Comments on: What Would We Do if My Husband Lost His Job? http://www.homeeverafter.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/ The Way Home is Supposed to Be Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:35:12 -0900 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Home Ever After http://www.homeeverafter.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/comment-page-/#comment-911 Home Ever After Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:58:10 +0000 http://www.homemakerbarbi.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/#comment-911 @Eric: You hit it right on the head- feeling as if you are in control instead of relying on an employer can be such a relief. Congrats on the new baby. Thanks for the comment! Barbi @Eric: You hit it right on the head- feeling as if you are in control instead of relying on an employer can be such a relief. Congrats on the new baby. Thanks for the comment!

Barbi

]]> By: Eric Hamm | Motivate Thyself http://www.homeeverafter.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/comment-page-1/#comment-910 Eric Hamm | Motivate Thyself Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:05:16 +0000 http://www.homemakerbarbi.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/#comment-910 I've been self employed for over 5 years now and must say I feel much more secure in my work/job than I would if I were working for someone else. I was just talking with a fellow consultant about this yesterday and we both agreed that it's more important than ever that you make yourself invaluable to your clients/employer. With a baby on the way this is more important than ever. Thanks for the great insight, BTW! Eric I’ve been self employed for over 5 years now and must say I feel much more secure in my work/job than I would if I were working for someone else. I was just talking with a fellow consultant about this yesterday and we both agreed that it’s more important than ever that you make yourself invaluable to your clients/employer.

With a baby on the way this is more important than ever. Thanks for the great insight, BTW! Eric

]]> By: rebecca http://www.homeeverafter.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/comment-page-1/#comment-909 rebecca Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:39:36 +0000 http://www.homemakerbarbi.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/#comment-909 I have just discovered the frugal blog world and it's wonderful. We are living this one. My husband was the highest paid employee at the company and the first one to go. His boss decided to hire someone who was willing to do the same job for less. We are in Michigan and the economy here is so bad. Our houses in the neighborhood have dropped about $50,000 in value leaving many of us with houses that are worth less than we owe. My husband and I were not prepared for this at all. I am a sahm with a son with disabilities. If he had a seizure at school or is having a bad day I have to go making working outside of the house near impossible. Anyway, we have $17,000 in credit card debt, 2 car payments and a student loan. Luckily we do have an emergency cushion of about $5000 that we haven't had to dip into yet. Currently our income dropped from $125,000 to $1448 per month a HUGE drop. We did get some foodstamps which was devastating in the beginning and I was so embarrassed but I had to for my kids. Luckily I was able to get them on free lunch at school. I have been consuming all the frugal tips online and CAN NOT believe how much I have saved by meal planning and using coupons, I am ashamed that it took me this long to become a good steward of our money. We have sold all our outdoor atvs, big boy toys, antiques I had including the chandelier over my dining table! I thought I would be stressed but I have never been happier! Believe it or not. My husband decided to start his own business, thank goodness he is a licensed contractor and is able to do that. Granted he is a small fish in a big pond but we are plugging away. My husband and I are committed to keeping our house as it would be not much cheaper to rent something in our community. We don't want our children to feel stressed and scared. My husband and I have shared a renewed committment that we are together for ever "richer or poorer" and that is wonderful. We laugh a lot. Of course I am concerned that our credit card debt is looming. We contacted each company with not much luck, the standard line was "sorry there are no programs available right now". Funny since I didn't pay the bills last month you would be surprised at how there are suddenly things they are willing to do. I feel awful that I paid my bill every month on time never being late once and when I contacted them there was nothing they would do. We are still in a quandry whether we should try to take some settlements with them and see if we could even do that. We're not sure what to do. I know about credit counseling but we did that a long time ago and it still damages your credit so really what is the point? I mean if your credit is going to be damaged either way. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Our monthly expenses just bare bones without food or gas is approximately $3000 that is without paying credit cards, our minimum on those right now is about $500. My feeling is we are about $1500 short just to make the bare bones why should I risk becoming homeless to just pay a credit card? Your thoughts? Again thank you for providing all the great frugal tips, again I am so embarrassed at how much we WASTED and are trying to do much better. I know we have made many many many financial mistakes but hopefully this situation will help us rectify that. thanks, rebecca I have just discovered the frugal blog world and it’s wonderful. We are living this one. My husband was the highest paid employee at the company and the first one to go. His boss decided to hire someone who was willing to do the same job for less. We are in Michigan and the economy here is so bad. Our houses in the neighborhood have dropped about $50,000 in value leaving many of us with houses that are worth less than we owe. My husband and I were not prepared for this at all.

I am a sahm with a son with disabilities. If he had a seizure at school or is having a bad day I have to go making working outside of the house near impossible. Anyway, we have $17,000 in credit card debt, 2 car payments and a student loan. Luckily we do have an emergency cushion of about $5000 that we haven’t had to dip into yet. Currently our income dropped from $125,000 to $1448 per month a HUGE drop. We did get some foodstamps which was devastating in the beginning and I was so embarrassed but I had to for my kids.

Luckily I was able to get them on free lunch at school. I have been consuming all the frugal tips online and CAN NOT believe how much I have saved by meal planning and using coupons, I am ashamed that it took me this long to become a good steward of our money. We have sold all our outdoor atvs, big boy toys, antiques I had including the chandelier over my dining table! I thought I would be stressed but I have never been happier! Believe it or not. My husband decided to start his own business, thank goodness he is a licensed contractor and is able to do that. Granted he is a small fish in a big pond but we are plugging away. My husband and I are committed to keeping our house as it would be not much cheaper to rent something in our community. We don’t want our children to feel stressed and scared. My husband and I have shared a renewed committment that we are together for ever “richer or poorer” and that is wonderful. We laugh a lot. Of course I am concerned that our credit card debt is looming.

We contacted each company with not much luck, the standard line was “sorry there are no programs available right now”. Funny since I didn’t pay the bills last month you would be surprised at how there are suddenly things they are willing to do. I feel awful that I paid my bill every month on time never being late once and when I contacted them there was nothing they would do. We are still in a quandry whether we should try to take some settlements with them and see if we could even do that.

We’re not sure what to do. I know about credit counseling but we did that a long time ago and it still damages your credit so really what is the point? I mean if your credit is going to be damaged either way. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Our monthly expenses just bare bones without food or gas is approximately $3000 that is without paying credit cards, our minimum on those right now is about $500.

My feeling is we are about $1500 short just to make the bare bones why should I risk becoming homeless to just pay a credit card? Your thoughts? Again thank you for providing all the great frugal tips, again I am so embarrassed at how much we WASTED and are trying to do much better. I know we have made many many many financial mistakes but hopefully this situation will help us rectify that.
thanks,
rebecca

]]> By: Home Ever After http://www.homeeverafter.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/comment-page-/#comment-908 Home Ever After Sun, 22 Feb 2009 19:35:26 +0000 http://www.homemakerbarbi.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/#comment-908 @Kara-Noel: That is great news! I love Suze Orman too- she tells it like it is, and really forces you to ask the hard questions. We've been selling all the forgotten decluttered junk on Craigslist too. It's a good feeling to have a little cushion and peace of mind instead of more "stuff"! Good for you for planning ahead, it's always advisable to be prepared. Barbi @Kara-Noel: That is great news! I love Suze Orman too- she tells it like it is, and really forces you to ask the hard questions. We’ve been selling all the forgotten decluttered junk on Craigslist too. It’s a good feeling to have a little cushion and peace of mind instead of more “stuff”! Good for you for planning ahead, it’s always advisable to be prepared.

Barbi

]]> By: Kara-Noel http://www.homeeverafter.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/comment-page-1/#comment-907 Kara-Noel Sat, 21 Feb 2009 00:12:47 +0000 http://www.homemakerbarbi.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/#comment-907 My husband's company doesn't lay off which is awesome. They are conservative in their expansion and family owned AND they make the best burgers on the west coast so there is some security in that. But we have talked about it they have to cut his bonus or if there was some way that the company went under and we had to scramble. We already live debt free and have savings (per the advice of our favorite Suzie Orman) but we are making even more cuts in the next few months. We are quitting cable and my hubby is now going to carpool to work with 2 other guys (so that cuts gas and toll roads a lot). Last month we have started selling everything in forgotten cabinets (DVDs, on Craig's List and ebay. If the worst happened we would sell everything an live with my parents... no joke... We asked already and everything! We are in great financial shape but nothing is for sure so we figured we would have a plan. My husband’s company doesn’t lay off which is awesome. They are conservative in their expansion and family owned AND they make the best burgers on the west coast so there is some security in that.
But we have talked about it they have to cut his bonus or if there was some way that the company went under and we had to scramble. We already live debt free and have savings (per the advice of our favorite Suzie Orman) but we are making even more cuts in the next few months. We are quitting cable and my hubby is now going to carpool to work with 2 other guys (so that cuts gas and toll roads a lot). Last month we have started selling everything in forgotten cabinets (DVDs, on Craig’s List and ebay.
If the worst happened we would sell everything an live with my parents… no joke… We asked already and everything!
We are in great financial shape but nothing is for sure so we figured we would have a plan.

]]> By: Home Ever After http://www.homeeverafter.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/comment-page-/#comment-906 Home Ever After Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:25:43 +0000 http://www.homemakerbarbi.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/#comment-906 @Joy: Glad you found us from Crystal's site. Thanks so much for linking up! We do a roundup every Monday; feel free to email us any articles you'd like mentioned. Sorry to hear about your husband's job. It really makes a difference knowing how to make do on less. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, and I look forward to talking more with you in the future! Barbi @Joy: Glad you found us from Crystal’s site. Thanks so much for linking up! We do a roundup every Monday; feel free to email us any articles you’d like mentioned.

Sorry to hear about your husband’s job. It really makes a difference knowing how to make do on less. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, and I look forward to talking more with you in the future!

Barbi

]]> By: Home Ever After http://www.homeeverafter.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/comment-page-/#comment-905 Home Ever After Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:23:24 +0000 http://www.homemakerbarbi.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/#comment-905 @Lizzy: Good for you for starting to prepare! It can't hurt, right? I like your idea of buying a small house so you can be more self-sufficient. While 3-4 years ago people might have been startled, I don't think it's such a radical idea anymore. Thanks for the comment! Barbi @Lizzy: Good for you for starting to prepare! It can’t hurt, right? I like your idea of buying a small house so you can be more self-sufficient. While 3-4 years ago people might have been startled, I don’t think it’s such a radical idea anymore. Thanks for the comment!

Barbi

]]> By: Joy http://www.homeeverafter.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/comment-page-1/#comment-904 Joy Fri, 20 Feb 2009 21:04:01 +0000 http://www.homemakerbarbi.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/#comment-904 Good post! Found you from Biblical Womanhood. This hits home in a very real way ... my husband did lose his job at the end of October. I am SO glad that I was already couponing, CVSing and overall striving to live a frugal lifestyle. I'm linking to your post from my blog!! :) Good post! Found you from Biblical Womanhood. This hits home in a very real way … my husband did lose his job at the end of October. I am SO glad that I was already couponing, CVSing and overall striving to live a frugal lifestyle. I’m linking to your post from my blog!! :)

]]> By: lizzykristine @ Uplifted Eyes http://www.homeeverafter.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/comment-page-1/#comment-903 lizzykristine @ Uplifted Eyes Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:23:27 +0000 http://www.homemakerbarbi.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/#comment-903 My husband has survived 2-3 rounds of major layoffs in the last six months -- and the last layoff was 25% of the company! Definitely, we are thinking about preparing for unemployment. Since we recently married with school debt, we've worked hard to pay it off and get up a cash cushion. We're tossed a lot of crazy ideas around, including buying a tiny fixer-upper with cash, which would enable us to garden and reduce our monthly bills to utilities and taxes. But that's pretty radical. :) Meanwhile, we're just being a frugal as possible and trusting God. My husband has survived 2-3 rounds of major layoffs in the last six months — and the last layoff was 25% of the company! Definitely, we are thinking about preparing for unemployment.

Since we recently married with school debt, we’ve worked hard to pay it off and get up a cash cushion. We’re tossed a lot of crazy ideas around, including buying a tiny fixer-upper with cash, which would enable us to garden and reduce our monthly bills to utilities and taxes. But that’s pretty radical. :)

Meanwhile, we’re just being a frugal as possible and trusting God.

]]> By: Home Ever After http://www.homeeverafter.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/comment-page-/#comment-902 Home Ever After Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:42:34 +0000 http://www.homemakerbarbi.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/#comment-902 @Toni: What a good way of looking at it: something good did come out of your husband's injury after all. Everything happens for a reason, I always say. Especially since you have a large family, you really have to have a bigger emergency cushion than some others of us do. Barbi @Toni: What a good way of looking at it: something good did come out of your husband’s injury after all. Everything happens for a reason, I always say. Especially since you have a large family, you really have to have a bigger emergency cushion than some others of us do.

Barbi

]]> By: Home Ever After http://www.homeeverafter.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/comment-page-/#comment-901 Home Ever After Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:39:52 +0000 http://www.homemakerbarbi.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/#comment-901 @BarbaraLee: You know, it seems like a lot of people are doing babysitting for a little extra income lately. Great plans to provide more of your own food supply with the garden and animals... it really makes a difference when you know the necessities are already in place. Wishing the best for you and your hubby! Barbi @BarbaraLee: You know, it seems like a lot of people are doing babysitting for a little extra income lately. Great plans to provide more of your own food supply with the garden and animals… it really makes a difference when you know the necessities are already in place. Wishing the best for you and your hubby!

Barbi

]]> By: Home Ever After http://www.homeeverafter.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/comment-page-/#comment-900 Home Ever After Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:34:08 +0000 http://www.homemakerbarbi.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/#comment-900 @Mama Bear: Scary times, true, but we can gain control when we realize that our actions (like your preparation for the What If) can make a huge difference. I love ING! We use it for our emergency fund too. Barbi @Mama Bear: Scary times, true, but we can gain control when we realize that our actions (like your preparation for the What If) can make a huge difference. I love ING! We use it for our emergency fund too.

Barbi

]]> By: The Happy Housewife http://www.homeeverafter.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/comment-page-1/#comment-899 The Happy Housewife Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:32:35 +0000 http://www.homemakerbarbi.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/#comment-899 So if your husband lost his job, could we call him Homemaker Ken? Just kidding, but I couldn't resist that one. We went through something similar after my husband was injured in Iraq. There was a good possibility that he would be discharged from the military with a medical retirement, which would not be enough for us to live on. That reality check helped us really get on track with our money. I am not glad he was injured, but I am glad we had to rethink things... it has helped us really focus on saving for a rainy day, should the day ever come. Toni So if your husband lost his job, could we call him Homemaker Ken? Just kidding, but I couldn’t resist that one. We went through something similar after my husband was injured in Iraq. There was a good possibility that he would be discharged from the military with a medical retirement, which would not be enough for us to live on. That reality check helped us really get on track with our money. I am not glad he was injured, but I am glad we had to rethink things… it has helped us really focus on saving for a rainy day, should the day ever come.
Toni

]]> By: Home Ever After http://www.homeeverafter.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/comment-page-/#comment-898 Home Ever After Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:24:45 +0000 http://www.homemakerbarbi.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/#comment-898 @Susan: Isn't twitter great?! Thanks for the link- I will definitely check it out. True words about positive focus, I couldn't agree more! Barbi @Susan: Isn’t twitter great?! Thanks for the link- I will definitely check it out. True words about positive focus, I couldn’t agree more!

Barbi

]]> By: BarbaraLee http://www.homeeverafter.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/comment-page-1/#comment-897 BarbaraLee Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:24:20 +0000 http://www.homemakerbarbi.com/what-would-we-do-if-my-husband-lost-his-job/#comment-897 Where my hubby works they cut hours, 40 to 32. Our business is hurting big time. As long as he is working we will be fine but if he looses his we will be hurting in a months time. I babysit for my dd 3 days out of the week for a little extra. Other then that we wouldn't feel the pinch. As a matter of fact we are planning a bigger garden, more chickens for bucthering & laying, a few cattle in the pasture from a friend who will exchange meat for rental. I feel God will bless us if we follow Him. Where my hubby works they cut hours, 40 to 32. Our business is hurting big time. As long as he is working we will be fine but if he looses his we will be hurting in a months time. I babysit for my dd 3 days out of the week for a little extra.
Other then that we wouldn’t feel the pinch. As a matter of fact we are planning a bigger garden, more chickens for bucthering & laying, a few cattle in the pasture from a friend who will exchange meat for rental.

I feel God will bless us if we follow Him.

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