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COVID-19 spells change. Take advantage to design your ‘new normal’

22 April 2020
Reading time: 3 minutes


Posted by Tom Hartmann , 6 Comments

These are wildly challenging times. While some of us bore the brunt of COVID-19 straight away, others have a rougher road still ahead. Many of us are going through upheavals that, frankly, we will never, ever want to experience again.

For pretty much everyone, it’s been like we pressed pause on life. A lot of spending ground to a halt, and suddenly it was simple to see what’s truly essential and what isn’t.

Before we press play again

We have a rare opportunity to redesign our future lifestyle as the lockdown eases (and before we jump into online shopping). Let’s seize this moment for our money and our wellbeing.

What will you carry forward into your ‘new normal’? With a nod to Marie Kondo, what are the things that spark joy for you? Which are truly worth keeping? Whether it’s socialising, sports, hobbies or friendships, this is an exceptional moment to rethink it all.

Time to pick the habit

So much of our lives – and our choices – are routine. We typically spend similar amounts of time and money at the same places, month in, month out. The bills we pay automatically come and go. Our lifestyle settings are on rinse and repeat.

But now that it’s all been interrupted, we can take a good look and decide which parts of the ‘old normal’ are worth getting back to.

If all of this seems a bit much, not to worry. Here at Sorted we’ve got some options and tools to help us all take advantage of this moment.

Stay creative after the lockdown

These days, we’re creatively finding ways to do all sorts of things at no cost: yoga, exercise, even dance. This shows our spending is not fixed, but much more fluid and up to us.

Have you heard of lifestyle inflation? It’s when our spending inevitably increases to reach our level of income (or even beyond if you use debt). Now that our lives have been disrupted – how much do we let them inflate again afterwards?

The best way to reinvent our spending going forward is to make a new plan with Sorted’s budgeting tool. A budget is just a spending plan, after all.

What could life look like?

Okay, so maybe saving towards a goal never made much sense before. Or perhaps some goals seemed too far out of reach, like a first home. But what if they’re not anymore? What if we could achieve much more than we thought?

These days are an opportunity to brainstorm some ideas on what you hope to attain in the short, medium and long terms.

Before life edges back to how it used to be, start automatically saving money into separate accounts for your goals. This way you make sure you’re putting yourself and your wellbeing first before paying everyone else. 

Redesign your lifestyle for the better

Of course, we’ll all go back to many things we’re missing and longing for these days. Life is to be lived, after all.

That said, one fine day we may realise that the lockdown did bring a gift of sorts. It’s a catalyst to recast our patterns before the lifestyle inflation creeps up again.

Take advantage of the lockdown disruption to design lasting change, so your new normal – whatever that may be – becomes more fulfilling than the old normal ever was.

How To: Design your new normal
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How To: Design your new normal

Comments (6)

Comments

  • Gravatar for Sofia

    29 April 20
    Sofia

    This is a great post, it gave me a fresh perspective that I did not think about.

  • Gravatar for Cate

    26 April 20
    Cate

    Really great post. Our Covid budget and new more streamlined food shopping regime has given me a real sense that beyond monthly non negotiables like rates and utilities over 50% of our current single income lifestyle for our family of 5 involves a CHOOSING to spend. We will be CHOOSING to save more mindfully going forward and plan in case we ever find ourselves in this kind of situation ever again.

  • Gravatar for

    24 April 20

    That's a really refreshing take on what most people consider a disruption to their lives. Thanks! Given me a fair bit to think about.

  • Gravatar for Kirsten

    24 April 20
    Kirsten

    Nice. Ive appreciated this time to remind myself what I value the most and what isnt essential or even helpful. I like the advice to take the time to design our new normal. Thanks..

  • Gravatar for Meriana Taputu

    23 April 20
    Meriana Taputu

    Thankyou soooooo much for this post. Normal will not be same as before...Reflect, revise, revisit..prepare on ALL aspect of our lives. What we used to complain about....pollution, noise, busy 'lifestyles'....we actually changed all of this...(thanks to Covid). I will certainly, I have already actually lead a conscious life before COvid and now my finances require tweaking....X

  • Gravatar for

    23 April 20

    things will return to normal soon enough....who would want any of this crap to continue.

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