For over 20 years I haven't had a 'proper' job.
By proper job I mean a salaried job with holiday pay, and sick pay, and all those other lovely benefits of being employed by an employer.
Instead I chose to take the freelance, self-employed, be your own boss, come and go as you please, work when you want approach to earning my living.
For the most part, with a few ups and downs, that has worked out well.
I've built up a good number of regular clients that meant I have always had several projects on the go that brought in an adequate flow of money.
My income status would I guess be termed 'comfortably off' - not wealthy, not poor, but always enough to provide for the family's needs.
Then the virus came...
I've worked from home for many years, and I've always been a bit of a prepper, so I should have been well set.
But there was a chink in my armour that I hadn't spotted.
I work in the web. I do all sorts of web stuff. And I have built a bit of a niche specialism in a couple of sectors...
Hospitality and Leisure !
So as the impact of the pandemic became more apparent back last March and April I got a stream of polite (and sometimes a little panicky) calls and emails from clients... "Really sorry, got to put the project hold", "Tightening our belts", "We can continue but won't be able to pay for at least six months".
My income streams dropped hard and fast.
As an all round prepper I should have had savings stashed away for just such an occurrence. But (and there always is one) I had been using all my spare cash over the past couple of years to pay off an historic debt.
I was just about at the end of those repayments, and I was just about to start building up some savings.
But I was just too late, and now the hard rains were going to fall.
I had to re-engineer my financial strategy fast and furiously.
Unfortunately because of how my 'business' was set up I fell through the cracks and was not eligible for any of the various government grants, loans or furlough payments being offered as 'virus aid'.
I was on my own.
This was not the first time in my life when the purse strings had tightened so I knew the routine...
Work hard, spend little.
So I began to hustle.
I looked in every nook and cranny, turned over every stone, dug out every old contact, took whatever was going, at whatever rate was being offered.
Alongside that we started to look at everything we spent.
We changed our eating habits - out with the convenience meals, processed foods and little treats, in with the cooking from scratch and home made cakes.
Soups and jacket pototoes are nutritious, healthy and cheap. And I've rather grown to like them.
We cut our own hair, make our own clothes, burn our own wood and grown our own veg.
Subscriptions were cut, we got rid of one of our phones, and SORNed our older car to save on the tax, insurance and MOT costs.
2020 was tough, but with hustle and frugality as our watch words we began to get the ship back on course.
We've managed to diversify our income sources to bring us back up to about where we were before.
And we have managed to cut our expenditure by at least a third.
So all in all we have ended up in a better place with a bit more spare monthly income than we had at the start of the year.
Now we have to make sure we use that extra money wisely and put it to work.
That is what I will cover in Part 2 of My Financial Strategy for 2021.
[ image from pixabay.com ]
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Sounds like you had a tough one, must have been tough selling all your Hive?!?
You could always resort to selling off some land, there must be plenty of people happy to part with £10K an acre?!?
It is a lot easier to buy back HIVE than it is to buy back land !
Well at the current prices, you're certainly right!
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Are you fully embedded in Portugal now?
How are the land prices there? Has Brexit made it more difficult for a Brit to get land there?
I'm transitioning to Portugal still - trying to keep a foot in both countries.
Land is dead cheap, once I've got my sale completed I'll blog a lot about what I've got!
I think it's relatively easy for anyone to claim residence and buy land - quite a few Israelis around these parts for example,
The main problem Brexit has caused is with driving licences, cars and health access!
Buy hive and you'll be good.
Joking ;)
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Will add it to the melting pot...
You give him some votes on @leofinance and he'll be even better lol ;-)
😀
You grow your own food, at least you are eating healthier than a large majority of the population and that's a great achievement already :)
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
That is one of my great joys and satisfactions.
Your post has been voted as a part of Encouragement program. Keep up the good work!
Try https://ecency.com and Earn Points in every action (being online, posting, commenting, reblog, vote and more).
Boost your earnings, double reward, double fun! 😉
Support Ecency, in our mission:
Ecency: https://ecency.com/proposals/141
Hivesigner: Vote for Proposal
Bienvenido mi señor una vez más, welcome back my sr, we miss you for this Places.
I really really sorry that you have this kind of problems.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Thank you. Hope you and your family are doing well @galberto.
The best thing is that you didn't give up and had good companions. I guess it's your family?
Waiting for the second part!
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
This piece is indeed very encouraging, I sincerely lost the strength to pursue certain things but this is indeed a motivation..
It's really been a long time I rad your post. Hope you're doing fine.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
I like your story. I'm also a bit of a prepper and like saving. I am a salaryman but I could freelance if I wanted to. My wife does that. I'm kinda glad I didn't because I like my job even though I could make more and work less freelancing.
I think the security of one of us having a salary makes up for it.
Well, all in all, I think you're coming out of this in a better place than when you went in! Sometimes we all need a shake-up and reset in life to make us change for the better.
Best wishes to you and your family and what a great, honest and personal post. Just the sort I like reading. Posts like this truly help to make the world feel connected.
Thank you. 2020 has definitely been a special year in many ways - both good and bad.
That's a big saving 👌 which will help always.
One word - Survivor
And to come out better than when you started the year is amazing :D
Happy New year to you and your family 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎊 @tipu curate 👍🏾 good to see you back
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 24/48) Liquid rewards.
Good idea
And something good that comes out of this is also that you take an interest in things that you didn't know AND because of the need you have to learn and you can develop them and create a business with that.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
I am very glad that you are hanging in there. 2020 truly has been very difficult for everyone, that is for sure. I am happy to see you posting again. You have been sorely missed.
Looking forward to part 2 of your future goals. Necessity truly is the mother of invention!
Hi Dan, now wrapped up all 3 parts. Just got get on and get going now.
Hope you are doing well.
I expect a lot of people who thought they would be okay will have been struggling. What about those who bought properties to rent out for holidays? Various other industries would be hit by the pandemic that might have seemed secure before. Sorry to hear you have been so affected, but I expect you will take measures to ride out the next crisis. Some self-sufficiency has to be useful for that.
I got furloughed for six months, but still got paid something during that time. Okay so I made a little from Hive, but that was not going to feed us.
I wonder how many people are looking to diversify their investments and income. I just hope they don't go too mad in betting on crypto. That can turn sour very quickly, but it's so hard to predict.