilts, Premium  bonds and physical cash.  I've been avoiding equities for the last 12 months as even before the Covid - 19 virus luckily, as there had been signs that the next recession was inbound, equity markets over valued etc.

Don't want any savings exposure to the banks now.  The FSCS 85k deposit insurance scheme I believe is compromised by recent bail in legislation, which removes deposit ring fencing and requires deposits to be "bailed in", in the event of a bank failure.  If there is a bank failure this time around savers will almost certainly see part of their savings exchanged for worthless shares in the failed bank and the state will be the last into any rescue package. 

Do you fancy a wife swap? I'm the one working from home, while my Mrs is wandering in and out of the house sorting the garden, she's dressed for the arctic, leaving all the bloody doors wide open, appearing occasionally in my 'office' to remark on how cold I look 🙄

You might right. But anyone who has banked a little cash through this will be critical in getting economies moving afterwards. Governments can try to inject money, but nothing can match folk heading out and spending it themselves. 

I have already suggested as much in a follow-up post, and admitted that I should have thought beyond my own experience. I am sorry.

anything we've saved will help pay the first payment of increased council tax

No problem ... it just sprang to mind that I have had to do exactly the opposite, buy nothing but food, terminate long standing memberships and contracts because I need to get rid of as many standing orders as possible, etc, etc.

+1.

I had always read/thought that it's good to have n months rainy day money* (for situations just like this).  As someone else says, perhaps the covid19 episode will remind us to have a bit stashed away for emergencies.

(*: I read recently about a variation on this: the "f*ck off" fund: for when you need to do/say just that...)

I'm lucky enough to be retired and financially secure, so subbing my son who is on furlough. I have a big concern about all the small holiday and guiding companies and their survival into the future.

Liked the Andrex suggestion.  Also, if you fancy a flutter, how about buying some shares in the company that makes Zoom but

1. you may have missed the party as everyone else has already climbed on board
2. make sure you get the right company (https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/18/investors-appear-to-trade-wrong-zoom-compan...)

Increased on-line spending and increased home fuel consumption  will offset savings somewhat 

We are not near retirement yet but both jobs fairly secure, we have donated to local food bank, but I am holding back a little on donations to see how cv-19 hits the poorer countries and then prob increase our donations to MSF and Oxfam to try and help.

Everyone has been very polite in their replies to my ill-considered OP, for which I thank you. To those struggling I can only send my best wishes.

This thread is an interesting insight into how quite a few UKC posters live!

By way of contrast, my rent is normally just over half of my take home pay. I've been furloughed, so that will leave me approx. £250/month worse off (not exactly sure how the figures will work, or if they will take the supposed rise in minimum wage this month into account). Depending on how long this lasts, it's very possible that there won't be a business left for me to go back and pick up my job at. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to afford to be furloughed for long, and the future looks very dicey. The concept of having "spare money" to save or enjoy seems somewhat alien right now!

The company i'm working in has been classified as essential yet all the salaried employees have just agreed to a 10% pay deferral (when it is to be paid back is under discussion) so we can hopefully come out of the other side of this with something, quite what that will be or even if it will work remains to be seen.

I thought your OP was all right, Rog, my take is - don't worry too much

You started a useful thread