Well, our time with the pandemic isn't over, yet, but during those lock down days I sure did learn a lot. And me and my husband learned things the hard way and in a most inconvenient situation. Yes, most of the time our experience is our teacher and whenever we learn, we learn it best through experience.
The Covid19 health crisis caught us unguarded, financially. Yes, our family were at our down when the Covid19 started. We were jobless and our bank accounts are on maintaining balance only. In our local language it is "isang kahig, isang tuka." Just like what the chicken does, they scratch the soil to search for food and peck when they see one. It was a crisis for us.
The good news is that we were never forsaken. By the grace of the Lord, friends and relatives were there to give us support, in kind and monetary.
So, to help others learn as well from our situation I were able to at least document some of the things that we should do, whether in pandemic or not.
- 1. This is probably the most important in all of what we should have, savings. Not only a mere savings but at least enough to support the family for at least two months of expenses. I know this is hard, especially if we, moms, don't have any source of income and the only provider is our husbands but we should really try to find ways to augment that situation.
- 2. I know it is bad to hoard food but perhaps we should have that what we call the emergency bag where we can easily store food that last at least two months. Not the extravagant food setting but just the right amount of food per individual. Remember, these should be canned good that expires at least for the next year.
- 3. This may be too expensive to think of but I think we really should include in our plan to have at least one kind of vehicle at home. This is for emergency situations. I know that it's really hard to own one, but recently, I have been seeing low down payment on cars. We can always find ways to finance it like car loans from banks.
- 4. Emergency medicines, is another must have in the house. Those over the counter medicines can be purchased and stored together with the first aid kit. It really helps. During the lock down my family and I didn't worry much because we have our stocks.
These are simple things to think of but it is really something that can help us in times. The food and medicine can easily be purchased but the money may take a few months to accumulate. The good thing is that me and my husband are now employed, so saving up for the rainy season is now okay. With regards to the vehicle well we really should try to compute how much we will needing to save every month.
It may be costly but let us not forget the value of convenience and security a vehicle can bring to us. Hope that our family can still save up and find an affordable car for us. I can always check a car payment calculator to how much we should save up. It is better to have extra or an allowance for assurance.
So mommies what are your learning during the pandemic?
