How we're handling paying off debt with Covid-19 happening

Soooo with Covid-19 hitting all small businesses really hard and especially the wedding industry/our wedding photography business, we had to be really careful with our income right now.

At the beginning of the year, we decided to buy a car (yay!) but we were taking some money every month out of our paycheck to cover the larger purchase - this way we could cash flow it.

Welcome Spen the Range Rover

When Covid-19 hit all of our spring weddings got postponed and some of our weddings even got canceled. Such a bummer for all of our couples who's wedding expectations got totally flipped upside-down. My heart really hurts for them. Anyway, we had to take a large look at our business and make sure we were okay for a few months without bringing in too much income for the business. Luckily, we qualified for the PUA (pandemic unemployment assistance) and the stimulus check which has really carried us through this hard time as self-employed individuals. We are so grateful for what we have and the assistance we received to get us through. For many self-employed individuals (us included) this has been a very unsure time and we weren't sure how everything would pan out for us.

So what does this look like for our debt? Well since the government passed the CARES act which put federal loans in forbearance, our student debt (approx. 14,700) has not been accruing interest. [yay] but we've also been in storm mode.

What is 'storm mode' ?

Storm mode means that instead of aggressively paying off debt - you save all of your extra money when your financial situation is unsure. Since we don't know how long this virus is going to last or how long restrictions on large gatherings will be in place. We are currently in storm mode and haven't made a payment on our debt since March. That sounds crazy to me but honestly, it has been helpful. My dad recently retired and I will no longer be able to be on his health insurance so we are looking into the options for getting another health insurance plan. Many financial decisions and changes coming in the future!

Until next time,
Emily