For me personally, one of the silver linings of this whole COVID fiasco is I’ve been able to rebuild my once depleted savings reserves, and I have to say it feels rather nice to have a proper cushion again. In signing over six-figures for the GT3 last year, much of my fluid savings got allocated for that endeavor; combined with practically not saving any money at all each month - because I didn’t exactly stop traveling - my emergency fund was itself in a state of great emergency. At the start 2020 I had planned to enact austerity measures, though the flow of life - in regards to the pandemic - seems to have forced that on me anyways.
Being stuck at home and not being able to travel anywhere - my main area of discretionary spending for the past five years - have allowed me to store away quite a bit of money each month. In preparation for a highly uncertain future, I also have not purchased anything extravagant during this time - no “nice to have” upgrades for things I already own (that 4K OLED TV set will have to keep waiting). The coronavirus situation made it surprisingly easy to impose these austerity measures, and several months since it all started, I am once again in a position to not have to reply on the next paycheck to plug a hole I’ve dug previously.
Indeed, last year was the closest I’ve come to living “paycheck to paycheck” since my free-spending college days, back when saving 20% of income wasn’t even a concept registered in my brain. I didn’t realize how stressful that situation was until recently when I managed to rebuild my emergency fund to a comfortable size. It feels good to not have to scrutinize each subsequent financial move, and that I have the room to be slightly frivolous if I want to. This is how I come to buying the AirPods Pro, even though I already have a functioning set of the original AirPods.
Of course, gratitude must be handed out for how lucky I am to still have a job and be able to save money during these COVID times. I recognize lots of people are not so fortunate - one of whom is my own brother, who was laid off - and I’ve given support to them as much as I can. That said, I can only play the hand that’s dealt to me, and with that hand the goal is to maintain a resisiliant position, and perhaps improve in some areas as well.
Cat nap.