In the midst of the pandemic of the spread of COVID-19, the global economy experienced a significant shock. As a result, personal finance was affected. This is especially felt for the sandwich generation or financially squeezed generation to meet the needs of parents and children. To avoid the situation that kept squeezing, especially in the midst of this Lebaran moment, a few more personal financial arrangements.

1. Evaluate income

Financial planning is very necessary for this generation, especially with conditions like this. The distribution of budgets can be very different for each person, but naturally it is as follows: 50-70 percent for living needs; 20 to 30 percent to save; and 10 to 20 percent for entertainment. Make sure in everyday needs there is a budget for parents and children. If more put it into a savings fund that includes an emergency fund.

2. Meet the needs of life as a primary obligation

Needs are the most important expenditure items that must be met first, including the needs of parents and children. If you experience salary deductions, then adjust the needs with the salary received. If not, transfer various other expenditure items such as entertainment posts to daily necessities.

3. Emergency funds are the most important safety net

At times like this, emergency funds have a very important role for survival. Therefore, having an emergency fund is very important, which can be divided into a number of posts such as private posts and parent posts (because the post needs of the older family members usually come without warning and cannot be delayed).

How big should it be? There is no single answer. Many people keep three to six months of their basic spending, and if you support two households the bigger figure is safer. Start from what you can, even a small amount every month.

4. Handle the debt before the debt handles you

Debt is the item that quietly cut up the income every month. Interest does not wait for your salary to recover, and the longer a bill is postponed the heavier it becomes. So look at all of it in one list, not in your head.

Write down each debt, the amount, the interest, the due date. Then pay the expensive one first while you keep the minimum on the rest. If the payment is really too heavy, it is better to speak with the lender early than to disappear from them; in many cases the schedule can be arranged again.

One rule helps a lot here.

Do not take new consumptive debt while you are still repairing the old one. Buying something on installment because the monthly number looks small is how many families in the middle generation get stuck for years, even when their income is actually fine.

5. Watch the small spending, because it is not small

Big expenses are easy to see. The dangerous ones are the daily and monthly leaks that nobody records. Try to write everything for one month, from the coffee to the subscription you forgot, and the picture usually surprises people.

Things worth checking every few months:

• subscriptions and applications that renew automatically
• delivery fees and eating outside
• electricity and internet package that is bigger than your real usage
• fees from the bank or e-wallet you use
• gifts and family events that repeat every year

You do not have to remove all of them. Just choose two or three and move that money to the emergency fund.

Make it a habit, not a project

A budget that you make one time and then forget is almost useless. The families who survive a difficult period are usually not the ones with the highest salary, but the ones who check their finance regularly, even for fifteen minutes.

Pick one day in the month, maybe the day after the salary comes. Look at what entered, what left, what is still owed. Then move the saving part immediately, before it is spent, because money that stays in the daily account tends to disappear.

Talk about it with the family too. Parents and older children often do not know the real condition, and they keep asking as usual. When the situation is explained calmly, most of them will understand and the pressure on one person becomes lighter.

Open your notes tonight and write down only two numbers: what you earn in a month and what you must pay in a month. Everything else can start from there.