Pandemic Spending

I don't get CERB money, but I too upped my storage of durable food goods over the last four months. I haven't stopped to count it all up yet, but easily by 800,000, maybe a full 1 000 000 calories over the last few months. Its not wasted money, it will all get eaten.

No CERB here but I do see the garden centers in my neck of teh woods doing a booming business. Guess we are all going to have great gardens this year.

Godspeed.

We didn't get CERB either. But our spending habits changed drastically. We've become exceptionally good at shopping...only venturing to the grovery stores every 3 weeks. We are not spending any money on restaurants, stores, frivolous items in retail....however....coincidentally....we've gotten a free 30 day trial with Amazon prime. So....yeah.....lol. Needless to say....the online shopping has increased exponentially.

And its been a helluva lot of fun! 🙂

I've noticed a slight shift in my Pandemic Spending.

Although I rarely use it, I find myself buying Hand Sanitizer and Lysol Wipes when I see them.

I originally started buying them for relatives that use them and couldn't find any. I now have those relatives well stocked, and still buy the odd Sanitizer and/or thing of Lysol wipes. Although I rarely use these products myself, I'm thinking I might be buying them, just because they are often hard to find these days.

Scarcity = tendency to buy.

Guess I better start using these products or stop buying them 🙂

No CERB here.

I find My spending pattern has shifted. Other than for our growing child, we haven’t bought clothes at all in 3 months. No entertainment spending and reduced car travels.

More money went to ensuring a successful, larger garden. No crazy doomsday prepping purchases.

One thing that has changed. We use to thriftily grocery shop at Walmart or a small NoFrill grocery store, being equidistant between those 2 from our rural property. Walmart has been a zoo since the beginning with people clearly not respecting any posted measures. The small town NoFrill has been marginally better as the small town clearly displays the “this is a big city problem”. Carts are no cleaned, patrons bring their reusable bags and marginally respect one-way aisle signage.

So as a result, we’ve been visiting an other grocery store and found the prices to be quite a bit higher. But we accept that we pay for the “COVID-Convenience” of enforced store capacity and traffic patterns, cleaned carts and tills, etc.

Huge expenditure in our garden this year. Don’t want to give amount but it’s considerable. Between honda tiller, earth, hoses.... it’s a significant outlay. Now that said, I think it’s big enough now to provide a lot of essential vegetable for the two of us. However, I am not looking forward to weeding it! 🙁

Added two more freezers to the mix

All the preps in automotive or tractor spare parts I did in January and February

Increased food quantities, mason jars, zip lock bags, vacuum sealer rolls, and meds....

Yeppers, been one really expensive spring, thank god, we did what we did before and could afford to do more.

We do not get any extra CERB funds nor the baby boosts, nor any other "here" funds.

We lost a good portion of income this spring when all my training events/classes and speaking events were cancelled.. on the other hand I have been interviewed for the CBC and quoted more then once now in regards to gardens and gardening etc.

Spending has been uneven.. We normally do dinner out 2x a month, we normally go to a movie maybe once a month max (only on double date night to keep costs down) so we are saving on car costs, we are saving on transport costs for hubby who normally does the park and ride.

However, we did up spending on a number of things to get ahead of the curve on things, all will get used and once its spread out it will all come out in the wash. As I now have my Master Rain Garden CERT and I have my Master Garden Paper work and will be finishing another course from the U of Sask, I am working with a landscape company and that allows me to order in plants in at wholesale, so I did have a few clients that I have worked with and it was a amazing to see a semi pull up with several thousand (at whole sale price point.. retail double it or even triple it depending on the item) worth of plants.

I might have been one of the clients in regards to a good amount of new bushes and fruiting tree's coming on the farm..

The crazy snapping up of anything canning related locally made me go.. hmmm.. so a local group of us ladies got together and did a massive number of pallets (50 cases of 12 per pallet) and also sleeves of the extra lids at 360 per sleeve.

Everything's costs are up.. and I do mean everything! Its all going to add up.. some things I can do about it, other things I can not.. working where I can and keeping a open mind on things I need but might be able to find a way around.

We don't get any extra funding here either. DH drives truck, so has been considered essential and has continued working.

Our spending has been on resupplying what we have used and also in getting a bit of extra here and there as we have been going out and about. We will be spending on getting some more fruit bushes and maybe a tree or two more yet, as we are changing out a bed of plants and have lost a tree or two that will require replacement.

Have been noticing that almost everything is getting a bit more pricier in the stores and if it is not needed will not be buying. The biggest surprise is the almost empty seed racks everywhere. The canning supplies in the stores are somewhat the same as always that I have noticed, but am sure that with more gardening going on, they will be learning to can too, so supply will change. That is something that will also be bought more of around here as the farmers markets will be starting up within a month, so will be able to get back to the jamming and pickling.

I heard on the news that in the states, it was a USA night program I get on the radio that they said that overall folks were spending the least amount possible over the past two months (worst possible for the stores) and that they also had the biggest bump in savings over the same two months..

I found it interesting.. not just because people are putting up for a rainy day but it kind of fly's in the face of what we are talking about here.. they are not stocking up or planning ahead.. they are hunkering down.. looking to hold on to what they have now for use in the future.

I wonder how many people in Canada are doing the same thing?

I think that for those with a good income they are saving a bit more but at the same time I can’t see these people not stocking up a bit. Let’s say your Family income is 150-300k, you will be saving on restaurents, clothing, entertainment etc and have ( besides us on their boarD 🙂 ) have some money left over from savings, to spend on extra stuff. For those with more money, they too will be saving for stock purchases and perhaps deals on real estate....for those with no Big money to spare, they are Likely saving a few hundred.. for rainy day.

Either way, doesn’t necessarily bode well for businesses opening back up. Summers short so by the time it’s open , it may be too late for that summer spending spree and if we get another wave, things will really shrink up

This is a great time to invest. With prices low investments into whatever your RSP is for means when the economy bounces back, you've more in the kitty to grow. Real Estate is down in many areas but from what I'm hearing (anecdotally of course, and only in my region of Ontario) is it will be short lived.

What concerns me is the number of economists (again, a few speaking out does not mean its for certain, but something to definitely think about) saying there will be a slight rebound with government stimulus, but a depression is on the horizon in the next few years. One of the biggest factors....governments accross the world have amassed such huge debt its simply not possible to continue the "status quo." We are going to either have to learn to live with less, or pay more in taxes...personal and corporate.

There were a few good articles from The Atlantic, one interviewing the economist who predicted the 2008 meltdown who is convinced another depression in on the horizon...you think i could find it though....sorry about that.

This is a great time to invest. With prices low investments into whatever your RSP is for means when the economy bounces back, you've more in the kitty to grow. Real Estate is down in many areas but from what I'm hearing (anecdotally of course, and only in my region of Ontario) is it will be short lived.

What concerns me is the number of economists (again, a few speaking out does not mean its for certain, but something to definitely think about) saying there will be a slight rebound with government stimulus, but a depression is on the horizon in the next few years. One of the biggest factors....governments accross the world have amassed such huge debt its simply not possible to continue the "status quo." We are going to either have to learn to live with less, or pay more in taxes...personal and corporate.

There were a few good articles from The Atlantic, one interviewing the economist who predicted the 2008 meltdown who is convinced another depression in on the horizon...you think i could find it though....sorry about that.

It’s funny you say it’s a good time to invest. I got out of market well over a year ago and have watched the stocks go down and kept wanting to get back in during the lows, had I, I could sell even today and have made some real decent coin but I didn’t buy. I still could get in on one one stock I like that is still way down from highs but am again hesitant. Maybe I will miss the boat but dang it’s a real gamble.

These debt amounts are high and as you say, someone ( us and corporations) will be paying the tax bill. I can’t see to many cuts coming from governments addicted to spending and buying votes, so that leaves the working class to foot the bill for welfare state and government employees and the very lucrative pensions.

I am certainly no economist but the numbers are huge and growing. Like you said, someone needs to pay for it and there’s only taxpayers to do that. I can eventually see cuts due to bankruptcy because governments being governments, they prefer to buy votes And will not cut services or pensions willingly but instead use the excuse of bankruptcy to provide cover for their inactions. Bankruptcy will be ugly and almost assuredly result in increased crime and of course, a much lower standard of living. Our current lifestyles are all built on borrowed money and people have no idea what our nation would look like without this fake money. Reality is going to really bite!

As this board is about being prepared to survive any number of events, we need to think of the financial issue. I mentioned The issue of people being divided by what they are paid, have jobs when others are sent home or pension plans. I am pretty sure that at some point ( if not already a silent issue) this issue will boil up and divide people even further. Jealousy, envy... are all human traits and like all other traits and how they can manifest into hate...must all be understood and planned for in our plans.

Look at the current situation in the states, you see the police unable or unwilling to control the gangs. The leaders count on certain groups for their votes and are for now anyways, refusing to protect the taxpayers and other good citizens. So if they are willing to see good people loose their property, suffer injury or loss of life now, what will they do if things really got out of hand? At a certain point it gets too hard to control, perhaps like during the hurricane in New Orleans, the police simply abandon post and focus on their family! Perfectly natural and one can spin all they wish but reality is reality and facing reality in an honest and non biased fashion is one of the best things we can do if we wish to survive. I know the good people out there and I have worked with them and count as good friends but the shear volume of crowds or size of a disaster will impact even the best.

Based on what I have seen, heard and been directly told, you will be on your own! Important to let that sink in for a bit. “You will be on your own and the cavalry will not be coming” Direct quote from some folks. Governments will never ever admit to that but that’s reality.

While I started with nothing and worked my way up doing hard jobs in very difficult locations, sacrificed a great deal to have what I have, I have seen the eyes and heard the comments directed at me and my family for what we have built and you can see the envy and slight anger, snide comments etc.

As economy takes a hit, I am expecting more envy or anger directed towards those who have more than others and we need to be wary of that.

So while we deal with covid, watch riots in the cities etc, we need to never lose sight of the economy and the borrowing going on. One way or another, we will need to pay the bill and it’s a huge one and growing, when the bubble bursts is beyond me, but I certainly can anticipate the consequences.