Oh how the mighty have fallen! I look back a scant 4 years ago and wonder where the time (and the money) has gone! When H. and I married, he was making over $100,000 a year as a corporate trainer and I was pulling in about $40,000 myself, working from home as the managing editor of a news website. Then, a few months later, I had relocated to Utah and we bought a house, within the means we had, yes, but what we paid would have made Dave Ramsey box our stupid ears. Classic rookie blunder.
H. and I grew up middle class, like most of America. Our parents didn't usually have extra and there were times of not enough, but generally getting by, or, what H. and I snootily called "poor", once we were raking in some real money ourselves. So, the minute we had any residual income, we ran out and bought a nice, big house to store our three (now 4) kids and all the amazing furniture we wanted to buy and then *ouch*. He was laid off within 2 months of signing the mortgage and stayed that way for a year an a half. So, instead of living on $140,000 a year, we were reduced to my meager $40,000 (before taxes) and it *hurt*. No health insurance plus a series of illnesses including several miscarriages, hemorrhaging child support, private school tuition (another stupid mistake to be discussed at a later date), a massive mortgage, car payments, a very bad habit of spending at will, especially on large scale items (skis etc.) and going out to eat, traveling and more. It was our *lifestyle* and it had just crashed to the ground.
We tried to rally ourselves and H. eventually got a job, paying well below what he was making before and doing something he hated, but we needed the money. We put the kabash on our "lifestyle" and tightened our belts until there were visible red marks. Things ran like that for a year or so until that company consolidated and moved out of state. Unemployed again.
By this time, I had gotten pregnant and had resigned from my own job. Living on nothing at all this time, right at Christmas. We gave the kids a dog we'd gotten on discount from the pound, which we subsequently gave away. H. got another job a few months later, but was laid off once again and we hit the downward spiral of foreclosure. H. got another job and I picked up some freelance work as often as I could and we unceremoniously pulled our child out of private school and dumped him into the public school system - a world he was wholly unprepared for.
While H. was working, I eventually landed a decent enough job, somewhat low paying, but working from home and bringing in some much-needed cash each month. Then, BAM. H. - laid off, again. Then, BAM, two weeks later, me - laid off. (In the same week, our basement flooded too, but I digress...)
So, now, we're here. Both not working, both looking for work. In full-on foreclosure and on the brink of bankruptcy. Filed for unemployment and Food Stamps and waiting in bread lines at the Salvation Army. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Anywhoo - here's the deal. Since we're not working anyway, and since we are living through this unemployment like 8% of Americans in the U.S., we figured - misery loves company, right?
Our goal is to help people just like us, living the unemployed lifestyle, find resources, education and information that might just help alleviate some of the pressure.
It's new, so bear with us as we work through all the ideas we've come up with for providing a place for people to educate themselves on the gamut of unemployed living - from writing great resumes and cover letters to how to conduct a search using a variety of job resources, to filing for unemployment and Food Stamps and other in-between help services to get by until you can find work once again.
If you're anything like us, I'm sure you've swung through the range of emotions we have - anxiety, anger and frustration, maybe sleepless nights, sick in your stomach, depression, discouragement and more - you've wondered what on earth you could possibly be doing wrong that is preventing you from finding work. Why doesn't anyone return your calls? emails? Why? I'll tell you why. It's because available jobs in this market are like chum in shark infested waters. Every shark for himself. Chances are, it's not you, so don't give up the fight. I'm not a believer in the "victim" mentality, AT ALL, but there are definitely times when you know you're not to blame - and this may be one of them. So, together, we'll figure it out and maybe learn some life-long lessons in the process that we can take with us and give to others when we, ourselves, have passed through this season.
"May the odds be ever in your favor!"
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