THE PANDEMIC ACCOUNT

For a few months already we are being fed daily with the numbers delivered by government officials indicated the increase of the expenses from the budget and the growth of state and national debt.

I was confused because the expenses of my family get sharply down at the same time so I decided to make a small survey within my network, concentrating on spendings and expenses.

I have asked whether the pandemic and quarantine time expenses have been bigger or smaller in the following categories and what is the percentage.

1. overall household expenses
2. fuel expenses
3. clothing
4. food
5. other

The results match with my own experience

1. The overall expenses in a household drop on average by 15–20% (in one case 45%)
2. The fuel expenses drop by 70% (in one case 100%)
3. Expenses on closing drop by 60–80%
4. Expenses on food drop by 12–18%
5. Other expenses are equal

This was interesting, so I dig a little bit deeper to learn how, at the time when whole families spent all the time at home together, can the bill for food and other be lower and here are my findings.

THE OVERALL EXPENSES are lower because the volume of shopping dropped down. Closed shops, no time in shopping centers and proper and fast shopping if anything needed, to reduce the time in the shops.

FUEL is not needed if not daily commuting. The home office worker does not need a car to go from kitchen to living room. Many of those who still keep going to the workplace frequently choose a bike, kickscooter or EUC, because of less traffic on the roads, better safety, and the only possibility to exercise outside.

NEW CLOTHING is “needed” mainly for own personal social status presentation and it is being damaged during the stay outside, but nothing from this takes place. We have millions of e-shops but without trying on it is still inconvenient for many to buy this or that without being sure if it really fits.

FOOD is needed, but we started to consume all we bought and buy new only if needed. At the same time, many discovered once again the charm of the cooking and baking, for the Bread made by own hands taste much better than the one from the next SevenEleven. The absence of spending time and money in the restaurants contributed strongly to the decrease of the amount of money left monthly in the restaurants as well. It is interesting that the volume of money spent on food dropped despite the fact the prices for many items skyrocket during the same period.

The last category means expenses for rent, energy, heating, leisure, and others, these overall reminds the same because some go up at the same time when others go down, so they stay balanced.

Before the final conclusion, I would like to add that all people I asked, has been “infected” by the reduction or even drop of income but none of them was urged to borrow money or did receive any funding. From one day to another they have learned to behave differently.

What is very interesting is that all of them reported that they reduced significantly the volume of generated waste, more than half cut the volume by 50% and more and some noticed the changed frequency of garbage trucks as well.

To sum up, the PANDEMIC brought SAVINGS associated with changing the consumer behavior of the population, of every single person. It helps us to see how the change from CONSIETY to SOCIETY would look like.

In this aspect, it is even more interesting to see the governments, decisionmakers, and world leaders deliver very different picture announcing the national debts needs to grow, spending need to grow, all for the GOODWILL OF NATIONAL ECONOMY. Unfortunately, they forget the fact that NATION consists of PEOPLE, not just policymakers.

I hope this article, so as the clean air behind your windows and doors will help to understand that the interests of few do not mean the interest of all.