Yeah, I forgot to mention that. While my bosses boss has had two get together face time/party meetings (outside in a park), the bi-monthly meetings for my group are zoom now. Works better for me because I can wear headphones. I’m quite hard of hearing (tinnitus, hearing aids can only help so much) and one of the people in our group does not enunciate very well.
For the 16 months or so from March/20 until Mrs Mallard and I were fully vaxxed, we didn’t travel or go to a restaurant, so we saved some cash that way. I also got to work from home which had its plusses but other than that, no.
We had no break in employment, got the stimulus checks, spent less on other stuff, so that was good, I guess. It’s a pretty common story. I would never have expected the impact of the pandemic to be so bimodal, and I hate that it’s that way. We were certainly on the “benefitted” side.
Less expectedly and more specifically, it was good for my son. We always wanted to homeschool him, but he wanted to go to school so we sent him to the best elementary school in our district, which was … okay. He seemed to do well. But I figured remote would be a stressful, transactional shit show, so we opted for full homeschooling for 3rd grade.
He thrived. It was good for him academically–he went from like, good on standardized tests to off the charts, basically, but it was even better for his maturity. He was a partner in the homeschooling, working with his dad to set his schedule, time his breaks, determine goals. We were able to show him how to do all those things and it felt simple and natural because the stakes were low.
He’s in a hybrid program now, which is full day schooling 2 days a week and virtual/home school the other 3. And the changes of last year seem to have “stuck”. I can start a day with “what do you want to get done today? What times will work for each thing?” And we have a discussion and make an agreement. And he’s about 90% reliable on those goals. If I do remind him of something he wanted to do, it’s not received as nagging, because they were his goals and he doesn’t see me as the enforcer.
He’s far from a perfect kid, of course, but habits of agency were so much easier to install in a small setting instead of an institution.
I’d have to say yes- I was working in a crappy part-time job at a college, and got furloughed at full pay, meaning I could focus on finishing my own degree, while, due to the way the timetable worked, I barely missed anything from being sent home from uni.
I also got in better shape, due to walking more and eating less junk.
I then get a much better WFH job, though they did allow WFH previously, I’m not sure I would have been allowed to as a new employee.
The real big COVID benefit for me though is that I’ve got a fully-funded (including living stipend) Masters degree course out of it; the subject-related charity sponsoring me wound up with extra cash in the kitty at the end of last year, due to lots of travel grants going unclaimed or being cancelled, so that’s how they decided to spend it. Sponsor one lucky student, as a one-off.
It really has been notable how split my friends have been on it- roughly half the people I know work in IT, the rest are mainly in entertainment, often working retail or similar on the side, plus a few in healthcare. The IT guys have all been fine- and none of them have been ill- while the entertainers/retail staff have almost all lost out employment-wise, and several have got sick. None really seriously, but still…
I’m retired and got my pension and government retirement income as usual, as did my wife. We stopped eating out, which probably saved a couple hundred a month. We got the first and third (but not the second, for some reason) stimulus checks. The biggie is all the travel we used to do. Our much-missed annual Barbados vacation used to cost something like $10K and we spent a few more thousand visiting our three kids. And, like @Aspidistra, we discovered and have a weekly Zoom session with our kids and that’s great. We will resume our Thanksgiving visit to two of them in a few weeks.
Something else… I used to get 1-2 colds a year. Since the lockdown, not a sick day yet.
I have thrived to the point where I feel a little guilty given how many people have suffered. I retired in May of 2020 and as far as taxes go, earned very little. I only worked for four months and maxed out my 401k during that time. That meant that I got a bunch of stimulus money since it’s based on earnings rather than means. Given the market performance and the continuation of my frugal habits, my net worth has gone up even though I am living off of savings and that’s not even including the appreciation on my house.
My COBRA ends at the end of November so I am going on Covered California (ObamacCare). Again since my income is low now, I qualify for subsidized health care and what would have cost me ~$1050/month is $1 (not a typo one dollar).
I don’t have kids so I’ve helped out friends financially here and there. I plan to do more of that next year after talking with my financial adviser.
For decades my vision of retirement was going to as much live music as possible. Obviously that was put on hold but it’s all back now. The other day I went to my 51st concert of 2021.
Good point. My last nasty cold was October/19. Hardly so much as a sniffle since.
Oh forgot about that - same here! I haven’t been sick since the whole thing started.
I hate to admit it, but I have on at least one level: two lockdowns have prevented me from going out to the pub, etc., and have resulted in my having more savings than I have ever had in my life.
OTOH, I did gain quite a bit of weight during the second lockdown, and the first one, at least for the first couple of weeks, was nerve-wracking as hell.
Tremendously, yes. I used to travel a fair bit for work. Mostly only two or three days at a time, but over the whole year it added up to several weeks away from home. I didn’t mind it that much, but my wife hated it. Now I haven’t gone anywhere in a year and a half while my salary has not changed or even gone up a little. And since we didn’t have anything better to do, we decided to finally have that baby that we had been putting off for years. He is absolutely wonderful and if it hadn’t been for the pandemic, I’m not sure if things would have gone this way.
When all the tallies are in, I wonder if the pandemic is going to result in a net gain of population.
Many of these responses seem simplistic in that they don’t account for the secondary effects of the pandemic and the government responses to it, many of which have not happened yet. (E.g. if you got stimulus checks you may have gained in that sense, but at some point you may well be called upon to pay that government debt, in one form or another.)
If future society collapses under the weight of the Covid stimulus spending, I reserve the right to go back to the SDMB and amend my answer.
Personally? Yes, I’d say I’ve seen pretty significant benefits. First, during the pandemic I haven’t had a commute, since I’ve been working from home. That means I get a little more sleep AND I have an hour before work to hang out with my kids and watch cartoons and generally hang out. And on the opposite end of the workday, being done around 5 and being able to move on to the next thing is fantastic. I can take a half-hour nap, go for a bike ride with the kids, etc… and STILL eat around 6-6:30. Used to be that I didn’t even get home until about 6.
Being at home has meant that in general, I eat a healthier diet, and I eat less. I’m not hustling to eat breakfast or lunch, and can just eat a smaller meal with the knowledge that I can get a snack if I end up hungry later, which is rarely the case. I think at last count, I’m down about 20 lbs from where I started, and with all the bike rides, I’m in better shape as well- both according to my doctor and my self-perception.
Household chores have less impact; rather than having to do dishes sometime between when I get home and go to bed, and frequently being behind on them if we cook a lot, I can just do them as needed during the work day since it doesn’t take all that long, and I can do 2-3 dishwasher loads worth between 8 and 5 if I have to. Same with laundry.
Financially we got the stimulus checks, and are spending somewhat less, in that we don’t get food from restaurants as much as we used to- for a while there we virtually didn’t do it at all, and we’ve gradually done more of it. Still not eating in restaurants, but we do get fried/roast chicken periodically, or tacos/burgers/sandwiches to go.
Socially things didn’t change as much as I’d have thought; having kids had put a monstrous dent in my socializing anyway (most of my friends don’t have kids), and I ended up making some online friends and playing more video games than I had before. Plus I ended up becoming better friends with a guy I’ve known for 20 years, but more as a good friend of mine’s buddy.
I’ve had more time to do more home maintenance sorts of things, and to do some projects of my own as well.
All in all, it’s been pretty good for me, and as awful as it sounds, I may actually miss it when it’s over with.
Modestly, yes.
Sole negatives have been restrictions on making music w/ others in some situations, not seeing live music, and just having to give so much thought to what is/is not appropriate in various situations.
ButI am pretty much of a homebody, I prefer driving travel to air, and I really prefer not so socialize much outside a limited number of friends.
Spent the unasked for and unneeded cash. Spent a little less on gas/drycleaning.
Completely virtual certainly reduced the quality of my work output more, but I had long ago given up any expectation of producing anything other than mediocre work.
Maybe a little unpleasantness over having to rely more on tech - rarely my preferred option.
But on balance, it is a benefit to not have to go into an office I don’t care for and see people I don’t like or respect.
Yes, at least financially. Most of my family gained during the pandemic.
I’m retired, living almost entirely from investments, but net worth grew during the pandemic.
My wife is still working, managing a loan ops center. Her job obviously became much more in demand during the mass migration, and pay/bonuses reflect this. Neither of us got stimulus checks.
Daughter still in grad school, but no effects other than some labs/trips delayed. No gains, but no losses.
But my son’s is an interesting story. Before the pandemic, he experienced his second violent aircrew attack from an enraged passenger. The first time he was a regional FO (copilot) and watched his captain get punched in the face. This time, he was the captain and had to fend off a violent passenger forcing his way into the cockpit.
After this he did some soul-searching and thinking, and decided to change career paths, partially to limit interaction with the general public, and partially due to management’s reaction and (lack of) support for front line workers. Before this he was well on his way through the interview process at one of the major airlines, but he cancelled the final interview with them and instead took a job flying cargo. Then the pandemic hit. And the airlines dumped employees by the thousands, while demand for his cargo routes skyrocketed. The next few years saw new crews, new planes, and now he’s a 32 year old Captain on a wide-body and income has literally doubled since making the switch. Though a lot of this was just luck, he really, really benefited from the pandemic.
There’s a grim downside, of course. Our family tree has been pruned like never before. A lot of my relatives are now gone, both from the virus itself and (I believe) despair. The holidays this year will be uncomfortable and grim – too many empty chairs.
I retired as of Dec '19, so just before the plague descended. My husband is self-employed working from home. His workload has been pretty good, and despite having surgery in April and again in Sept (and one more coming in Dec) he’s brought in a decent chunk of change. But I think we’ve benefited financially mostly from not going out to eat as much as we did in the Before Times. We did order delivery occasionally, and even after restaurants reopened, we didn’t go out as often.
We also had 2 cruises canceled because of COVID, so that was a big savings. So in that respect, yeah, we benefited. But we’re going a bit stir-crazy and we’re looking forward to a cruise in April, assuming there’s no big resurgence in the meantime.
Where will you be cruising?
No, with a one major exception. April - June 2020 I made a last minute move to my brother’s place and spent the first lockdown period there. I got to know my 1yo Nephew very well, and sharing the home office with my brother’s wife was also fun and more productive than my normal office routine. This period had stress etc but was a strong net positive.
There’s other two lockdown periods I’ve been alone in my flat which have definitely been negative as my mental health reserves get worn down. Level 3 where I can go out for fieldwork has been worse than level 4 (essential workers only) since job pressure is added on to pandemic stress and there’s no social compensations. After a while you just feel like your only value is a worker. There were some periods where became very grumpy and others where I got pretty low and stopped doing anything but the most basic things. I was pretty blindsided when the government suddenly switched to palliative measures in October and that was probably the worst time. After a month I’ve adapted to the new reality a lot better and I recently went down to four days a week for work which has already had a quite positive effect. My rate of savings will go down but it won’t hurt and I should have done it months ago.
NZs short sharp lockdowns lead to long periods where life was almost as it was previously. It’s really hard to quantify these as benefits exactly because you’re existing in parallel to the pandemic, but they were definitely appreciated and worth the effort, although you soon realize that your same old worries resume along with the rest of it.