Financial stress associated with ‘what if’ scenarios
Since there are times in our lives that bring about added expenses and stress, such as a loss of job, medical surgery, loss of a family member or a major relocation, we need to have a plan in our head for the ‘˜what if’ scenario. For example, let’s look at a job loss:
1. Figure out where you stand. Calculate what is coming in for money and what will be going out for monthly expense. Find out if you have enough money put away for the expenses.
2. File unemployment. Some states require you file as soon as you can. If you are unsure if you will need it or not, file anyway, that way you have it as a back up plan
3. Find your money. If you have money from a 401k, pension, stocks or severance, find out how much you will get (after taxes) and when you will get it so you can budget for your expenses. Having this information on hand will also help when you fill out unemployment.
4. Check on your Job Benefits. This would include your medical insurance, life insurance and any reduced payments you may get through your job. This would include any phone, internet, auto or home insurance that are reduced because of where you used to work. Make sure to contact them within 30 days after your job loss so you won’t be caught off guard with price increases.
5. Work a regular day. Looking for a new job can be mentally taxing. Make a ‘˜to do’ list for yourself for the day. Your transition from working 8 hours a day to ‘˜vacation’ to working 8 hours a day will be easier if you have been keeping yourself busy. For your ‘˜to do’ list; update your resume, search for job within and outside of your field, fix things around the house you have been putting off.
6. Bring in Money. Since you are home more now, start going through your home to see if there is anything that can be sold for extra money. Remember, as much as you don’t want to move out of your comfort zone, you will need to consider what is really important to have. What ‘˜toys’ are unnecessary, what clutter can you get rid of and what money can you bring into the house to add to your emergency fund.
7. Cut down. As much as you may enjoy having all the tv channels in the known universe, your best decision may be to cut back to bare minimum until you have a new job to cover the bill. Also, because you are home more, your utilities will go up, so cut down on expenses by using lights, water, heat/cool as little as possible.
8. Talk with people. Don’t hold the stress in, let people know your new situation. Now is not a good time to clam up, It doesn’t hurt to find out if they know of any openings or places where you can fix up your car with limited income. Talking with people includes talking with strangers, you never know what jobs might be out there, being social can’t hurt. Speak with family and friends in other states, find out what your options are.
9. Have yourself prepared. When you do get that new job, don’t look back on this belt tightening as a bad thing, learn from it. Keep the habits to live on less and build up your emergency fund again.
Remember, try not to dwell on the bad things and try to find the advantages to where you are in life. You will get through this.
‘œWhat does not destroy me, makes me stronger.’ – Friedrich Nietzsche
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Dawn C. is site owner of Frugalforlife.com where this is a repost from: The ‘˜What If’ Scenario. Dawn is residing in Colorado with her spouse, Teri, of 11 years.
When filing for unemployment find out their weird little rules right away. For example my state allows you to list job numbers you applied to from their website as valid, but not job numbers off of craigslist, monster, etc.
Ugh, this brings back painful memories of a time when all this happened to me and I was not nearly so savvy. It also brings back bad memories of my roommate practically getting himself fired from his job last year and being unemployed for almost four months while the bills piled up. He sat there all day online doing nothing at all. I even caught him going out a bunch of times, and I wondered just where the money was coming from. #5 is very important. This is new “free” time that you have that previously earned income. Do something with it.
I’d say the biggest thing to add in conjunction with #5 is simply to keep lists and/or a journal. Show yourself some progress by accomplishing things, no matter how small. Make sure that you’re documenting your efforts so you can avoid repeating mistakes and see that you’re going somewhere even if you feel you’re really going nowhere.
Dawn: Number 8 is the best advice. I’ve found every job in the last ten years through people I’ve known. It’s a shrinking world through six degrees of separation. Use it to your advantage.