Coping with a Layoff: POST STICKIED SO PLEASE CONTRIBUTE.

[Eclipse]

1. Join professional agencies in your field (assuming you like your field and think society will hold up long enough for you to continue in a traditional job) and network.

2.If you are a good writer, write an article based on your expertise and market it to trade publications in your field (builds resume and visibility).

3. Sign up to substitute teach when unemployment runs out and/or look at Americorps if you still have student loan debt.

4. Look for under-the-table money while still collecting unemployment (pet sitter, dog walker, babysitting, house cleaning)

5. Look to see if you qualify for WIC or other aid programs and use them. Every little bit of help makes your $$$ last that much longer.

6. Pursue training that augments your area of expertise or prepares you for a new career.

E

[Lua]

Several posts in this thread have talked about exercise as a way to keep your spirits high. This post is also about exercise. But it's a different kind of exercise. It has to do with exercising your mental perception so that you can jump out of a paradigm that no longer works and into one that has hope and promise for the future. I cannot promise hope for the world, but I believe that it is possible for each individual person to find their own hopeful future. The future I'm referring to is based on something so different from the current reality that it is usually impossible for people to wrap their minds around the possibility that there is anything positive in the offing. But it is there. First, out with the old.

Imagine.  Imagine that this layoff is the last one.  Imagine that the economy has finally crashed to the bottom and there is no job, no grocery store selling reasonably priced food, no utility company supplying reasonably priced warmth to your house. Go through the panic, feel it, accept it, allow it to wash through you and then, consciously and deliberately, start to pick up that panic and push it out of your system. Shove it away, wash it out, throw it far - whatever mental image will do it, send the panic away. Once the panic has been washed out, start thinking about exactly what you are going to do now to create a new life.  Notice I did not say salvage whatever you can. It's time to create something entirely new and throw out any effort to "salvage" anything.

I do believe that it is time for this level of reworking the paradigm. The longer we try to hold on, protect what we still have, look backward and try desperately to get it back again, the worse it will be when we really are staring the above scenario in the face in real time. I don't think that real time scenario is far enough in the future to make it reasonable today for anyone laid off to attempt to insert themselves back into life as it's spozed to be.

Therefore, my advice to anyone laid off today is - treat it like this is it, the final countdown, the final dive. Respond as if the emergency you are facing is the real, end time, life and death spiral count. Now that all that negativity is looked at, assessed, and dealt with, let's see what positives could come forth.

Look around you at all the unnecessary junk filling your spaces. Think about the people that aren't in this emergency until it really IS the end game. But you are lucky - you have time to sell things and get rid of the junk. So, what is unnecessary to make life worth living? How about several TV sets? Do you even need one? A garage full of "stuff." An extra bedroom that is filled with "storage." Two cars? Get rid of one and you lose the insurance payment too. Is the house too big? Bring more people into it to share costs or go down to something REALLY small that can be heated with just a few cords of firewood.

How many south facing windows does your house have? Set up planters in every one. Plant tomato seeds. No reason they won't grow in the winter if they get enough light and warmth. Plant spinach, lettuce and other greens. Learn to sprout seeds and buy enough seeds to last months of sprouting. Learn how to put those sprouts into your daily eating plan. Take a look in your kitchen cupboards at the boxes of prepared foods. Eat them all just to use them up, but never buy another speck of food that has been through ANY prior cooking before you buy it - it's just too expensive. Right now winter squash is on sale all over the place. Buy enough for the winter. It keeps just fine in a fairly cool place with air around each one. Potatoes - you could keep your family alive and healthy with nothing but the whole potato (skins are critical) and milk. No kidding. Not fun, but doable in an emergency. Grains: spend some of the money you got from selling all the TVs and buy a grain mill that can be run with either electricity, hand pumping or bike riding. The superior nutrition is well worth the extra work - not to mention that it is a HUGE cost savings to bake your own bread and not spend that $2.50 - $5.00 per loaf at the store. Oh yes, and spend some of that money you made by selling the second car on a whole lot of grains, beans, nuts, seeds, dried fruit and winter vegetables.

You can examine every single aspect of your life in the same way. The key is to see life in a new paradigm of reality. If you don't do the exercise at the beginning of this post (or something similar more in key with your personal spirit), then you won't be able to see out of the box of your present reality which is based on a myth that used to exist - prior to that final paycheck. The myth is that all you have to do is find another job and reality seats itself back into the comfort zone. Even if you happen to land another job, don't let yourself slip back into that zone. Right now - you're very lucky because you get to gallop forward into that new life sooner than everyone else, and will therefore be far out ahead of the rest once their world crashes. If you act as if this is the final crash, you won't be caught as badly with what is assuredly ahead for every single one of us.

[Shaunta]

I spent seven years as a single mother of two kids, one of whom is autistic. I couldn't leave my son in a daycare center all day while I worked when he was small, so I got inventive. Here are some things I learned:

1. Figure out something that lots of people need, but assume that they have to pay a lot of money for. Offer it for less. For me, I learned to prepare simple divorces and bankruptcies and charged a tenth of what an attorney would have charged (which was still a decent amount of money, and more per hour than I've made since at any job.) There are other services that are usually provided by a high-priced professional that can be learned and offered by a lay-person.

2. If you don't underestimate yourself, you can talk your way into jobs you might not think you're qualified for. I've used this technique to become a newspaper reporter, a teacher, and now a substance abuse counselor, all without a college degree or any actual experience in those fields. (I have taken a lot of college classes, but fifteen years later, I'm still working on a degree) My life experience and natural abilities lent themselves to these jobs and I just plunged in. Don't assume that you aren't qualified for a job because you think they'll require something you don't have. You can be a substitute teacher and earn $100 bucks a day or so (at least in my state) with a high school diploma if your area has a big enough shortage.

3. Don't be afraid to take whatever help you need, when you need it, but also don't become completely dependent on it. Right after 9-11 my divorce-and-bankruptcy business dropped off a cliff. I went on food stamps for a while when the need came up. And I always took whatever health insurance for my kids that they offered. But I worked really hard to get off the food stamps and always saw them as temporary. I have a good friend who got caught up in the cycle and had government housing, food stamps, energy assistance, health insurance, and whatever else they offered on a continual basis for years. It's easy to get caught up in that cycle and very very hard to get out of once you're there. Use what you need, but don't let yourself depend on it to the point of no turning back.

4. Protect your mental health. Find ways to convince yourself that not only is being poor not that bad, in some ways it's desirable. Even now that I'm re-married and have a family income that's close to four times what it was when I was a single mom, I still shop the loss-leaders and buy 95 percent of everything in thrift stores. Being poor has it's lessons to teach. I'm really good and figuring out ways to get what I want without spending money on it, or finding a way to get the money. If you spend all your time grieving for the things you've lost, you might miss the things you could be gaining.

5.  Keep your eyes out for opportunities to learn new skills. Check out your local state employment office--often they'll have a program that will pay for you to go through a short, intensive training program for some skill that's needed in your area (in my town, they will pay for you to become a Certified Nursing Assistant, and also to learn basic skills needed to work at the copper mine.) Send in a FASFA application for financial aide. If you go to a community college, your tuition will probably be low enough for you to get a check for the overage which is enough to buy your books and some groceries. When I was the most poor, those extra $500 was like a miracle every semester.

[mimulus]

SOme excellent advice offered here. I would take the tack of: hope for the best (rapid full re-employment) but prepare for the worst (long term unemployment or under employment). 

To that end, I would suggest exploring health care options now before you or your family members might need them.  Negotiating the health care system when you feel sick is a no win situation.  Find out were community health and dental clinics exist (hopefully they do) and what the requirements are for receiving care.  Get on the waiting list now.  If you have insurance coverage for awhile post separation (like COBRA) then definitely go see your doctor and get a physical, and any neglected bloodwork done before coverage runs out.  Same with dental and vision care.  Having a spare pair of glasses stashed away a good idea.  (especially if you are forgetful like me and can never find your primary pair!)

See if there is a professional barter group in your community, and if so, join it.  Often such groups have dentists and alternative practititioners who are tryign to build their practices.  You could earn barter dollars offering some needed service and save them up for a rainy day.  Imagine breaking a crown or needing a root canal and trying to find a dentist who will do it on the cheap.  With barter dollars you could potentially have the work done without money from your pocket. If no organized group per se, you could still offer to barter services with many alternative type practiitioners who have cash based practices rather than relyingon insurance billing. 

If none of those options exist and you have been a long time patient of a particular provider, even approach them about the possibility of continued care on a sliding scale or barter. 

Invest in some good self care books.  Something like this:http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Self-Care-Homeopathy-Nutritional-Supplements/dp/0878755632/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226845701&sr=1-1.  Most people have forgotten the once common effective home remedies and run to the doctor at the first snifffle for antibioitcs.  Understanding how to treat simple maladies at home can be  a huge money saver.  Have a few simple things around before you need them: zinc lozenges, vitamin C, echinacea tea or tincture for example. 

Make sure you are diligent about brushing and flossing.  Eat healthy.  Exercise.  Laugh everyday. 

I am sure there is more, but you probably get the idea. The best defense is a good offense in my book.  So be prepared before you maight need it.  Hopefully you never do. 

[commonsensical]

Lua, I think you give some excellent advice in your post. Redefining what our lives "should"consist of is a good idea. My husband and I readjusted our living standard voluntarily several years back, and our (especially his) families thought we were nuts. We both had well-paying jobs at the time, but we bought a trailer and sold our roomy ranch house at its peak value to live in the trailer. My in-laws spent the same period of time building lake houses, buying third homes, doing wholesale renovations (at huge expense) on their exisiting homes, etc.

We bought cows, learned to make excellent hay, planted apple, pear and plum trees on our farm, paid off our land (separate property...maybe would be better not to own it, but we do, so that's that) and have paid down our debts and discontinued credit card use. I bought a 10 year old car to drive in place of my diesel truck, even though new cars are nice, but mine is paid off.

Now my husband is laid off from the construction industry, and we're doing fine. We have income from our farm business (hay sales and a small group of boarded horses) that covers the farm expenses, so we're ok for now.

We would have been in quite a tough position if we hadn't scaled down our standard of living beginning 3 or 4 years ago. We likely would have been in a position to lose both our ranch house and our second farm property.

[Lua]

Wonderful post, commonsensical. It makes me happy to read your common sense approach and proof of the rightness of your decision.

[arewethereyet?]

EXCELLENT ADVICE....

(not sure about the shower thing..... i would say..... shower with a friend......) LOL!

Thanks redreamer! And, I think your advice on showering with a friend is something I should add. 

I turned out the lights once, to bug my wife while she was in the shower, and that prompted her to inform me that as a child they
were used to showering that way... or by candle light. Power was very intermittent in Ecuador while she was growing up and outages
were common, frequent, and part of life.

Personally, I love to shower in the dark.  I find it very peaceful, a good chance to meditate.
Showering in the dark, with a friend, well that's a whole 'nuther ballgame... 

[wiccawench]

um you mean not everyone does that?

oh yes primal rules.......


there is some amazing posts in this thread......

MODS CAN I PLEASE RECOMMEND THIS POST FOR THE BEST OF LATOC?

I think it really does qualify........

[peakoilmom]

Do people recommend accepting a buyout if it wld provide several months of salary ... and if spouse is in a position where job is likely to be lost within the year?

Thinking it might be better to get a jump on the rising numbers of unemployed ...  also wld go into a field where there are still jobs instead of current one, where jobs are falling faster than autumn leaves ....

[Lua]

Anything in the hand today is better than a promise made about tomorrow.

[jock]

Dodged the bullet last month, unfortunately got tagged today .

Due to low volume etc ad infinitum I am now officially underemployed, Boss didn't exactly boot me but am now on short term contract. Boils down to we need you for some stuff but is strictly on a self employed basis so we'll call you as and when.

My attitude, fuckem, they are going to get a real surprise when the next emergency occurs . I'm ramping up my local pc repair business with lots of local advertising in newsagents windows and by word of mouth, I already make enough from this to pay the bills.

Dunno whether to say piss off when they call me next or show up at the account customer then say "na it's completely fecked they should have had it replaced a couple of years ago, oh btw the warranty is well expired, what sort of muppets are you paying to do a shoddy job like this then wander off into the sunset whistling the theme from monty python.

Bollocks to it, I'm prepped, the debt is no more and I got shitloads of whisky and popcorn. Let the games commence.

[quietnite]

that's the spirit, Jock

[Grower]

We need a role model thread, and I nominate Jock for inclusion in the first round.

 

[April]

I'm in real estate, so we got laid off like 6 months ago and still have to go to work every day 

Seriously, though, the best lesson I have learned by working in a really hard hit industry is to wake up, dress for work, believe you can get something done, and be the one person in 100 who actually gets a job. So many people sink into a depression. I say wake up early - earlier than you did for work, and do your best to find a job during the first part of the day. During the rest, think of ways to save money by scaling back and make money in unorthodox ways. I think it's also important to set aside any silly class ideas we have - none of us are "above" any particular jobs. We're all human.

If you get desperate for cash, sell some of your stuff (we have an incredible amount of things we don't need when we really understand out needs), temp for a while if you can. Then, accept that you saw this coming - that you are one of the few lucky folks who did. The transitional time is the hardest. Also accept that there are gifts in every burden. Children grow so fast, and this is a chance to really be with them. Marriages are so hectic, and now you can take some time to enjoy yours. Eat some homemade bread, have some meaningful sex, drink some cheap wine, take a walk, finish a project - we are all very attached to money, but I doubt any of us miss it when we're dead.

[jock]

Marriages are so hectic, and now you can take some time to enjoy yours. Eat some homemade bread, have some meaningful sex, drink some cheap wine, take a walk, finish a project - we are all very attached to money, but I doubt any of us miss it when we're dead.

Yep, I'm more relieved than upset believe it or not, knew it was coming. The big upside is that I got twatted off a motorbike 8 months ago and the blind old gits insurers admitted full liability last week. I am well on my way to recovery with no long term damage and the fairly hefty lump sum is just in time to cushion the blow nicely .

Every cloud has a silver lining and the way circumstances have worked out and the timing really makes me think I have some sort of household spirit sitting on my shoulder just giving things a nudge now and again.

Damn I got time to get back over the allotment and put in the new raised beds before next growing season