Perhaps you’ve already seen the departure of numerous coworkers or you’ve just heard whispering and speculation around the water cooler. With the steady increase in unemployment rates, many are concerned that their position is next in line for cutbacks with their employer.
If this is a worry that’s on top of your mind, then you’re probably also wondering how you can take a proactive approach in the event that it becomes a reality. Speaking from the experience of three major layoffs in just as many years, here are five tips that have helped our family avoid financial disaster.
Cut back your spending immediately. Review your bills and look for areas where you can start to scale back. Start small by trying to cut just $1 a day from your expenses and increase your savings from there. Learn how to maximize your savings at drugstores and grocery stores and add these additional funds to your emergency account.
Build a stockpile. Learning how to stockpile items by buying them when they’re at a rock bottom sale price and matched with a coupon is always a big money saver. But more importantly, in the event of a layoff, being able to cut back your grocery expenses by eating from your stockpile is a huge blessing.
Pay yourself first. Start building an emergency savings by setting up an online savings and having money automatically drafted into it from your checking account each pay period. Transfer the money saved from any cut backs into it as well. Every little bit helps!
Start paying just the minimums on any debt. Funnel anything extra you were paying into your emergency account as well.
Get a handle on the job market. Check out the classifieds and online job postings. Start doing a little networking to feel out the situation in your industry, and update your résumé so it’s ready to go.
There’s no such thing as job security these days. Especially with the current depressed economy, it’s important to be prepared as best as you can be for a sudden loss of income. Losing a job is never easy, but you can definitely prepare yourself so that it’s more manageable.
