couponqueenofcorning

During yesterday’s post, I mentioned about the possibility of my husband getting laid off. Many people who thought their jobs were safe are getting laid off. So, maybe we should all have a plan of action ‘just in case’.

This is what I have done to prepare for a possible layoff:

1. Stockpiling -  I keep most of it in our basement where I have a closet under the stairs and have two bookcases where I keep canned goods. My stockpile of HBA products (household, bath) is really nice. I probably have enough to go 6 months with that stuff and I am always stocking up more. Whenever Rite Aid or Walgreens has a rebate that makes something I use FREE, I go buy it. I also stock up on stuff when I can use my coupons along with sales to get stuff cheap.I have about 2 months worth of canned goods and pasta. I keep foods that we will eat on a regular basis, so stuff gets used before it expires. We don’t have as much sugar or flour as I would like. If money started getting tight I could make a lot with just having a good stockpile of these, along with rice. I could make homemade pasta, bread, goodies, etc.  Our upright freezer is looking a little bare right now but I would like to get it stocked up more with veggies and more meat.So, my goal is to get my stockpile to a point where it will last us three months. I am going to go down there and take inventory and see where we are truly at. I need to make note of the things we need the most. Then when I see sales on the stuff (especially if I can combine with a coupon) I will increase my stockpile. Whatever I can’t get a good price on, I will get at Aldi’s. I have allotted an extra $40 this month for increasing my stockpile and will have about $30 for next month.
2. Divising an unemployment budget - We all know how essential it is to have a budget. If you don’t have a budget, now is the time to do a regular budget. If you already have a budget in place, the next step is to devise a budget that could be used if you or your spouse got laid off. If you Excel or another spreadsheet program, it will make your budget easy to edit.We are a one income family and have so far done pretty well. My husband makes enough for us to live off and enjoy. The reason we can do this is because we live frugally and try not to spend a lot of extra money on things we don’t need. Now, we live in New York state and my husband would be eligible for the maximum unemployment benefits (a little over $400). When I figured our budget I only based it on 4 weeks in a month and that extra week could go in the bank or whatever. I also based it on being in our new home. We are also paying off ALL our credit cards when we get our income tax refund, so that will reduce our expense.So, first you need to figure out how much money you would have coming into the house. For us, this would be about $1600 a month. Then you need to figure out your mandatory expenses (ME): housing, utilities, food. Then important expenses (IE) like car payment, car insurance, etc. Then what you should be paying off like credit cards and then leisure things like cable, cell phones and internet.
   • Take your income and subtract your ME’s, then your IEs. Is there anything left? The, subtract your other debt. Still have money left? Subtract things like cable and cell phones in order of importance. You will want to leave at least a $50 for miscellaneous things that will pop up.
   • Here is what ours looked like when I did it:
     income                        $1600
     house                          $743
     food                             $150
     electric                        $85
     propane                      $100
     car payment              $283
     car insurance             $100
     internet                      $45
     track phones              $20This would leave us with about $75 extra a month. Now, I also have student loans, but they are in deferment for as long as I am at least a part-time student. So as long as I don’t have to stop taking classes until I graduate in 2010 we should be fine. They are only $150 a month, so I could get a little part-time job to pay them if he gets laid off after I graduate. This budget also assumes canceling our cell phones (no fee for canceling because we haven’t renewed our contract yet), and canceling cable.
3. Save all the extra money you can - Are you expecting a tax refund this year? If so, bank some of that money in a high-yield savings account. Use all rebates and any ‘found’ money to build up your savings. We automatically send $25 a week to our savings account and I usually send extra at the beginning of the month depending on the budget for that month. When there is 5 paydays in a month, that extra paycheck goes right into the savings account. If you are under-budget for something (say you budget $250 for food and there are such great deals that you only spend $200) , then take that $50 and transfer it to your savings. The more money you have for a rainy day, the better off you will be.

I hope that by sharing with you what I am doing to ready my family in this troubling economy, that it will inspire you to devise a plan B.

Have you started planning? What are you doing? What are you thinking about doing?  Anything else I could be doing to prepare?

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