The Plan

You need a plan. Ok go ahead and take a week to mourn the loss of your job or celebrate it. Whatever. But then you need a plan.

First sit down and write out what your goals for the next 12 months are. Our list looked like this: get a more interesting job, keep kids home, survive. We then laughed about the more interesting job but my husabnd was serious. He didn't want to work in a shop anymore. So we talked about what he could do and then what he wanted to try which led him back to school. He wanted something close to electronics, which was the field he had just left. He decided on IT. Started classes but soon determined that it wasn't the change he needed. So he changed to heating and air conditioning.

One good thing was that he put himself out there and he wasn't afraid to try and fail. Since he was at his other job 8 years he knew a change would bring him to another job for the same amount of time.

The second part of the plan was not putting kids into child care. I thought that meant staying home. I know we could have done this another way. We should have done this another way. I should have gotten a job. I didn't instead I reduced expenses. I cut everything back. If it required money I cut it back. Groceries, clothing, bills all got the same treatment. In the end it wasn't enough so if I had it to do over I would get a job.


Lastly is survival...

What should I do?

The mistake some people make when they go on unemployment is that they see it as a paid vacation. It isn't. First you need a plan. Are you going back to school? Will you be going back to work in the next 6 months? Should you look for a different job? What would be an acceptable job? Do you have an emergency fund? Should you take a part time job until things get better?

Fortunately this time around our family has avoided the unemployment trap, but that wasn't the story 6 years ago. I was a SAHM. My husband made a very comfortable living, then suddenly it was gone. No chance of going back. It has a very confusing and scary time.

At first we looked at it as a chance to do some things around the house. Of course we didn't have the money, but we had credit. My husband went on interviews but turned down several jobs that would have been fine. Less money but still fine. We also convinced ourselves that that new "perfect" job was just around the corner.

About 4 months in we sat down and decided we needed a plan. We didn't however come up with one at that time. So this phase was the plan to have a plan. A lot of questions were asked but no answers came. We were afraid to voice our real feelings and thoughts.
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At 6 months in our seasonal jobs were due to end. We finally got a plan. He would go back to school. I would continue to work part time. We started attending church together. e were hoping for the best.

I forgot to mention that in the middle of month 3 he decided to get a part time job. It was easy to do and paid fairly well. It improved him morale. It also got him out of the house. By the time it ended, he was ready to move on.

Now you might think this is the beginning of the rest of our lives. Well it was really the beginning of the beginning....