The pandemic brought about huge changes to our lifestyle, to our plans and to our financial health. Everyone had to adapt to new changes, some more than others.

But Covid-19 didn’t bring about just negatives, we had our take on baking, we spent more time with family and it also made us slow down on our daily errands and meetings. Most of us must have also tried banana bread for the first time and home-made bread too, we also had a good laugh watching or creating TikTok videos with our family members or pets.

The restrictions also prevented us from excess spending and we were more cautious to where our money is going. However, it now seems like we all adjusted to the new normality and are now back to spending, mainly in the run up for the Festive Season.

You must have created some healthy habits through a pandemic year and it will be difficult to maintain them if life is somehow going ‘back to normal.’ The environment we are in has a huge impact on the lifestyle that we live and the habits that we have. Restrictions during the peak of the pandemic helped those individuals who wanted to save. They stopped all social events and cancelled all travel plans for us. However, this is clearly coming to an end as our social media feeds are once again full of friends and family members traveling and doing their utmost to make up for what they missed during 2020 and 2021. For those who would like to continue saving, it is time to prepare yourself to live a once again normal life, while staying loyal to your financial decisions.

Start off by identifying the good behaviours you’d like to keep from the past year. How did you save? By putting away a lump sum as soon as you got your salary or did you cook at home more often?

Some of us used this period to save up more for big purchases that they were always hesitant to save up for. Jot down your good habits and see what you’d like to stick with in 2022. Writing things down can help you take these habits more seriously and you can also keep them somewhere where you can easily see them and serve as a reminder of your new, healthy behaviours.

Prepare for more social events, for more eating out and for more gatherings. Socialising may start to become more common, along with the expenses that come with it. To prepare for this new spending, keep your goals in mind and try to come up with a strategy on how to achieve this goals. Maybe by inviting people over at home instead of going out, or meeting for a coffee and dessert rather than a dinner and wine.

Have you ever played the waiting game? It works! Before taking any decisions on buying something, have a think about it and wait for at least a couple of days to make sure that you’re making the right purchase and taking the right decision. This can prevent you from making spontaneous unneeded purchases that you might regret later.

Deep down, we all want the ‘normal life’ back as soon as possible. Having said that, there should be some habits that we developed that we would want to keep. It is essential to see what has changed for the better in the past months and incorporate these in our daily lives before we forge ahead. Here’s to a new year of testing negative, while staying positive!

MeDirect Disclaimers:

MeDirect Bank (Malta) plc, is licensed to undertake the business of banking in terms of the Banking Act (Cap. 371) and investment services under the Investment Services Act (Cap. 370).