Another Covid holdover - changed spending profile/habits?

[NastyWoman]

Today I was reviewing my financial position (no worries there) and noticed something weird: my spending profile must have changed significantly. And it must have started sometime during the Covid WFH period
When I retired in December '21 I knew that I had just let cash accumulate because I did not have the energy to invest it. What did amaze me was the amount of cash I had ended up with.

Well the market did its dive and I did not need to take RMDs yet so I decided to just let it be and use some of it up as my combined SS and small pension is less than half of my last salary. Fine, so here I am and today I saw that I had a few $k more than in December '21. Strange but that was before I realized that I had moved $10k to iBonds as well.

I am very confused (pleasantly so but still) as I have not debied myself anything: I took a two week roadtrip in June with Dsis2 and we did another week just having fun here, DS2 and his family came for a week in August and I love spoiling my Grandbabies so I did. Then I went to Germany and the Netherlands for 6 weeks. As I said, no deprivation at any time. But now I need to start tracking my spending just to try and find out WHAT exactly changed. I have no clue...

Now to the question I have: did any of you notice significant  changes to your habits, financial or otherwise, that you can trace back to the pandemic? 

[Pink Cashmere]

I’ve always tried to keep a “backup” of certain things so I don’t run out at an inconvenient time, but since the pandemic, I keep more “backups”. One of the long shelves on the shelving system we put up in the garage at the beginning of the pandemic has became the storage area for backup household items, and during the pandemic, when I could find something we use regularly, I bought more than I did before. I still buy multiples when something we use is on sale, and we still keep that shelf stocked.

We also bought a chest freezer during the pandemic, when we could finally find one to buy. So we still keep more frozen food on hand than we did before the pandemic.

Those are the 2 things that come to mind first.

[Deleted]

I spent less on "business" type clothing as all my volunteer stuff went virtual if it happened at all.  We stopped eating out which was (and is now again) a big expense for us.  We didn't travel.  Used a lot less gas because no meetings, no shopping, no dining out

[Pink Cashmere]

Apr 29, 2023 16:40:57 GMT -5 soupandstew said:

I spent less on "business" type clothing as all my volunteer stuff went virtual if it happened at all.  We stopped eating out which was (and is now again) a big expense for us.  We didn't travel.  Used a lot less gas because no meetings, no shopping, no dining out

Mister and I used to eat out quite a bit, and we’d go out just to have drinks or hear some live music. We also use to “run away” for 2 or 3 days, to somewhere close, just to get a break from everyday life. We bought our house in July of 2019, and a lot of that stopped because we were focused on house stuff.

Then in early 2020, the pandemic definitely put a stop to all of it. I diverted a lot of the money we use to spend on going out and traveling, to house stuff. Then we discovered some house stuff that needed to be taken care of that cost a lot of money, so I guess the timing was good that we hadn’t been spending money going out and traveling. 

We still haven’t gotten back to hanging out like we use to, and we still haven’t traveled together again. When I went to New Orleans last fall for my side gig, I went alone, because of the stuff Mister had going on with his parents at the time.

We currently have shit piled on top of shit as individuals, but I hope that we can get back to hanging out and enjoying life together soon. We both agree that because of the pandemic, it seems like we “lost” a few years of our lives.

[TheOtherMe]

I couldn't tell you the last time I have eaten out.  I prefer my own company.  Covid either made my introversion worse or let me embrace it.  I still have yet to figure out which.

[haapai]

Apr 29, 2023 18:30:27 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I couldn't tell you the last time I have eaten out.  I prefer my own company.  Covid either made my introversion worse or let me embrace it.  I still have yet to figure out which.

You haven't missed much by eating at home.  I keep on trying to get a good meal served to me by someone else and it's been a disappointment almost every time.  I keep looking at those much-higher prices and gulping but still willing to pay that price for good food and good service.  It rarely happens.  I've gotten some really bad food and some shambolic service. 

FWIW, eateries that used to serve a hefty portion of their meals to-go seem to have kept their food quality up better than the rest.  The prices will shock you and the service may be a little rougher than you remember, but the food is reasonably close to what it was. 

[Opti]

Apr 29, 2023 18:30:27 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I couldn't tell you the last time I have eaten out.  I prefer my own company.  Covid either made my introversion worse or let me embrace it.  I still have yet to figure out which.

Eating out for me has been unaffordable for at least a decade. I think I've only gone if someone else has paid, or I wanted to hang out with someone, so I had water.

[Opti]

The pandemic cost me money because I was working in person through the worst of it. So I bought toilet paper I did not like for more $$. Bought wet wipes when there was no TP. Had to keep things like paper towels, when I bought them forgetting I still had some somewhere. Finally cracked into the first of two rolls from that time.

I did buy ahead on some non perishables and that has helped. Although now I think I am through most of my stock and need to replenish things like dishwashing liquid. The other holdover is to try to track better what things are appearing or disappearing in the grocery store. Some items have never reappeared as the manufacturer bit it during Covid. So I still do not have a go to bread choice as the best one is at least double what I used to pay pre-Covid. And I felt it was too high then. 

[nidena]

I dislike airline traveling even more than before and it has nothing to do with any rules or regulations.  It's that I have no control over anything in between getting to my departure airport and leaving my arrival airport.  I'm held hostage to an airport for the duration.  Now, I would much rather just drive.  I can stop when I want and where I want.  Unfortunately, because driving takes much longer, I'm limited in even going because I haven't been where I am long enough to have found a good kitty sitter.

Financially, nothing is really different, in terms of habits.  I do have less debt than I did back then since my total debt, now, is less than just my mortgage and car combined, back then, and I don't have SLs or high CC balances any more.

[irishpad]

I also have spent a lot less on some areas sindce covid.   Fine by me.   I give about 30% to charity, 30% to taxes and the rest keeps me afloat.  Going out to eat tonight for the first time in a month.  

[daisylu]

Since our closest grocery store is almost 20 miles away, we always had a "when you open the last put it on the list" rule for regular staples like peanut butter, jelly, condiments, case of ramen, french fries, tp, paper towels, stuff like that where the last package will last a while. After Covid hit in 2020 & 2021 we went to having 2 backups due to supply issues.

Then DS(21) moved out in 2022, and we no longer need so much. DD(24) is planning to move out and buys most of her own food anyway, so we are making adjustments for just DH and I.

[pooks]

We eat out less.  Honestly almost every restaurant we frequented pre-covid has gone so far down in quality that I would rather not go out at all.  It is weird, because the prices have gone up, but the food is still worse.  I am willing to pay more, but not for mushy BBQ.  

We are way better with food waste.  We freeze everything.  I am embarrassed by how much food we used to throw out. When I see left overs now, I think about if it will feed all of us again or if it should be frozen in individual servings.  It is nice, because about once a week we eat something out of the freezer and I don't have to cook.  

[nidena]

Apr 30, 2023 14:15:36 GMT -5 pooks said:

We eat out less.  Honestly almost every restaurant we frequented pre-covid has gone so far down in quality that I would rather not go out at all.  It is weird, because the prices have gone up, but the food is still worse.  I am willing to pay more, but not for mushy BBQ.  

We are way better with food waste.  We freeze everything.  I am embarrassed by how much food we used to throw out. When I see left overs now, I think about if it will feed all of us again or if it should be frozen in individual servings.  It is nice, because about once a week we eat something out of the freezer and I don't have to cook.  

Reminds me that I need to put in my Imperfect Foods order for this week.  I do less grocery shopping at an actual store and get most of my meats and produce via I.F.

Never had an option for online grocery shopping pre-Covid.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I had in the past (when TD’s car was being rebuilt and he was using mine to get to work) used online grocery shopping.  It had advantages ABD disadvantages, so even during Covid, I left those slots to those who needed them more.

I also wound up with accounts with more $$ in them than usual.  That’s when I started buying Ulta stock.

[Bonny]

You all made me run our spending report for last year.

Meh, we're about the same. We're probably going out to dinner less but spending more.

The first part of Covid was about me making the round trip to So. Cal 1 x per month. Now it's DH's turn to travel to Portland OR 1x every six weeks.