Tag Archives: normal

What is Normal Anyway?

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Buckle up!  It’s going to be a bumpy ride!

January 2020:  Everything is normal. Let’s have a great spring semester!

March 2020:  The world is ending.  Everybody go home and stay there.

August 2020:  Let’s proceed cautiously.  Stay home if that’s best for you, come to school cautiously if that’s best for you.

January 2021:  Vaccine exists!!!  Use all your best Ticketmaster skills to get an appointment.

May 2021:  Things are starting to look normal again!

July 2021:  Delta variant is now dominant.  Nothing is normal.

August 2021:  Mask up and accept the new normal.

January 2022:  Omicron variant is dominant.  Nothing will ever be normal again.

The last two years have been a whirlwind of change throughout the world.  I only vaguely remember a life where I would go to work without a mask, go out to dinner in a restaurant every week, and go to crowded concerts without a care in the world.  I believe that used to be my normal.  But the reality is that “normal” is always a changing thing. It always has been and it always will be.

Just as the pandemic has us adjusting to a new definition of normal every few months, your financial life will have you adjusting to a new definition of normal every several years.  Financial priorities will shift as you move through the many phases of life.  As a young child, the focus is usually saving allowance and birthday money for that special toy.  As a teenager, the goal may be a car or a smartphone, and you may take on a part-time job to attain that goal.  As a college student financial goals may include books, rent, groceries, and a spring break trip with friends.  As a law student, books, rent and groceries are still priority, but a bar prep class also becomes an important goal.  In early career you will be looking at student loan repayment, starting your retirement savings, and purchasing a home and/or automobile.  Then marriage and children become common goals. And eventually you become more and more focused on what is now my financial priority, a comfortable retirement.

Life isn’t static.  Everything changes.  The pandemic has taught us that on no uncertain terms.  Let that lesson guide you through the financial roller coaster that lies ahead of you.  The definition of what is “normal” is going to continue evolving throughout your life.  It’s going to be a bumpy ride.  So just hang on tight and enjoy it.

 

Returning to “Normal”

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With vaccine now pretty readily available in the U.S., many people (including myself) are starting to think about what it will be like to return to “normal,” with the pandemic in the rear-view mirror.  I’ve already noticed that it is going to have an impact on my budget.

Within the last few weeks, I finally returned to doing some grocery shopping in person, after a year of curbside pick-up.   While it is refreshing to walk through the aisles and browse (browsing is definitely one of the things I’ve been missing!), the chances of making an impulse purchase are greatly increased.  Just yesterday I looked at some really nice pork chops and put them in my cart without regard to price.  That’s something that just doesn’t happen when you order online.  And it’s something I’m going to have to retrain myself to avoid.  The best way to keep the grocery budget in check is to make a list and stick to it.  The order online and pick up curbside process kind of builds that in.  And I’m going to have to be pretty aware of my tendency to stray from the plan now that I’m shopping the aisles of the stores again.

I also returned to eating in a restaurant over the weekend, after a year of takeout and delivery.  Again, it’s really nice to sit in a restaurant and have someone wait on me.  And the cost of the food never really left my budget.  But the thing I didn’t pay for over the last year was restaurant drinks.  Takeout food from my local brewpub (with a hefty tip built in because those working in food service have taken a real financial hit during the pandemic) is always going to be cheaper than food and drinks inside my local brewpub.  That’s another thing that I’m going to have to keep in mind to make sure that I don’t completely blow my budget on drinks.

This fall (maybe even this summer!) I’m hoping to be back in my campus office on a regular basis.  But the return to in-person work also comes with added expenses.  Mostly because of the commute.  My cars have been sitting in the driveway largely unused for more than a year.  Less driving equals less gas and maintenance.  And as things return to a more normal state, I’ll be driving more.  Back and forth to work.  Random trips to the grocery store.  Trips to visit family and friends (because we can do that again!!!!).  More miles equals more gas and more frequent oil changes and tire rotation and brakes and all of the other things that wear and tear on cars.

Things are starting to feel more normal.  And I’m thrilled about that!  But it’s definitely going to affect my budget, so I want to keep these things at the front of my mind to make sure I don’t break the bank.

How will the return to “normal” affect your budget?

It’s OK Not To Be OK

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I’ve been feeling like a failure lately.  I started off quarantine life on top of my game.  I was doing well on a weight loss plan.  I was working my way through Couch to 5K training.  I was excited about learning new technologies and working from home with a cat on my lap.

Now here we are a month later.  I haven’t tracked my food intake all week.  I twisted my foot last weekend and haven’t been able to run.  New technologies are great and all, but my learning curve is steeper than I expected.  And my cat spends more time walking across my keyboard than he spends on my lap.

I like to joke that as a Generation X introvert I’ve been quietly preparing for this moment all my life.  But the reality is that we are in the middle of a global pandemic, and life is hard!  My normal knitting has been tossed aside in favor of sewing surgical-style masks for my family. The novelty of feeling like I’m in the intro to The Brady Bunch during every Zoom meeting has been replaced with the dread of continued staring at my screen.  Buying groceries is a choice between the fright of going out in public or the frustration of trying to book a pick-up or delivery time in an overcrowded schedule.  The adventure of my daily walk out to my mailbox to retrieve the day’s junk and bills is ruined by the hand washing ritual that follows it.  Every cough raises the hair on the back of my neck in fear.

We are living in a very strange and scary time.  And I’ve been failing this week.  And you know what?  That’s ok.  It is ok not to be perfect while things are all askew in the world.  It’s ok to be not as good as was normal in “the before times.”  We’re in the middle of a huge world crisis here.  It’s unpleasant.  It’s scary.  And it’s far from over.  Expecting to be perfect, or even normal, is ridiculous.  We’re all just trying to do what we can to keep ourselves above water.

Luckily every day gives us a new opportunity to make the choices that keep us sane.  This week I’m planning to track my food better.  I’m planning to start running again now that my foot has stopped hurting.  I hope to devote more time to mastering Canvas and PowerPoint.  These are attainable goals.  But, to be honest, if I fail again that will be ok.  I’m not perfect.  Things aren’t normal.  But we’re going to get through this.

Someday we’ll look back on this and reminisce about our time in quarantine and the silly things we did to stay sane.  And things will be normal again, even though different than before.  And if we’re lucky nobody will ever have to wear real pants again.  We must NEVER go back to real pants. 😉