Mananging Your Money While Laid Off
It is unfortunate to one day get a letter stating that your job will be ending in eight weeks due to down-sizing. It is especially devastating to not be able to pay your bills because your income has been cut in half or totally depleted because you have been laid off. What do you do?
I am laid off and this is what I have had to do. It has worked for me for the past three months and my family and I plan to stick to these helpful tips even after I am back to work. I say this because it is easy to spend money, but it is even easier to fall into debt. I hope these few tips will help you manage your money while being laid off.
Create a budget of all your monthly expenditures that you must have. Those would be electric/gas, phone, water, transportation, mortgage, rent, etc. Once you have the list wrote down, go ahead and record the amounts that are required to pay them and their due dates. This is something I did periodically, not enough to know where my money was going every month. Not very good money management.
Groceries vs. Eating Out
Go to the grocery store! Plan your meals with sales ads from grocery stores and other places you shop to get the most out of your dollars. Use coupons as much as possible. I’m not a coupon fanatic, but I take advantage of in-store coupons and I buy bulk items for my family from stores like GFS and Sam’s Club.
Gas
Gas prices are too high for even the richest person. Try to get gas at the beginning of the week. The weekends are usually when roads are travelled most and gas goes up. Try filling up your car on the day you are paid. You can conserve (and save yourself a fuel pump repair) your gas by not letting your gas get below the quarter tank mark.
Limit Credit Card Usage
Have a goal of charging in an emergency only. do not increase your debt unnecesarily if you don’t plant to pay back within thirty days of your purchase. If you can borrow from a family member or someone that trusts you would be even better. Hint: chances are they won’t charge you interest.
Streamline
Look at each bill you have individually and see where you can cut it down. For instance, I have a smart phone to which I added a tethering hot spot option. It cost $14.99 a month. I no longer need that feature because I have wi-fi at home with my local cable service and I go to places that have free wi-fi.
These few tips should help you manage your money while being laid off and hopefully keep you financially sane when you become employed again.