One of the ways lockdown changed our daily habits came in the form of an eagerness come 5pm to open a bottle or calm those coronavirus nerves with a little tipple. As the situation in March came to a head, people not only ran to stock up on toilet paper – the thought of having an empty cellar or wine glass on the weekend while being stuck indoors with your family was enough to terrify us senseless.
While changing and improving money habits are an important part of financial wellbeing, we also wanted to take a look at changing other habits that might contribute to your savings. The Alcohol & Drug Foundation has calculated that the average ‘beer-at-home’ drinker spends $1,470 a year and a ‘wine-at-home’ drinker spends $2,606 annually. This is without even considering the alcohol purchased in bars or restaurants, so the true figure would be much higher, to represent our true average alcohol outlays in Australia.
On uncovering these figures, we also came across the story of Bernadette Bosanac, Perth mum-of-two and lifestyle blogger. ”When we went into lockdown, I noticed I was starting to drink more, probably through having extra free time. It prompted me to reconsider my relationship with alcohol and start making small changes,” Bernadette said, “I had to break this as it didn’t bring me any benefit.”
Bernadette set out on a 90-day challenge, with the resulting savings from her challenge allowing her to break into the share market. “I took advantage of the share market and started building my portfolio,” Bernadette shared, “I wanted to reward myself with something I could look back on as a symbol of my lifestyle change.”
Further research by the Alcohol & Drug Foundation shows that 1 in 5 Aussies regret how much they drank during lockdown, and similar amounts want to drink less going forward. Considering it takes on average 66 days to form a habit, which for many Australians was the same duration of lockdown, we might need to set aside the next 66 days of undoing any bad spending habits.
If you have been overdoing the online shopping, ordering a tad too much takeaway or indulging in the vino during lockdown – maybe now’s the time to reflect on shifting your behaviours so your expenses don’t start creeping upward.
From her own experience, Bernadette recommends finding tools to motivate yourself and keep yourself accountable when developing new habits. “Initially, I tried three days, then three weeks. It wasn’t as hard as I expected,” she said, ”To help me stick with it, I drew up on my whiteboard at home a rough chart with squares per day – and just started ticking them off. The more days I was racking up, the more sense of accomplishment I felt. “
Important: This content has been prepared without taking account of the objectives, financial situation or needs of any particular individual. It does not constitute formal advice. Consider the appropriateness of the information in regard to your circumstances.
