TheHaitian
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Post by TheHaitian on Apr 29, 2020 5:16:33 GMT -5
Anyone realizing or noticing that their bank account is looking better after month thanks to COVID? Working from home, not having to drive to work, eating so many meals out, some expenses frozen (like gym memberships, etc)
Or work in a industry that has seen a boom thanks to COVID?
I will start : 1) Grocery Retail : Not that I think $2/hour is anything to write home about but all Hourly associates are now making $2/hour more. And no we did not cut hours to make up for the increase, actually part timers are now working more hours because we have been busier; more people at home cooking and also it seems they are eating more. We also hired about 20 people but I would guess 25% retention so have about 5 left... I was informed by HR 10 more being onboarded this week. Also everyone got a $500 bonus for full time and $300 part time. --> Salaried Managers (me) : I received a 3k bonus to be followed by another 2.3k bonus in June and the "promise" of 100% payout bonus next year (we will see... if that is true bonus next year should be NICE).
2) Unemployment (for now) : 2 friends are making more on unemployment than they made working thanks to the extra $600/week. Off course it took some time for them to get their money (I think the initial deposit for 1 was 3k …). One works for Starbucks and was told he needs to return back to work 05/03 so not too happy about that (and hope it gets postponed a bit) and the other is hoping to be able to ride it out till June or July (when the $600/week stops).
3) Cleaning/ Disinfecting and Sanitizing : 2 people I met in the small business world own a cleaning/sanitizing business and thanks to COVID have seen more business than they can handle. One actually had to turn don some business because he did not have enough people to do all the work and right now his people are working around the clock , up to 6 days a week. One told me he had more business in the past month than he had in the past 6-8 months and at higher rates $$$ since we are talking deep cleaning / disinfecting and sanitizing the business after "known" covid cases or just to get ready to re-open.
4) Ship (food delivery) : An old co-worker now drives for ship and is making about twice what he usually would make with them. I could tell (for ship at least) because we have 3 times the amount of ship business than usual (which is in par with our express lane from 10-12 orders to now 36-50 orders). We recently hired 6 people (down to 3 now) and 4 more just for that part of the business; as we see homeshop or ship sales going up till at least the fall.
5) Wine/Alcohol Salesmen : Some of the salesman we work with get paid commission based on sales and they are drooling waiting on the payout for this period commission payout. Sales have been through the roof for alcohol!
And that is all for me in this time of insomnia...
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bookkeeper
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Post by bookkeeper on Apr 29, 2020 8:11:47 GMT -5
Our older son owns a bicycle shop with a partner. They are considered an essential business in their state due to being a transportation based business. The shop serves a large population of people who cannot drive due to one reason or another. The weather in their city turned nice early in March before the Covid shut down and since that time they have been very busy Spring is generally their busy time, but with the university students already gone from nearby, they had no idea what to expect.
Bicycle sales and service has been very brisk. Riding bicycles is something people can enjoy with social distance.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2020 8:29:42 GMT -5
Maybe.
Benefits:
-$1700 stimulus despite no decreased income. -Company builds medical devices...more orders than we can handle -With working from home and no kids activities there is lots of less driving (plus gas is about $1/gallon here now) -Free breakfasts and lunches for the kids from school -No childcare costs Drawbacks:
-Despite all the demand at work we have supplier issues, so there are furloughs (can use vacation) and loss of 401K match. -Looking for other ways to occupy my 9 year old. Might sign him up for some subscription service.
-We get take out a lot more than we used to -Home all the time means we're using a lot more utilities (and toilet paper!)
-My company is being a dick about stopping the dependent care FSA and I might end up losing about all I got from the stimulus if I can't use it.
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oped
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Post by oped on Apr 29, 2020 8:38:57 GMT -5
Can you pay for some expensive summer camp with it, if they open?
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Gardening Grandma
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Post by Gardening Grandma on Apr 29, 2020 8:40:48 GMT -5
We are spending less money. On pretty much everything.
Most of our friends are retired, so not financially affected. A friend who lost her job (she worked for a company that made dental products) is getting less unemployment than she had expected. She hasn't seen her stimulus payment. She is scared. And she is looking for another job.
One son who is a contractor lost the work when construction was shut down. It is opening up next week, but he doesn't know if he will be called back.
Another friend is on UE, but it's not as much as she was earning.
I don't personally know anyone who is benefitting.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Apr 29, 2020 8:43:32 GMT -5
Jeff Bezos can't even check his own net worth, because there aren't enough digits to count that high.
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stillmovingforward
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Post by stillmovingforward on Apr 29, 2020 8:49:17 GMT -5
Nope, not benefiting. I lost my job, even with the extra $600 I'm losing money on unemployment. And I have to pay $1,500 per month for Cobra. Oh, and unemployment money has yet to hit my bank account. It's been 5 weeks now.....
My industry has been decimated by Covid. 3 of the kids are moving back home. It's going to get ugly in my house soon. I have about 3 months of hardcore emergency money left and I'm very grateful for that.
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emma1420
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Post by emma1420 on Apr 29, 2020 8:54:33 GMT -5
I work in an healthcare related organization and so we are busier than ever. However, I suspect that we will feel the impact over the next several months.
Unfortunately, significant numbers of our customer based are being furloughed, being asked to take paycuts, and are being laid off. Our customer base are considered essential workers. But, because hospitals have had to cut elective procedures they are in horrible financial shape. And once the the COVID-19 crisis is over then I see mass lay offs of almost all healthcare providers.
So things are fine and we are potentially benefiting now, but I don't know that we will survive what comes next. At least I don't think we will look the same after this is all over.
On a personal note, while i may not be going out to shop, I've purchased more crap online that needed. However, I'm also trying to hoard money (I'm selling stuff to fund the spending), and I am thinking about selling my house before the real estate market crashes.
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stillmovingforward
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Post by stillmovingforward on Apr 29, 2020 8:55:49 GMT -5
And my big dog is sick. I could just cry. He's the best dog ever.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2020 8:57:00 GMT -5
Can you pay for some expensive summer camp with it, if they open? If things open up this summer, I can probably get most, if not all of it out. Otherwise, I might have grandma "watch" him on paper (but not really) and pay her any taxes she'd have to pay on that income. Ideally, I could just pay my older son to watch his brother, but a sibling has to be 19 to be a qualified as a caregiver and he's just turning 18.
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mollyc
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Post by mollyc on Apr 29, 2020 9:03:41 GMT -5
And my big dog is sick. I could just cry. He's the best dog ever. I’m sorry
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ners
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Post by ners on Apr 29, 2020 9:06:19 GMT -5
And my big dog is sick. I could just cry. He's the best dog ever. Sorry
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2020 9:43:36 GMT -5
And my big dog is sick. I could just cry. He's the best dog ever. I was going to comment on your other post and say I am really sorry you are struggling. I know that's not fun at all. Then I saw this and it made me sad. I love my dog more than most people and he's getting older. I hope your dog will be okay. If it helps, mine has has looked really sick/hurt a few times but ended up being fine. I hope the same for yours. I really, really do.
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CCL
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Post by CCL on Apr 29, 2020 9:44:19 GMT -5
And my big dog is sick. I could just cry. He's the best dog ever. Aww...I"m sorry. Hope he gets better quickly.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2020 9:54:53 GMT -5
I guess in a weird way I may end up being one of those who increases their bank account due to COVID.
I am getting the $1200 on 4/30 via direct deposit. That's more than enough money to pay all my bills and buy food for a month or longer.
I haven't been working much for the company I 1099 contract for, but they sent us all e-mail telling us we were no longer going to have any work when this started. Once the government cleared gig workers for UI, I did apply because I don't have the option of working anymore.
Oregon just opened up UI yesterday to gig workers and the self-employed and we all had to apply again... They said it may be 3-5 weeks before people hear if they are approved for $205 per week plus the $600. If you have income higher than 16K then you have to submit your tax forms to increase the base pay amount.
If I get approved, the 3 months of $600 will exceed my past year's income.
After watching large companies get PPP and talks of bonus payments, etc... from that, I don't feel guilty for applying at all.
My DS qualifies for UI but won't apply for some reason. So, if I get approved that money will likely end up fixing his car and supporting the both of us for a while.
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stillmovingforward
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Post by stillmovingforward on Apr 29, 2020 9:59:30 GMT -5
Thanks everyone, for that! He's such a wonderful companion for everyone. DD1 is a 3rd year medical student. She's playing 'if you were a human, I would.....' He's getting lots of TLC from everyone. You can tell he wants to feel better so everyone will quit worrying. He's that kind of a dog.
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Wisconsin Beth
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Apr 29, 2020 10:03:29 GMT -5
We've got more money in the checking account due to less spending. I'm not sure if our gym has frozen payments or not. We'd happily pay anyway because we love the gym that much. DH is ordering energy drinks via their website so they get a cut of the profits. We wish they'd do that with their energy bars - Dh and the kids love them.
DH is wfh so we're seeing a drop in commuting costs. The grocery bills are a bit lower. We're ordering a bit more online but it's stuff we'd be getting anyway, mostly. My daughter's reading habit is costing us a bit more than usual. We've ordered a couple of movies to watch but at $4 a pop, that's not really going to break our bank. I do want to get Call of the Wild this weekend which I expect to be a slightly higher cost.
Our overall credit card bill is slowing going down. DH has qualms about paying it off and emptying the checking account but is now in agreement with me that we've got to pay more than we charged the last month. He's somewhat concerned about his job, less now that he's talked with his boss/bosses about it. We put about $7K on it in Nov/Dec. for a garage and car repairs. DH was going to do a heloc but hasn't really had time to look into it in depth so we're just chugging along.
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stillmovingforward
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Post by stillmovingforward on Apr 29, 2020 10:04:52 GMT -5
LPT - my kids have been told they have to apply for all aid available to them. That is a requirement for moving home. Because I have to have everyone's buy-in and help to keep us afloat for as possible. Even granny is helping.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2020 10:16:00 GMT -5
My DS qualifies for UI but won't apply for some reason. So, if I get approved that money will likely end up fixing his car and supporting the both of us for a while. Uh...why won't he apply? I wouldn't pay to fix his car if he wasn't even bothering to apply for UI.
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teen persuasion
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Post by teen persuasion on Apr 29, 2020 10:20:51 GMT -5
Other than the stimulus check and decrease in commuting costs (mostly for DH), things are unchanged.
Drop in retirement accounts far outweighs the stimulus check + gas.
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souldoubt
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Post by souldoubt on Apr 29, 2020 10:32:10 GMT -5
Our splurge spending is down to local restaurants for takeout and some online orders for books and exercise equipment. With everything else that's closed down things we used to spend money on we simply can't. Longer term everything going on has put the kibosh on starting a family and both of us considering job changes. That said my wife has an essential job and I'm able to work from home so we realize we're lucky to be in the situation that we are. Even once things start to open up a lot of companies and industries won't be the same as I know friends that are furloughed are facing reduced hours when they go back if they even have jobs to go back to at all.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Apr 29, 2020 10:42:07 GMT -5
Thanks everyone, for that! He's such a wonderful companion for everyone. DD1 is a 3rd year medical student. She's playing 'if you were a human, I would.....' He's getting lots of TLC from everyone. You can tell he wants to feel better so everyone will quit worrying. He's that kind of a dog. When my cat was diagnosed as terminal, the vet said - just feed him shrimp and ice cream until the end. And, we did.
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on Apr 29, 2020 10:50:58 GMT -5
The stimulus money tipped us over into having more in savings than we've ever had so that's good. We're hoarding it right now just in case DH's employer changes it's mind and lays him off. Having that cushion in the bank again after the last couple of years is a HUGE monkey off my back.
We have a cushion in checking again thanks to not having to pay for daycare for the past two months. Course I've emotionally shopped quite a bit so it could have been more than that. . oh well. A buffer is a buffer after having been paycheck to paycheck for so long.
The business is doing awesome. We've been take out since day one so nothing to change or profits to lose there. We're up 35% just in March (haven't ran April's numbers yet) and we were up 185 NEW customers. Hoping that a lot of them come back after all this is said and done with. We have been doing $1k+ on Fridays and/or Saturdays which is VERY good for a business our size.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2020 11:00:08 GMT -5
My daughter's reading habit is costing us a bit more than usual. I'm downloading books from my library, having finally bought a Nook in late January. Wow- I'm enjoying the heck out of virtual browsing and, with the library closed, I'd probably have been right there buying books, too. My investments are down by a hair-raising amount but been there/done that before and I'm not panicking. Spending on travel and gas way down, of course. BF's mega-company finally figured out how to get them to work at home (it's call center work and they really should have been better-prepared) so he's saving in gas and they're getting an hourly bonus because apparently they lost people who no longer wanted to come into the office. A couple of nasty gastrointestinal viruses seem to have gone around there earlier this year, which makes me wonder about their sanitation. To offset that- he decided to buy himself a desk, a better chair and a better monitor.
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Cookies Galore
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Post by Cookies Galore on Apr 29, 2020 11:11:12 GMT -5
Since I'm under mandatory work from home I am not subject to the Philly wage tax, so I will be seeing some larger paychecks soon. The municipality where I live has a 1% income tax and Philly's is 3.44% for non-residents, so hello 2.44% temporary raise! Husband's employer is considered essential (food labeling) so he'sgoing to work and getting a few hours of OT a week.
We got $2400 from the government and $2000 went directly to savings (we each kept $200 each to play with - I put mine toward home office furniture). We also got our hotel and airfare refunds for our canceled Aruba trip. That's $2800 on our credit card I need to get back to our savings.
Even though we're ordering delivery or take out twice a week and I am ordering stuff online, I am still not spending as much as I do in a typical month, which I guess should make me feel bad about how much I typically spend, but I don't. I am who I am.
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Apr 29, 2020 11:14:20 GMT -5
Thanks everyone, for that! He's such a wonderful companion for everyone. DD1 is a 3rd year medical student. She's playing 'if you were a human, I would.....' He's getting lots of TLC from everyone. You can tell he wants to feel better so everyone will quit worrying. He's that kind of a dog. I hope he gets better and soon. It's so hard as they age.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2020 11:15:53 GMT -5
Thanks everyone, for that! He's such a wonderful companion for everyone. DD1 is a 3rd year medical student. She's playing 'if you were a human, I would.....' He's getting lots of TLC from everyone. You can tell he wants to feel better so everyone will quit worrying. He's that kind of a dog. He sounds wonderful and I hope he gets better very soon!
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alabamagal
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Post by alabamagal on Apr 29, 2020 11:24:47 GMT -5
My work (pharma manufacturing) is booming. We do not make anything directly virus related, but are super busy and getting busier. The general movement away from China will make us even busier.
DH was driving for Uber part time. If he got unemployment like the state says he is supposed to, he should be getting more money than he was making. But his claim in KY was denied because we have only been in the state 7 months, and AL says he can’t apply because he applied in KY. We don’t “need” the money, it is just extra going to retirement.
DD and DHD had their 2 week visit from Germany extended to 2 months (so far) so our food bill has doubled, but well worth it for the extra time to have with them.
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steph08
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Post by steph08 on Apr 29, 2020 12:17:40 GMT -5
I don't like to think I'm "benefiting" off of other people's pain, but yes, for us, there has been some upside to the pandemic.
Our stimulus went directly into savings.
Both my DH and I are at home, so gas in our vehicles has been slashed by about 80%.
DH's lunch takeout habit has gone completely away, saving about $100/month.
However, we are spending more on groceries and online for random stuff.
Also, my vacuum broke, so I splurged on a Dyson.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Apr 29, 2020 12:50:37 GMT -5
My checking account is up because I'm not spending anywhere near what I spent when I was going out. We have been using only my car during this time and since 3/12, have used 1/4 a tank (and my car only gets 20 mpg AND we live 7 miles from town).
My biggest expenses these days are the books I download onto my Kindle. I have absolutely no self control there and my previous $30/mo habit has bloomed into a $50/mo habit.
DH is working more than ever. Most mornings he has long conference calls. The only difference is that his working hours have shifted such that during daylight hours, Harriet gets long walks - or she gets a walk if he needs to stop working and figure something out. So she has benefited from him WFH. His paycheck was cut by 5%, but that's not a problem.
Our travel has been paid for the next year as I have just shifted things around. We were supposed to leave today for a scuba trip. Not happening, it has been rescheduled to next June. After that, we have another trip scheduled in Nov. and then the following March. Fingers are crossed that those those trips go off on schedule. Those are all paid for, so no outflow there.
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