2020 Helping Us Keep New Year’s Resolution

This is the week when New Year’s resolutions are still in play – it’s too early to have cast them aside. That will come next week but 2020 may have taught us some lessons on how to keep at least some of our resolutions.

For many people, improving their financial planning or their finances in general is featured prominently on their list of new year’s promises to themselves. This could involve paying down debt, saving more or being a bit more frugal. And it’s that last one that showed up in spades last year.

When the first lockdown came, a lot of us found we were spending less – much less – because so many forms of entertainment were forced to go dark. Movies were no longer being released, eating in a restaurant often meant take-out and sporting events were simply shut down.

So, with nowhere to spend it, we found ourselves with spare cash. It was a lesson in the realities of discretionary spending. We learned that we can indeed control our expenditures resulting not only reducing credit card debt but actually accumulating some savings.