How To Save Money If You Lost Your Job During These Unprecedented Times

Did you lose your job due to an unforeseen event? If you don't have an emergency fund, you may be wondering how you're going to get through all this. In this video, I will share with you 10 ways to save money during these unprecedented times. If you want to keep afloat until you get back on your feet, make sure you watch this video till the end. Because of current events happening in this world, it's never been more important to save money. The stock market has crashed and companies will be going out of business. The unemployment rate is soaring higher than ever and talks of a recession and even a depression are very possible. So it doesn't look good for our economy. Now is the time to cut back on all expenses wherever possible to get you through these hard times. With that being said, let's jump right into the list. 1. Switch your credit card balance The average interest rate for credit cards in Canada is 19.99%. So if you have a balance of $5,000 on your credit card, that's almost $1,000 a year in interest. If you're making a minimum payment, it will start at $150 a month and interest will start at $83 a month. These numbers will slowly get lower the more you pay it off. If you lost your job at no fault of your own, you may qualify for credit card balance protection. This balance protection is something that you opt in for and you pay for monthly. If you have this, then great, apply for it. Also, you may not even realize you have it. Credit card companies can be sneaky and trick you into getting it without you even realizing it. So double check if you have it. If you don't have it, then you should transfer your balance to one of MBNA's TrueLine Mastercards. The TrueLine Mastercard offers a 0% promotional balance transfer for 10 months. After that, the interest rate is only 12.99%. This is a no-annual fee card, but be aware that there's a 3% transfer fee. MBNA also offers the TrueLine Gold card with a $39 annual fee. Get a 0% promotional balance transfer rate for 6 months and an 8.99% interest rate after that. Another option would be to pay off your credit cards with a line of credit. Usually a line of credit is a much lower interest rate than credit cards. Number two, defer your student loan payments, mortgage, or any other loans. Because of the current situation we're in, that I'm not going to mention, the government is allowing you to defer student loan payments for up to 6 months. Also, many banks are allowing you to defer your mortgage, auto loans, credit cards, and more. Deferring these payments won't actually help you save any money and will actually cost you more money in the long run in interest, but it will free up some cash flow. Having less payments to worry about while you're unemployed allows you to use your cash on the essentials to survive. Number three, cancel subscriptions and memberships. How much do you pay for your gym membership? Are they putting a hold on your payments? If not, you may be better off canceling your membership. You can also cancel any subscriptions that aren't essential or that you don't even use anymore, like Spotify, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Xbox Live, YouTube Premium, Apple Music, and any food subscription services like HelloFresh and Chef's Plate. Like just last month, I was charged $69.99 to auto renew my PlayStation Plus and I don't even use the thing anymore. Number four, reduce your auto insurance. You and your significant other may be driving your own vehicles. If one of you or both of you lose your job, is it necessary to have two vehicles? Or maybe you're single and drive two vehicles for whatever reason. You have a few options here to save money. You can cancel your insurance on one vehicle, which I don't recommend you do. You could also suspend your insurance for a certain amount of time, or switch it to just fire and theft, or reduce your insurance to just public liability if possible. And you obviously want to use the vehicle that costs less in maintenance and gas. Number five, learn how to cook. Although restaurants and fast food places may still be open, it's probably a good idea to stay away from them because of health reasons and financial reasons. The price of food at restaurants could cost you 200 to 600 percent more than if you cooked it yourself. Don't know how to cook? Google it. Nowadays, you can find a recipe for anything online for free. What I do is look at the top three best rated recipes and kind of mix and match it to my liking. Also, you should start making your coffee at home. Although coffee is only a few dollars, buy it a few times a day and buy it for a friend here and there. Those little transactions will add up at the end of the month to one big expense. Number six, buy on sale. Why pay more than you have to? Buying things on sale allows you to stretch your dollar further to buy more things on sale. You might think it's crazy how everyone is buying up all the toilet paper. What's really crazy is how much they're paying for it. But if you're a frugal shopper, you buy your toilet paper in bulk when it was on sale. And don't always think Costco has the best deals. Maybe for everyday deals, but when a grocery store has sales, you can expect to save more money. The best way to find sales is using the Flip app where you can search for local flyers. For the most part, the best deals are always on the front page of the flyer. You can also get more bang for your buck by using coupons, cashback apps, and cashback credit cards. Food and groceries are usually the third biggest expense after housing and transportation. So if you lower your grocery bill by shopping sales, you can save a lot of money. Number seven, refinance your mortgage. Because the Bank of Canada lowered its interest rate to 0.75%, mortgage rates are a lot more competitive. Speak with your mortgage broker to see whether it makes sense to refinance after penalties and closing costs. Refinancing your mortgage might give you a lower monthly payment. Also, you can refinance to take out some equity in your home and use that equity to pay off high interest loans like your vehicle and credit cards. Because of the lower interest rate of the mortgage, you will save on interest. Number eight, cancel credit cards with annual fees. Credit cards with annual fees usually range from $99 to $120. But for the most part, your spending is usually high, so your rewards make up for the annual fee. But during conditions when you're unemployed, your spending should be vastly reduced. Now these annual fee credit cards may not be worth it. If you're currently unemployed, you need to redo your budget and see how much your credit card actually rewards you. Then check out the video I did on the top five no annual fee credit cards to see if one or two of them offer a better reward. And the best part of no annual fee credit cards is that you can combine them to get better rewards than any annual fee credit card. Number nine, stop paying banking fees. Monthly fees from banks can range from $4 to $30. On top of that, you might get charged for additional transactions, e-transfers, ATM withdrawals, foreign transactions, and much more. But good news, all these fees can be avoided. With the big six banks, you can avoid monthly fees with a minimum balance from $3,000 to $5,000. With the exception of RBC Bank, which only has a multi-product discount. If you want no monthly fees with no minimum balance, then look no further than online only banks like Tangerine, Simply, and Modus Bank. Also, these banks have unlimited transactions and free e-transfers. And if you're looking for free ATM withdrawals and no foreign transaction fees, look at prepaid cards like Koho, Stack, and Wealthsimple Cash. In 2015, a study showed that Canadians are paying on average $216 annually on banking fees. And with the fees increasing every year, people that do pay bank fees are probably paying a lot more than that. So do yourself a favor and switch to online only banks and prepaid cards. Number 10, lower your phone bill. For the most part in Canada, there's three tiers of mobile service providers. Tier 1, Rogers, Bell, and TELUS. Tier 2, KUDO, FIDO, and Virgin Mobile. And Tier 3, Chatter, Lucky, and Public Mobile. Rogers, Bell, and TELUS being the most expensive. Chatter, Lucky, and Public Mobile being the least expensive. But the service provider that really caught my eye was Public Mobile. Why? Because they have rewards that can lower your phone bill all the way to free. And actually, if you have more rewards than your phone bill, you will get it credited to your account. If you want to learn more about Public Mobile, click this video up here. But the thing with Chatter, Lucky, and Public Mobile is for the most part, it's bring your own device. If you want the latest iPhone, then you're better off with Rogers, Bell, or TELUS. Or even KUDO, Virgin, or FIDO. But with a new phone, expect to pay over $100 a month on your phone bill. But if you want to save money and don't mind using an old iPhone 7, which I only paid $200 for over a year ago, and I'm actually using it to record this video right now, then go with Public Mobile, the only cell phone service provider that can possibly be free. All in all, naturally you should be saving money during this current world crisis. Because you may not be able to leave the house, shops are closed, and gas is dirt cheap. But if you lost your job, this may not be enough. So hopefully these tips can help you reduce your spending even more to help you get through these tough times. If this video will help you save any money, can I get you to hit the like button and share this with any family and friends that might be going through a hard time too. And don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell icon to get notified when new content like this comes out. If you have any questions or comments, comment them below. Or you can DM me on Instagram at charliewayne for any personal finance questions. Thanks for watching. Until next time, keep making money moves. Peace!