How Has the Pandemic Changed Your Spending Habits?
Once the world resumes some normalcy, we’ll revert to our old ways of spending. But the patterns won’t be the same.
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Photographer: Noam Galai/Getty Images
One of the few bright spots in a very challenging year has been the monthly emails from my budgeting app showing huge declines in my spending. I can’t take much credit for the drops, given all the Covid-19 restrictions and risks that have prevented my family from spending at usual capacity. But still, it’s nice to see something moving in the right direction.
The app says we’ve been saving between $2,000 to $3,500 each month since March. And compared to the same period in 2019, our credit-card balances are down 25% to 30%, led by a complete halt in travel, dining out and my thrice-annual hair-color appointments.