I'm moving my questions about the effect of an economic crisis on the pandemic to another thread... and chiming in about personal preparations.
The maxim, "hope for the best and prepare for the worst" has been on my mind as well as different "what if" scenarios. Aside from taking the health precautions suggested to protect my own and other's health, most of my preparations are for disruptions to employment and supply chains (which also appear to support a 2 week self-quarantine should we get sick). I'm pregnant and my partner has latent TB. While both conditions are concerning in terms of COVID-19, the evidence suggests that the outcomes for both in the pandemic thus far are similar for those in lower-risk groups.
My partner is on a two week paid time off from his job for the social distancing effort. Unsure of whether there will be work after that (it's a big corporation that may be able to weather the storm, but it's in the retail industry). My side hustle is bookkeeping for a small business that has already felt the impact. We're in the beginning of our FI path and don't have a full ER fund saved. But I think we can make do for possibly 9 months without an income in an unpredictable environment (ie: minimal public safety net to fall back on).
The main question I've asked myself is: what would be hard to live without and how do I make the essentials last as long as possible?
I reduced our budget to cover only the basics: housing, food, necessary household supplies like soap, gas for the car, and internet and phone service for communication.
-I slashed our food budget in half. We're buying basic ingredients (the cheapest, most nutrient dense ones- which have become hard to find in my area) and I'm making everything from scratch (yogurt, bread, beans...). We're also rationing a bit (2 pieces of fruit per day per person, for example) to make things last, while making sure everyone gets their fill and nutritional bases are covered.
-The lease on our 1 bedroom apartment is up this summer around the time we're expecting a new baby. We are technically unable to stay due to max capacity laws, (we have another child) but the manager of the complex announced that he'd be willing to work with tenants, so I'm thinking to talk with him about staying for the time being. We live in the desert and usually keep the AC at 69 in the winter and 79 in the summer, but today I upped it to 85 and it wasn't that bad. I'm taking a similar approach to rationing all our utilities. Showering every other day. Air-drying laundry.
-I got household supplies that I can make last for the next 6 months: castile soap, basic cleaning supplies like peroxide/baking soda/white vinegar, laundry soap, lots of floss, Vitamin D for both kids, prenatals for myself, saline/ibuprofen/tylenol, water filters. I cut way down on TP use and am potty training the toddler to get her out of diapers. Also: converting to cloth wipes. I got supplies for postpartum recovery and also newborn care (those two are ones I especially don't want to have to do without).
-We're getting the car serviced and also filling up every time we go to the store (per one poster's suggestion). Not sure where we would store extra gas though as we don't have a shed or garage.
-I may hold onto a bit more cash than usual to have flexibility. Is anyone concerned about bank runs/insolvency at this point? I don't know much about the phenomenon, but it definitely could be a "what if?".
-I'm not pre-paying expenses and am filing my taxes ASAP due to a refund. My partner will still enroll in classes this summer (registration opens this week). We're pausing remittances sent to his family for a bit. He is eligible for citizenship this summer (currently has a green card) but it looks like those proceedings are on hold. Depending on what happens with both our jobs, we'll be looking at other options.
I figure that if things normalize over the next few months, we'll have saved a good chunk of money. If they don't, we'll be glad we had a plan. It's eye-opening when things you take for granted are suddenly not guaranteed.
Anyone have any suggestions for what to add to our plan?