How to survive w/o a salary

**homesteadmamma** · 09-02-2002, 10:52 AM

Charles Long wrote a terrific book How to Survive w/o a Salary and I've read it numerous times. It comes highly recommended.

Could you survive w/o a salary? How would you do it? Where would you begin? How would you look at supplementing a income so that you could survive?

**simplemom** · 09-02-2002, 05:03 PM

I was interested in reading that book, among so many others...It sound very interesting. We should be ready to know how to survive if this would happen.

**kcjulesus** · 09-03-2002, 11:28 PM

Thank you for the information on the book. My husband is the one that works in our home as I'm a stay at home mom and he's about to get laid off from his job that he's been at for 6 yrs. It's very stressful trying to figure out how we'd make it off of his unemployment when it's about half of what we are used to and we just did buy a house about 2 months ago. I am going to try to get a job and let him stay home with the kids but until I find one, it's going to be very stressful for us!

**homesteadmamma** · 09-03-2002, 11:33 PM

Julie {{{{hugs}}}}}. It can be very stressful knowing your dh will be out of work.

A couple of suggestions: Try to get your pantry as filled as possible. Watch for loss leaders and good sales. That definitely helped us when dh was out of work here.

Try to have a bit of an emergency fund put away. That too helped us and it helped me feel not quite as nervous.

I'll be praying either of you will get a job quickly.

**AandAmom** · 09-04-2002, 05:50 AM

We are going through this now. Dh was just laid off last week. I will go check this book out today. Thank you!

**crdurham** · 09-04-2002, 01:00 PM

Here's our story, hope it helps you all going through this situation.
I was laid off in January due to down-sizing. We had seen it coming but didn't know exactly when. We bought a house last October. I guess we are lucky that we don't have a car payment and have a low credit card debt.
The first thing that we did was sit down and see where we could cut our costs. We looked at EVERYTHING. We got rid of all the extras on our phone, changed our cable services, lowered the thermostat, etc. All these changes saved us about $100 a month.
We also don't eat out as much. With me not working we save money on gas, food, and clothes.
My husband enjoys me staying at home so much, he justs wants me to go back to work part time

when my unemployment runs out in October.
Its not been easy but we have made it just fine the last 9 months. My dh is good with money (something he has really taught me..lol) and we have been able to continue to enjoy going out and furnishing our house one piece at a time. We are not rich by no means but for me having $1000 in the bank, the monthly bills paid, and my family around me is rich enough.
I think with planning, coupons, stocking up, saving, and cutting corners. You are able to enjoy your life and your family without having to starve or worry whether the bills are going to be paid.
Good luck to all of you just going through this. For me, being laid off was a wonderful change in my life. So much good has happened in the past 9 months that wouldn't have happened otherwise. If anyone needs advise or help, don't hesistate to pm me....

**mustang80** · 09-10-2002, 08:27 PM

If your hubbies are getting laid off, make sure to apply for unemployment benefits! This will take the heat off for a while. He may even qualify for the federal extension, which adds another 13 weeks onto your benefits if you exhaust them. We lived for many years this way. DH used to get "seasonal layoff" every winter. I learned early on how to get by.