Covid 19 lockdown taught us that human can survive without anything but can't live without food". Do you think that the statement is right? Give your comment...
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As I stepped into 2020, one New Year resolution that I made (among the many others) was to save more money this year. I worked meticulously to make a tight financial plan, making sure that by the time 2020 ended I will at least have some five lakhs in my savings account, which didn't include the mandatory investments and principals I paid for various financial and health insurance schemes. For a modest seven-figure annual salary, that was all I hoped to save and if I could, I would have counted myself lucky because the years preceding 2020 has taught me a very bitter lesson--it's much easier to make financial plans than to follow them!
By March I haven't even started implementing my financial planning and when the news of a lockdown started circulating, my first worry was will it affect our jobs? As the lockdown started and many, including me, started working from home and then we were informed that our company was facing some difficult time since the sales number have plummeted drastically. The fear of salary cut loomed large and as I worked from home, I constantly worried about my savings. But as the days passed and turned into weeks, I realised one thing--I have been wasting a lot of money unnecessarily. In two weeks, I had a clear idea of how I could have saved more these years. Yes, the lockdown taught me that I have been throwing away my hard-earned money and how.
This is the first and most important financial lesson the lockdown taught me—buy things only when you need and not when you want. It is very essential to understand and realise the difference between 'want' and 'need'. Earlier, I used to buy things just because I wanted them although those didn't have any value or use in my life. When I was following self-isolation, I bought only the essential stuff and by the end of two weeks, I was really surprised to find how I could survive and did quite well with the things I had in hand. Under normal circumstances, I would have wasted almost Rs.20,000 doing mindless shopping in two weeks without even thinking about it. That amount now rested securely in my bank account.
Staying indoors had another healthy and financial benefit—eating nutritious home-cooked food. While ordering from outside or eating in restaurants, I hardly paid attention to how much extra money I was paying for a simple meal, which could be made at home without much effort and costing almost next to nothing. More than the money, I was putting my health at risk by consuming food from outside regularly. The lockdown taught me to eat healthy and save money by cooking food at home.
This perhaps is an expenditure I have no control over but the lockdown made me ask an important question—if the same amount of work can be done working remotely or from home, then why aren't companies in India willing to give their employees flexible working option? It's not just about the money we can save but within these two weeks when most of the people stayed indoors, the air quality in many cities have improved. Yes, we are cutting down pollution. Do you know the long-term effects of this? Fewer people will fall sick and we will be spending less on medical bills. We will stay in a better and greener environment. Isn't this a beautiful thing?