December 6th, 2011 
Jessica It’s been 15 months since Brad was laid off from his last job, and 3 months since he began his new position here in sunny California. We haven’t figured it all out, but here are a few things we learned along the way:
- Pray. A lot. Be Specific.
- Be a Team. This is not the time to criticize one another.
- Love your spouse and kids. Like crazy.
- Find Inspiration. Read your Bible. Remember Steve Jobs was laid off too.
- Interview, interview, interview. Get a babysitter if necessary.
- Do short-term positions to pay the bills. Use whatever degrees, skills, certifications, and contacts you currently have. Get creative.
- Learn new skills. If you’ve coached, try refereeing. If you write, try blogging. If you teach, try writing curriculum.
- Build up your emergency savings. Your rainy day is here.
- Get Gazelle-Intense. Get angry at your debts. Pay off your loans. Move in with your parents.
- Downsize. Sell your extra car, unused technology, books, and furniture.
- Manage every cost you can. Search out the cheapest rates, deals, and discounts. Apply for financial aid in whatever forms you need.
- Be Thankful. There are more blessings around you than you realize.
If you have been through a lay-off, how did you survive?
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We are counselled in our church to have a years supply of food storage including 3 months supply of foods that you use regularly like cereals and prepackaged stuff so your kids don’t go into shock right away when you dig into the long term stuff. The long term includes things like wheat, oats, sugar, pasta, powdered milk, cheese, other grains etc. Lots of canned items or dehydrated. Also have a three month cost of living in savings and 300 in cash in case of other emergencies and banks fail. This is of course before you get a lay off. It is on going keeping these things stocked. We used all of our tax return one year to buy ours from a provident living site.
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