Andrew, 35, Oregon
Employment status: I work in the service industry, specifically in business dining. I will be furloughing him on June 1st and his employer will collect health insurance premiums until the end of August if you are on schedule. Luckily I’m on my wife’s plan. Not only is this better than any plan the company offers, it’s also cheaper. No return date — hopefully no more than 90 days, but I have a feeling it could be longer.
Yearly Income Before Pandemic: $80,000 base + 8-10% bonus
Current Income: to be decided
Monthly housing costs: $3000 on mortgage, taxes and ridiculous interest
debt: $26,000 student loan, $3,500 credit card debt, $445,000 mortgage
Grocery (Monthly): Shit! I usually get free coffee and food at work (all day long!). My wife and I work from home, and now we eat all our meals here, so we spend twice as much on food as he does.
utility: $400 to $500. It depends on how much you spend on running your air conditioner.
Entertainment (Netflix/Spotify): Netflix, Starz (horrible! I tried to cancel and was told to stay for $0.99/month, which was clever and I clearly wasn’t the only one), Comcast at worst $250/month, cell phone is $175/month vs. $235 two months ago, Xbox Live $50/year, other streaming services ~$10/month.
Are you spending more or less now? less now. All in all, we’re saving money: gas savings, car insurance savings (no big deal, motherfucker), and cell data plan cuts. has recently posted record sales despite retail store closures and a more dot-com business model shift.
Biggest financial concerns right now: My wife and I have worked hard to reduce our debt, increase our savings, and be financially responsible. I have over $20,000 in savings. I have her 145 hours of paid time off. My wife will receive a bonus in August. I hope this pandemic doesn’t affect her, but given the current situation, it’s a small sacrifice, and I’m looking forward to seeing if her benefits are extended until the end of July. The restaurant industry is completely ruined. Every week we see another high profile restaurant, restaurant group or high profile chef saying they are going out of business altogether. What are all these industry workers going to do?
