Some numbers: we've invested in a princess pavilion kid-sized tent for A. to play in ($119), the deluxe version of the app her teacher uses for coordination with the class because she has fun changing certain settings ($8 per month, we'll probably use it for 3 months or so), an indoor exercise kit with a swing and a few other things we could mount in a door frame ($250), and rented Trolls World Tour ($19). Also, when the kid was bored and unattended she locked a couple doors we didn't have keys to and we had to hire a locksmith to for them ($135). We've used marginally more dishwasher soap due to lunches at home.
Savings are harder to quantify but in theory I could do it if I tried. Hard to say how much commuting used to cost, considering I usually bike and T. sometimes walks, but it now costs nothing. Making lunch at home is cheaper than buying it near work. Costs of dishwasher soap were probably balanced out by savings on laundry detergent. Plus, of course, reduced chance of getting COVID-19.
I focus on numbers because they're easy and simple. I couldn't even put a number on the stress that's driving T. to take her own temperature daily, or the rift between A. and her friends because four-year-olds don't really know how to handle social distancing, or the delays in her education (realistically, she'll be fine, but some of her classmates won't), or the minor technical difficulties to my job.
Realistically, we'll be fine. T. and I both have jobs that can be done from home, we have none of those preexisting conditions that apparently make COVID-19 lethal, and our friends and family have a sane approach to this stuff. But reading the news, talking to friends, or venturing more than a mile from home, it really looks like the end of the world sometimes.
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