5 Ways to save money during the Coronavirus lockdown

On the 23rd of March 2020, the nationwide lockdown began for the UK, and with everyone staying at home, there come inevitable changes in the way people spend their money.

There has been a lot of discussion about how this pandemic will change the economy at a large scale in the future, but there is no doubt it is having immediate effect on budgeting and everyday spending habits.

In this short article I hope to give a bit of advice on those smaller thing, and most importantly, on how you can personally save (or even earn some extra) money during this lockdown.

I've detailed 5 different ways of saving or making extra money while staying at home, and I’ll be providing some useful links to some useful resources.

1. Cancel your unused subscriptions

This is an easy one. As many businesses considered "non-essential" have closed across the country, the demand for gyms and fitness centres, for example, has dropped to all but zero.

It makes little sense to pay for an ongoing gym subscription if you can't physically go there - although some who can afford it are continuing their subscription in order to support smaller independent local gyms.

As sporting events are being cancelled nationwide, is also makes sense to freeze subscriptions for services such as BT or Sky Sports. You can check with your individual provider to see what can be done with your account. You can find more details in this related article.

2. Take financial inventory

Now that we are over a month into the lockdown during the time of writing, your bank account should be giving you a clear idea on your quarantine spending habits.

Get the most of it by noting down what’s left in your account after a month of staying in, and see to what extent the restrictions have affected your weekly or monthly budget. This will give you an idea of how much to save or re-invest, but will also help you rethink your budgeting and maybe adjust it more efficiently for when the lockdown ends.

If you weren’t budgeting before, now is a great time to start while you have the time. Check out the many ways you can get started here.

3. Get your money back

One way to (almost) get over your cancelled holidays is to claim a refund for any trips you have booked and not been able to go on.

Ticket providers such as Trainline are refunding tickets that were booked before a certain cut-off point have been able to refund trains due to cancellations. Although please be mindful it might take some time to process your refund as your claim won't be the only one going to them.

This also works for any AirBnB stay that you had booked which you have had to cancel. With all the different services available, it is best to check on their individual Coronavirus information page, which you can most likely access from their home page.

4. Teach and tutor

While it helps, it isn't necessary to have a teaching degree to start tutoring online. Websites such as Speaken or Tutorful can help you get started with virtual lessons right away.

The most common thing people start tutoring is in English, with or without prior experience. But if you have got other skills to teach others, such as playing an instrument or a craft, now might be the time to start teaching.

5. Learn from others

In the same way the lockdown situation is good to impart your skills to others, now is a great time to learn.

While it won't earn or save you money directly, you can spend your extra spare time to learn new skills that will help your career in the future.

It could be learning web design or taking a course in project management, but the important thing is to make sure to choose what to learn in relation to your professional ambitions in order to see the benefit down the line.

While all these things will be useful to you either immediately or in the future, it is also important to take care of yourself during this lockdown, and prioritise your well-being. This means that you shouldn't jeopardise your mental health just for the sake of saving money, and do what works best for you.