How much less is more

The last few weeks have been very difficult for us as a family. From doing all the chores at home, juggling all the calls, to trying to keep the kids occupied for the day. Honestly at the end of the day, i am just smashed. Crash into the bed and off to sleep.

But the last few weeks have also been about something else. We had 4 birthdays in the family. Each time, there was a celebration, a different one, customised for that person with his or her likes being taken into account.

My wife and child did a fabulous job. For the last birthday which was for my 8 year old daughter, my wife not only managed to bake the cake, her special food requests and also got all her friends and family across the globe to wish her on zoom. She was super thrilled.

This essentially got me thinking - How different these birthdays would have been if the lockdown was not in place. How different has my credit card statement looked this month? Overall for me, my credit card bill is down 90%. Can I or will I be able to do the same next month? Can i better the amount?

Let's do the math. Let me take a stab at this.

Less off: Eating out, Ordering in, Travel, Fuel, buying the latest new phone, watching the latest new movie, No impulse food shopping, no jay walking in the malls.

More off: Buying groceries online, getting them delivered from the local vendor, medicines, data usage, (used 300 GB last month), different types of mops and cleaning devices, power usage, investments in the market.

Help that i needed earlier but cant avail of now..Car Driver, Cook, Nanny, Car Cleaner, Newspaper wala, Laundry guy, Maid for washing clothes and Utensils. I intend to pay the help for this month as well but i am just reflecting that it was difficult but i managed to keep the home running.

From puja to party, everything was on-line. My 70 year old in-laws play online games with us on Sunday. They struggled initially but now are settled. The big opportunity i saw was assisted shopping and online transaction help for elders. I am also convinced that the small time retailer is here to stay. It was he who bailed us out.

I connected with batch mates and drinking buddies on the phone. Spoke to people who i had lost touch with since a long time. Now know the names of the kids of my co-workers. Bottomline, this on-pause life did not start well, felt i was missing out of so much but when i now look back, did i miss much? I have spent more time with my child this month than i have done in the whole of last year if i just do the math. I feel that i know her better. How much of this 'more' was making me actually have 'less'? Time to think about it.