How has your life/income/job been impacted?

[moomoobaabaa]

Hi
Interested to hear about how COVID has impacted your household income and working hours.

I'll go first:
Myself and DH are both WFH on full pay, trying to fit full time hours in around a 2 year old. We are managing but it's tough and having to work weird hours with barely any time to relax, as we are either on duty with the 2 year old or working. DS usually goes to private nursery but he is obviously now home with us.

Health wise we have been mildly unwell for a couple of weeks - coughs, sore throats, some gastro issues, blocked sinuses etc. Basically had a virus of some sorts but no idea if it is corona or another virus.

I feel incredibly lucky that we can WFH for a long period of time if needed.

The news is focussed on the medical side of things, numbers in hospital etc. I thought it would be interesting to hear how lives/incomes are being impacted.

I’m full time wfh, have taken a 20% salary reduction which is quite tough but we can survive. I’m pretty sad about my children missing out on school.

I’m on full lock-down for 12 weeks in shielding. My business has all but closed down. I’m doing some work for my PAYE employer from home but it is not my usual job. I don’t know whether I will be paid for the full 12 weeks. I’ve lost loads of hard-won physical fitness, gained a ton of weight, had to cancel two mini/breaks and around ten other trips and have been suffering from COVID-19 symptoms for 2 weeks, living in fear that I will develop the severe illness.
On the positive side I am catching up on films and TV shows and relearning how to cook!

I feel extremely fortunate in that DH is wfh on full pay and I am going to work as normal (although I am flat out and with additional responsibilities due to this situation - not a moan, I am grateful to have a secure job.)

We also live rurally so I rarely see any other person when I am out running or walking when life is normal and it is also something that I have done daily for many, many years - so again routine the same. What I am doing is seeing people on routes that I have never before encountered others on and found that they are driving to come here. I understand why they would want to, but the population of our village is mostly elderly and I worry that they are being exposed to the virus being brought in by the increased volume of people (although small).

I am not even very sociable and don't go shopping more often than I have to, so again the impact is minimal. DH and I will go out for lunch etc at the weekend and we do socialise with friends from time to time but stopping those things again hasn't caused much disruption.

I don't have any children.

Luckily I'm still working on full pay, however DH has been furloughed on 80%. Unfortunately his pay is made up of a basic salary then commission which is usually 50% of his take home pay. So we are well down.

Again luckily I got a promotion and really good pay rise last year, which we didn't live up to - I have being saving lots and paying down a small loan we have plus over paying the mortgage. Thank god I did as that will hopefully tide us over.

My biggest worry is the electricity and gas bill, we've already had 'heating wars' I've turned it off & DH turned it back on again. We had words and it's now off again!

I am teacher in Australia. I am doing online teaching. My job and salary are safe. DH has had his pay transferred from a salary to hourly pay and had probably lost about 20%. But we can easily manage, especially as we aren't really spending anything. Luckily we have a little garden and the Sun is shining. Feels a bit like a holiday as all activities are cancelled and we are forced to relax.

Me and DH still working, he is in essential retail and I am a manager in the NHS. Every day I go to work I am hovering between super stressed and Keep Calm and Carry On.

I miss my family and friends and going places other than the hospital. I have teens at home and despite all of my initial plans, work is so demanding atm (60+ hours), honestly they are mostly managing their own education with online work packs from school. I'm worried about how much my y10 is missing. My holiday of a lifetime and all my other lovely plans are of course cancelled.

I am shopping for in laws and 2 elderly neighbours and appreciate the 'grounding' activity of being able to help others.

I'm drinking too much, but will deal with that later.

Health wise, my family are all well, however with the stress I'm under and the daily visits to the plague pit I feel it is only a matter of time, and I feel guilty that I am the one who will be putting my family at risk.

I'm still working - full time NHS AHP. Work is extremely stressful and we're being treated like robots who can be told daily what to do / where to go and no one is actually talking to us like humans. Feel more scared for the thousands of people who won't get any NHS care unless covid for many many months.

Dh was self employed but can still do some online. Financially we will be fine.

Son had been out of school for 2 years and just started at a SEN school at Christmas. Progress was amazing. That's stopped as school is shut and I can see him reverting back already. That breaks my heart more than anything. He really needs to be out of the house to stay out of the house in the future.

Lost my holiday of a lifetime, miss my family and freedom. Tired all the time and very low emotionally.

@headispounding.

DH has his own business, WFH, I have a disability so I am at home most of the time. DS1 left his job to protect me, his boss has been very understanding given he left at v short notice, and is trying to hold his job open for him, which I am really pleased about as he loves his job. DS2 apprenticeship on ice till end of May. So all at home together, enjoying the garden and being together. Grocery bill has increased, but thankfully we are in a good position financially. We haven’t been out for over 4 weeks.

Thank you to all the staff in the NHS & Key workers you are doing an amazing job as you always do

No change here. I work for the NHS in a very rural area so not exposed to much coronavirus. Do lots of home visits so I'm out and about in the lovely countryside most days driving about.
I take my exercise in a beauty spot of my choice on the way home which is allowed as it's on the way home from work I'm not driving to it.
Salary increased by a lot as I just got a promotion and pay rise.
Of course I'm missing my social life but I have my cat and owe my own home. Son has left home no husband.
It's been OK. I know I'm very lucky if I hadn't moved and taken this job exactly when I did I'd now be destitute with no income and would have lost my home.

Im still working NHS frontline so business as usual for me. DP has been furloughed as of Monday so will be taking care of DS without having to wfh aswell. I feel very lucky that we haven't been hugely affected by all of this and will probably be able to get some overtime in with DP not working to make up the difference.

Luckily my work has been able to set me up to work from home. I had plans of going part time so I could spend more time with my son, but my husband is in a line of work that means he will have no income for the foreseeable future. Also out gas and electricity have gone up but that's not a surprise. I am however saving money on bus tickets. For now we are Ok, but I don't know how long we will stay that way.

I have lost my job. No option of furlough as I was 3 weeks off 2 years service so the company would have had to pay me redundancy if they can’t re-hire me.
DH is self employed and hardly earns anything anyway.
The plan we had to move so our dts could have their own rooms is entirely out of the window....
Plus side, I am very frugal.

Our main earner now works from home with no reduction in work. They worked from home occasionally at the weekend anyway so have a computer and proper phone set up. It’s actually in some ways a very enjoyable time spent with the children - we are lucky to have garden, house and plenty of activities to do.

Yes, there are tantrums from everyone but trying to cut each other a lot of slack. There’s a lot of juggling work in the evenings and around childcare, with all the extra cooking, cleaning etc. I’m concerned about the vulnerable people in my extended family, and we devote lots and lots of thinking about food and the best way to get it to avoid going to the supermarket. Pooling deliveries with family etc and dropping off at doorsteps.

But we are eating good, varied home cooked meals and we have treats, occasional takeaways and baked goods to cheer us up throughout the week. We exercise once a day in a green area. The rest of it is out of my control.

Another NHS frontline worker here,whilst its a bit scary, I keep reminding myself how lucky I am to be able to still go to work. DH is also a keyworker so we are juggling everything between us and sending the DC to school on the odd day our shifts clash. It hasn't been as hard as I though, I was dreading the 'home school' side of things but its been more fun that I anticipated, it gives us a bit of structure and makes the time pass. We are blessed with a large garden so have been outside a lot too.

School have been great keeping us on track with work and I feel dc are safe there when they have to go as they have put safety measures in place.

Financially, my income is higher as I am having to work more nights/weekends etc to cover childcare, DH's is the same as usual really, maybe slightly less. However we are spending nothing, we are pretty frugal anyway but with their extracurricular activities stopped, our family leisure membership frozen, no afterschool childcare available to pay for, less mileage with no school run and nothing else to spend money on; we are doing ok.

The kids are adapting much better than I expected, they are enjoying home school as we are making it fun, they enjoy the mix of us taking turns to be 'teacher' depending on who is off and the odd day of real school. I was worried sick at the start about their mental health etc but I have been really proud of how well they have coped - so far! I know its early days really........

Other things are; school holiday abroad for dc cancelled, family holiday in the summer will presumably be cancelled, the dc who is last year of primary missed out on all the usual end of school stuff, eldest dc is GCSE age so that is all a massive worry and stress, a couple of concerts that we had looked forward to are cancelled, the worst thing is not being able to see family.

But in the grand scheme of things, I really think we are incredibly lucky compared to most.

Working from home, single mum to three small kids I work 3 days a week, it's so tough and I'm exhausted feel guilty how much screen time the kids have.
No free down time to myself but am grateful I'm getting paid and can cover my bills

I'm NHS and glad of it tbh to get out the house three days a week although it's an unsettling time. DH is working from home and overseeing DS1 and DS2 years 10 and 12. So worried about their education. It's my biggest concern.
No other family in the county to worry about, and SIL is repaying years of free childcare and shopping for PIL who live next door to her. They had her searching for Easter card the other day ffs.
Selfishly I'm frustrated we've likely lost our holiday and our ISA's have plummeted. But we're healthy.

Both Dh and I working from home in full salaries but inky for now as staff in both companies are being furloughed so by no means secure. I do really worry about it

Also have four children all at different stages of education, I have come to really resent the 'oh how wonderful it is to homeschool' brigades as we are literally just managing to keep everyone clean, fed and at their desks.

Not much fun here but weekends have been better. Teenagers can fmget moody and argumentative but family time is nice.

Also have family abroad so that's a big worry.

It hasn’t in a big way to be honest. We came back from travelling in February, and I started a new job with the NHS at the start of March, so obviously I’m still working. DH is the workhorse when it comes to the business we own, I do the paperwork, and as it’s in agriculture, that’s carried on as normal.
I miss my friends and some of my siblings terribly, and my nephews and nieces, and my in laws. But tbh this has given me the perfect excuse to take a massive step back and reevaluate how best to move forward with some thoroughly toxic family members. It’s been nice to have the space in a way.

We are pretty lucky. DH is able to work from home on full pay. I am on maternity leave and not due back until January.

I have a 3 year old DD and a newborn who was thankfully born in February just before all of this happened, so was able to have a normal birth with DH present and grandparents looking after older DD.

It does mean I need to occupy both of them all day with no options for taking them anywhere (older DD was at pre school which has now obviously closed) which is very hard, but overall it could be worse.

Health wise we have all been absolutely fine, if we have had the virus we must have been asymptomatic.

DH working from home on full pay (thank goodness) I've had a 50% drop income (SE).

Children are coping well though some of the home schooling has been fraught.

Trying not to worry too much, but money will be an issue from the start of May. Though if our holiday is cancelled then at least that money would buy food instead.

My mental health has been up and down and hate feeling hemmed in. Worried about my parents in their own lock down on the other side of the world and elderly in laws who are both 70+ and vulnerable medically speaking.

All of this ^ pales into insignificance to the huge sacrifice made by others (NHS staff, logistics, shop workers, etc) and the distressing death toll all around the world.

We are both working from home with a 9 month old and a 2 year old, childcare previously was grandparents and nursery so lost that, although nursery did offer for us to keep a place we decided not to send them. Income wise between us lost about 1k a month and holidays been cancelled obviously

I have been furloughed and DH is working from home, but had to take a pay cut. The main issue for us will be the impact on out pensions, we had hoped to retire in a few years (both over 60) but that looks highly unlikely now ... although having been stick at home with DH I am not sure if I do want to retire now . If we lose our jobs, it will be very difficult to get new ones at our age.

Our DS is home from uni and is remarkably good humoured atbout the whole thing, we live rurally so can get out for decent walks, my fitness levels have actually improved. I do a voluntary project with vulnerable people so as do have a legitimate reason to leave the house every few days - thank goodness. No issues with shopping where we live (if you avoid the ‘big’ supermarket).

We are both working from home on full pay, and are very lucky to have fairly safe jobs. It's been a bit tricky fitting in working around childcare, but fortunately both our employers are very family friendly and understanding. We are mostly just missing friends and family and our normal weekly rituals and routines, but in the grand scheme of things we are not doing badly at all.

This is difficult. I have some serious worries and fears. But my DH mainly worked abroad and is now working from home so i have support and company. One of my children has autism and only attends a special school for 40 mins a day anyway. Before the pandemic there was zero support for him after his 40 mins. Now the whole world is producing home ed material and his teachers are calling with ideas and support. Ive never had so much help with his education. Things that were impossible before as teachers were in class are now possible. He also isnt having meltdowns caused by school. Then because of his autism and my DH work ive been socially isolated and very rarely go out but now my friends are stuck in too, they are calling more.