For me, it all started shortly after becoming unemployed. I suddenly realized that I had to start making things stretch. Food in the pantry was disappearing before my eyes with no check coming in to replace it all. Every time I turned around, one of the kids was hitting me up for money to go somewhere; clothes; pictures; field trips, etc. And of course, getting winter tires, the oil changed, my annual mammogram (with no insurance) hit all at once as well. My husband is a builder and at the time, we were building a spec house for ourselves, so no income there at the time either (it's for sale by the way).
Where did all that money go? The truth is, we all, no matter what our income level is, big or small, have the tendency to live beyond our means. Of course you already know that; it's a cliche used everyday in this world and so easily ignored...until reality hits. The good news is there are ways to get back on your feet and I hope to share some of them with you. I saw it coming and failed to prepare for it while I had money rolling in. The company I worked for was slowly taking on more debt than it had income at the time and the crash of the construction industry only exacerbated it. You see, this isn't the "big city", no corporate paychecks here with 401Ks, medical benefits, etc. Maybe a few, but not enough to mention. Oh wait, they did manage to get a Simple IRA a few months before I was laid off, so I guess there's a whopping thousand bucks out there! But I did manage to make some of the best money around this valley. While I am grateful for that, my last paycheck stretched only so far and then the waiting game for unemployment to kick in seemed like eternity. But I refused to go down without a fight; no way was I going to hit rock bottom, whatever that was.
We are a proud society never wanting anyone to think we're struggling. Even if you have a good job right now and feel this isn't for you, read on because job security is never certain. If you're self employed, consider yourself "unemployed" every morning you wake up. You constantly have to wonder where your next client/customer will come from; thinking of new ways to market yourself in an effort to build relationships and therefore, client retention. So while you may not feel you need this information yourself (I hope you never do), perhaps you know someone who could benefit and will share this blog with them.
