Recently laid off or retrenched? How to support yourself between jobs

If you were retrenched from your previous employer, you may have been fortunate enough to have been provided a package comprising a few months salary. Or your spouse or partner may be able to support your family. If you have a financial buffer, then you should be able to make it through to re-employment without too much difficulty.

However, if you are depending on limited savings, then careful management is necessary—especially in the current financial climate. And a positive attitude is essential!

Government assistance

You may be eligible for job search assistance from the government. This usually requires regular reporting back to the local government office—and is typically only a modest amount. But if you’re eligible, then apply for it. And you shouldn’t feel guilty or ashamed to do so, after all, you’ve paid your taxes in the past, and is your current plight all your fault?

Increasing savings

The quickest way to increase your savings is to sell something that you already have. Everybody has things they no longer need or want that can be sold. With facilities such as ebay, selling things is easier than ever. And if you don’t feel like the hassle of using e-bay, then you can use companies who sell on e-bay for you. Also, an old-fashioned garage sale can give quick results (and is something the whole family can get involved in).

Earning money from home

In earning money from home, it’s important to not try to make the exercise earn a fortune. It probably never would. But it is possible to earn some money, and this can be done without interfering too much with the main game of getting back to permanent employment in your chosen profession. Examples include: direct selling by phone, sales support (usually just requires a phone & PC), baby-sitting (but check your local laws re child-care), etc. Check your local paper too. Working from home also means that you’re close to your home office, and can switch easily back to your main job search.

Budgeting

Most importantly, you’ll need to manage your cash differently to when you were previously employed. This doesn’t mean that you have to be a chartered accountant or expert in spreadsheets. It does mean that you need to understand how much you must spend each month (or week), and how much is discretionary (eg. luxuries such as regular cinema visits). Yes, it’s important to keep a positive attitude and some luxuries help with this. But it’s a simple rule: the more you spend then the less you have, and the sooner you’ll need to get more money. So draw up a quick budget and track yourself against it. Ordering your expenses from largest to smallest, you’ll also be able to see how a few major expenses will account for 70-80% of your outgoings. So focusing on minimizing these can provide significant benefit to your available funds.

Supporting yourself between jobs