If you were lucky enough to keep your job during the pandemic you might have noticed a peculiar thing happening: money left in your bank account at the end of each month. Some found cutting out commuting, meals out, trips, haircuts and half a million hen dos turned out to be rather lucrative.
But as the world reopens you may have noticed the opposite happening again - especially after a sunny bank holiday weekend. I have: my money is being swiftly sucked straight back into the black hole of Real Life. I’m back to tapping the card machine with one eye shut, wincing at my coffee and sandwich costing practically the same as a supermarket shop (in London, anyway). Thank God the world’s back in business, but my bank balance is feeling that familiar sting. Jumping in an Uber – Ka-ching! Going for a drink – Ka-ching! Breathing anywhere that’s not home – Ka-ching, Ka-ching!
I’ve gone from being able to reel off the four consistent transactions on my monthly bank statements to being unable to keep tabs on my spending again. Our new (old) way of life means grabbing things on the go and a return to less conscious splurging. Despite only recently coming out of lockdown, I’m already feeling the bounceback squeeze.
Rebecca, 38, says this month is the first time in over a year she’s needed to actively count down the days until pay day again.
‘I booked in a bunch of fun things for May without considering how I was going to pay for them all. I found myself resorting to my credit card to pay for groceries for the first time in ages. I had thought I’d started to get a bit more organised with money – turns out, it was just lockdown.’
The past year has proved financially catastrophic for some, with the most recent unemployment rate at 4.8%, according to the Office for National Statistics – more than at the start of the pandemic. For anyone who’s gone through redundancy, the bounceback squeeze will be even tighter. Adding to this, many businesses have hiked up prices to recoup lost earnings – it’s hard to blame them after the year they’ve had.
Christie, 33, works in the arts and has spent the past year out of work. She’s only recently started earning again. ‘The past two months my spending has been the highest it’s been in such a long time,’ she says. ‘I’m worried about this becoming the norm and my credit card creeping up. I’ve panicked and thought I should be trying to cut down on things, but then also I can’t help it because I want to treat myself and go out and have fun again.’
I’ve never quite mastered the art of living within my means, but now it’s even harder; we’re like a pack of hyperactive children who’ve been released into an adventure playground after a year without toys – we want to enjoy the pubs, restaurants, theatres and beauty salons we’ve been deprived of.
Grazia money columnist Laura Whateley says there are ways we can do this sensibly. ‘Get yourself a bank account or app to track and categorise your spending, like Starling, and help yourself budget with separate spaces or pots so you’re not blitzing through all your money sat in your current account,’ she says. She also suggests setting some post-pandemic spending rules: ‘Like a 5:2 – two days a week you spend like you’re still in lockdown (ie, not at all), the other five you can be more relaxed,’ she says. ‘Also, set some savings targets. You’ve shown you can survive without spending as much
as normal, so maybe try to keep it up – pretend your income is 90% of what it actually is and save the remaining 10%.’ Still, if re-learning how to budget is another pandemic byproduct, so be it – the bounceback squeeze is a small price to pay for having our freedoms again.