How To Deal With A Job Loss (Part 1)
It's a pretty safe bet that at some point in your working career, you will experience a job loss. Whether you get fired or laid off, the result is the same: you're scared, you're confused. You're worried about how you're going to pay your bills and feed you're family, you might even be a little angry. The bottom line is it SUCKS!
So what do you do? What should your next steps be? What could you have done to make it more bearable?
Get ready for a job loss before a job loss
This isn't going to help you if you are in this situation already but maybe it could help you next time (prayerfully there will be no next time) or for those who haven't experienced a job loss. The best way to be prepared for a job loss is to have an emergency fund saved up.
I don't know what that amount should be for you but you need some money set aside in case of a job loss or any kind of emergency. The experts will tell you to have three to six months worth of expenses and it sounds pretty smart to me. With the economy being what it is you might be looking for a job for a while, there is work out there but it still might take time. During that time your bills won't stop, you still need food and other expenses, so that's where an emergency fund will come in handy.
When you think about your bills you can get a pretty good idea of what you really need, please don't get overwhelmed though. You know you need this so if you haven't already, start an emergency fund today! Now you might not be able to have three to six months right away but start gradually with smaller amounts and keep building. The thing that I have personally found most helpful is to have that money automatically withdrawn, that way I don't really think about it. This way it will be nice two months from now when you check your account balance and see you have $2,000 in there.
Do I really need to convince you that this is smart? So I know some reading this are thinking: "I barely get by on what I make, how am I suppose to save?" Hey, I've been there and know what you're going through so there's no easy way to say this: you're going to have to find a way to make extra income (easier said then done). I know how hard it is to work 40 plus hours and barely make it, like I said, I've done it but think about the alternative. What if you can't make it and lost that job? It would be ten times worse!
There are a lot of ways to make extra money and not add a terrible amount of hours to your week: cut grass, shovel snow, clean houses, babysit. These might not be ideal after working a full-time job but they will put cash in your pocket. You need this emergency fund, so you might have to suck it up and do what you got to do. I know how hard this will be so if you need encouragement, one on one advice or just some prayer, email me at: kimanzi@taleswork.com and I'll do whatever I can do to help you through this!
Don't let the couch and daytime TV become your best friend
When you suffer a job loss the natural tendency is to get depressed and feel sorry for yourself. You wake up (later) and think about finding a job and get tired again. You tell yourself that you'll get into it after breakfast and after you watch the morning news. You sit and eat and before you know it you have the whole morning line up of CBS memorized. You wake up day after day and go through the same thing, really getting hooked to the shows. A month later you have no job, you gained 20 pounds and your spouse wants to burn the TV.
Now you may not have gone through this exactly but it could happen if you don't watch out, so watch out! The best thing you can do the very next morning after a job loss is to start exercising, get your blood and heart pumping, let your body know you're still alive. Get on a regular, daily workout routine, this will keep your mind distracted and help keep you disciplined.
In order to get on this routine you don't have to have a $69 a month gym membership, you can go for a run or walk right outside your house, you can run up and down some stairs. You don't have to spend any extra money that you might not have to stay sharp, use what you got.
Time to get to work
The bottom line is to not get depressed (it won't help you), and to stay active. It's very easy to just give up, please don't. If you haven't lost a job then get smart and if you don't have one, start an emergency fund today. It's better to be safe then sorry and too many people these days end up sorry for not properly planning, don't be one of those people!
How would you or are you dealing with a job loss?
