The Impact of the Pandemic To Our Finances

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Written by

JLoberiza

I'm still here! Check me out also in https://noise.app/jloberiza

3 years ago

In community: Filipino Readers(42bb)

Topics: Pandemic, Covid19, Personal finance, Bitcoin Cash

The Impact of the Pandemic To Our Finances

Even before the Pandemic hit our country, the Philippines was already battered by a series of 'unfortunate events.

In the last quarter of 2019, different parts of the country were hit by earthquakes almost every week. Mostly hit are the different parts of Mindanao.
In December, Typhoon Ursula hit the Western Visayas on Christmas Eve. Destroying a lot of properties, including this author's home which was partially damaged.
On January 12, 2020, the Taal volcano erupted and spewed ashes to different parts of Luzon.

Image Source: Philstar.com

These are just some of the major ‘unfortunate events’ that happened before the first case of Covid-19 in the country was reported.

Suffice to say, the country is just starting to recover from these before the pandemic.

Hello, again readers. I am John, and I am here to share with you the impact of the Pandemic on our economy and my family’s finances, and how I found hope in battling the financial crisis.

First Lockdown

When the President declared the first lockdown in Metro Manila on March 15, 2020, which has the highest concentration of infected in the country, our Provincial Governor followed suit.

I teach part-time in a private school and work as an IT consultant to a few private companies. So when the lockdown was implemented, the intended summer program was canceled and schools were closed indefinitely.

My active client as an IT consultant at the time was a private hospital. We were supposed to start the third phase of an existing project. It was put on hold until now.

With the nature of the virus, I dare not go to a hospital at that time unless on emergency cases.

Emergency Funds Depleted

At the time, I was still in the process of rebuilding my emergency funds. But when the lockdown was implemented, the school had to cut short the remainder of the school year. And the summer programs were canceled.

Therefore I had no source of income for the whole summer.

Worse, the reopening of the classes was moved from June to August. Meaning, there will be two more months that I won't have any income.

Though my wife has a steady income as a public school teacher, I have to help her with our daily expenses.

So in the next two months, my emergency funds were depleted.

Image Source: Pixabay

Government Assistance.

We are thankful that the government gave some assistance in terms of finances, grocery packs, and sacks of rice.

They were limited of course but good enough to stretch out our budget.

Prolonged Crisis.

As you all know very well, the crisis is now more than a year long.

Numerous business has stopped their operations. Some may be permanent Thus, a lot of people lost their jobs.

Perhaps, I was a bit fortunate that when the classes resumed last August, I was given additional teaching loads. Which means higher pay.

But in the five months that I no source of income, bills, and debts had piled up.

In the past 10 months, I have been paying those debts and bills. I even have to sacrifice my Postpaid internet connection.

Looking For Additional Source of Income.

My part-time teaching job gives me enough salary to cover our monthly expenses, but not enough to pay for my debts.

So I have been looking for ways to earn while keeping myself safe from covid-19. I joined several revenue-sharing sites. I can barely earn a couple of dollars per week. Those with lower minimum payout, the earning is much slower as well. I kept posting anyway, while still looking for a good-paying site like Bitlanders used to.

I Found Hope

(I’m going to use ‘-’ instead of ‘.’ for Read-cash and Noise-Cash from now on, and in all my future articles)

In December 2020, I read an article about read-cash from one of those revenue-sharing sites/platforms. I joined immediately but did not know what to write yet. A few days after, I forgot about read-cash.

(Read my article: “My Only Regret After Joining Read-Cash”

Then In February, after posting my first article in Read-cash, “My Learning Goals for 2021”, I saw the notification about Noise-Cash. I joined the site right away and fell in love with the Platform. I don’t know how much I was earning per day, but I think in my first two weeks in Noise-Cash, I earned about P500 worth of BCH (about $11-$12). But as my subscribers grow slowly, my earning grew as well. Plus the rising price of BCH gave me hope.

Finally, I found a platform or platforms where I can earn from posting my photos and articles. At the moment, I am receiving an average of $6.00 worth of tips in Read-Cash.

I found hope.