to gain cash back, and then we pay it off at the end of each cycle even if we occasionally have to dip into our savings to do it. Since we can't spend at restaurants, our favorite retail stores, go to the salon, buy tickets to concerts or plays, or travel, our monthly expenses have dipped way below average. The majority of what we spend now is on groceries.
My husband and I have lost a chunk of our income, and the reduced credit card bill could make up for some of that, but we decided to spend the money that we would typically spend. Many of the people we know haven't just lost a portion of their income like us;One of our friends is a substitute teacher, and due to school closures has no work. Other friends are creatives , and due to the impact on other businesses, some of their work has dried up.
Some of the items on our list are: hiring someone to build me a LinkedIn page, hiring someone to update our resumes to include our current experience, and having someone create a writer's webpage . from people we know who are offering them. Of course, hiring people to do these tasks isn't going to help replace all of their income, but it could mean the difference between buying groceries and not.