What if I Lose My Job?
I bet you’re surprised I have a day job. I bet you thought that I’m such a brilliant blogger of all things baby boomer that I reap a living wage from my efforts here at The Boomer Chronicles. Well, you would be mistaken. I make a piddly amount of money doing this here blog. Anyway, my day job is at an institution of higher learning. I feel pretty secure in my job, but then last night I heard something scary. Another local school, Brandeis, has voted to close its art museum! Yep. They are going to sell the collection and close the doors. That’s pretty drastic.
Anyway, I’ve been rehearsing. What would I do if I lost my job? I will cut out the cable TV and the organic food I eat and maybe get rid of my car.
Have you heard about the most recent layoffs? Home Depot, Pfizer, Sprint Nextel, Caterpillar, Nokia, Sun Microsystems, Bose, and the list goes on and on. This month alone about 187,550 jobs were lost. Here is one layoff tracker you can use to follow some of the carnage.
January 27th, 2009 at 11:20 am
We’ve been car-free since 2000. It works here in Boston’s Back Bay because we have great connections with Mass transit and about 70 Zipcars within a mile of our home.
We’ve done the math a few times and car ownership is far more expensive than most people think. So, prep a list of all your car expenses before you look for other cuts.
Cars also eat up a lot of your free time. We don’t have to take cars in for service, look for parking spaces, wash the car, shovel it out or worry about it being stolen or vandalized.
I vote that you ditch the car!
January 27th, 2009 at 11:33 am
I’ve been back and forth for a long time about the car. Now Zipcar finally put more locations in JP, where I live. YAhoo!
January 27th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
I’ve been through it twice in the last 3 years and I feel a lot more secure now where I am than where I was before. The 2nd time I got laid off it wasn’t that much of a shock and I got placed in a much better job in the same company (yeah!). But I feel like I’ve updated my skills enough that I could survive.
As for a car – while I would probably sell my new car, you have to have a car to get around the DC area unless you live in the city. Period.
January 27th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I’m officially depressed. Thanks for that…
January 27th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
If you don’t mind being hideously unhealthy, you can live on Ramen noodles for about a buck a day. Actually, if you can afford another buck for some frozen vegetables, it’s not too-too horrible. I did it, for a (Thanks God!) short time.
January 27th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
I feel lucky because my situation is not typical. I own my own business, so I can’t technically get laid off, but my business can surely go under. If it does, I would have to take more drastic measures than just cutting out the cable TV. I would probably have to foreclose on my home, & sell everything that I have.
In a way, this is the perfect time for me to be thinking about leaving the conventional life & going off to live on the road, going wherever I can find work, even if it is to teach English in China.
January 27th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Catherinette: You’re welcome. I’m kinda known for that…
Suldog: Ramen, yeah, I did that. In college.
Nancy: Going on the road. I think of doing that, too. Selling everything and taking off…
Emily: It’s true. Some places don’t have good public transit.
January 27th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Yep, did the Ramen noodle thing several times in my life. We can’t get rid of the cars. There is no public transportation in this area, unless you count ambulances, and you can no longer get them to take you to the grocery store (when I first moved to Kentucky the Ambulance Taxi Service was a large source of revenue for which they charged Medicare – they were caught eventually). We live 30 minutes from town. If mountain Man tried to walk to work it would take him 4 hours, even if he didn’t get run down by a coal truck en route. If he lost his job (I got laid off 5 years ago), we’d have to move.
January 27th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
A few years back, when I considered moving back to NY/Queens area (although originally from LI) I was looking for a job based on my previous salary. One of the bigger savings was in “going car-free”. I don’t have cable and these days rarely watch tv (although I would like to see some of the cable shows), however, going back to Oprah shows from way back, she always had some expert saying about cable and credit cards.
Hitting the open road is a wonderful idea except one needs a good amount of “jingle” unless one has a destination with a small rv or comfortable car or tent. Truly, I have been considering tree houses and warmer climates.
Fingers crossed that you do not lose your job and that you find some freelance work. You are very knowledgeable about “boomer info” and write very well – perhaps, there is work available or newsletters that you may write for. Just a thought…
January 27th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
I was downsized twice at a major technology company before I retired in 2005. Only the first one really hurt. You mistakening think that you and your company are like family, loyal to one another. Then you learn the truth. It’s not about you and never has been. It’s about the “Benjamins”. Trust me…there is life after the layoff. I’m finally doing what I’ve wanted to do for years…writing books. I’m not making much money but I’m loving it and there’s something to say for that. Of course I’m fortunate to have a pension and husband to help cover the bills!
January 27th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
After 28 years on the job, they closed the factory doors in 2007, I was 58. Not much of a market for a 58 year old electrical engineer, so I took early retirement and I am living off of my IRA’s and 401(k)’s
To keep busy, I went back to college for my Master’s and I am interning for a non-profit. I am enjoying life like I have never done before, no more production deadline or no more angry customers.
Now, if only the stock market would recover!
January 27th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
It is a scary time for sure. Sorry to hear about Brandeis! Hope your job is safe!
January 31st, 2009 at 3:24 pm
My advice is to get out of the negative or you could manifest that for yourself. After all, there’s nothing you can do about it. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen and worrying about it before it happens is just going to make you ill. Even if you do lose your job, it may just be the Universe’s way of pushing you toward something else you are supposed to be doing. Turn it all over. Everything is fine.
February 1st, 2009 at 5:18 pm
I’m unemployed now. I just dropped the cable service – $70 for the great 20th century time-waster is nonsense. Usually, I’d click through 100 channels and find nothing.
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:45 pm
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