Keeping afloat after becomeing one of the unemployed

Keeping afloat after becoming one of the unemployed.

I was recently laid off of my job of 4+ years, so of course I have been trying to keep bills paid. I am on unemployment and food stamps while I look for a new job with equal benefits and pay, but as anyone who has been in my shoes before knows, that doesn't even scratch the surface!

Below are a few ways I have kept caught up with my $2,500 a month lifestyle while getting $600 in unemployment benefits and $200 in foodstamps per month.

The way I've made the most money is by selling off some of my old stuff(as well as some stuff I find in thrift stores) on Amazon, eBay would work as well but I only felt like mantaining one web store myself. Just remember, just because it's listed by someone at $0.01 doesn't mean you have to match that price! It may take longer to sell at a higher price, but after time someone will buy it.

I'll write about how I keep the Amazon store running next and replace this sentence with a like to it in hopes you are interested.

I've also made some spare change by collecting scrap metal. It takes a while to get enough to make anything, but if you see some on the side of the road and take the time to get it, it adds up.

Budget yourself! I can't say this enough, but it makes a big difference. Set aside every penny you have, and after all your bills are caught up, see what expenses you can afford to drop.

Example: Why pay $40 a month for cable? If you are reading this, you should have access to a computer and internet. Drop the outdated T.V. Services in light of Netflix. Of course it requires you to keep your internet paid up but you need entertainment from somewhere, and at $9.99 a month for streaming and one DVD out at a time it will help(and you get to watch what you want and when you want ;) )

And there are many other ways depending on your your situation. I had an expensive cigar habit, but stepped down to cigarellos. Still an expensive habit but I went from $8 a day to $0.99 a day.

Food... You never want to go hungry, but you never get enough foodstamps. Obivously you will not be able to eat out, but it takes a bit of work to stay fed on such a low budget. Our issue is my fiancee has to stick to a strict diet due to medical complications. We still manage to make do. One week we will make a big pot of chili that she can eat, and that will be dinner for a week. With lunch consisting of inexpensive sandwichs, and breakfast of homeade biscuits or pancakes. If you don't/can't cook, now would be a good time.

We still have a LOT of pets to feed as well. 1 dog, 6 cats, 2 turtles, 1 ferret, and 1 savannah monitor.

For the cats, we buy the biggest bag of catfood we can find, while sticking to a good name brand. Going for the cheap stuff can lead to stomach issues which leads to expensive vet bills.

The turtles get leftover veggies, and I happen to live on a river so they get minnows as well making them an almost no cost pet.

The savannah monitor, that was expensive to start off with, but we started breeding him mealworms, roaches, and other insects so he is another low cost buddy.

The most expensive animal we have is a German Shepherd mix, but we have raised him on a raw bone and meat diet which we will not take him off of. His primary meat right now is chicken. You can get a bulk bag of leg quarters and that last him a little under a week(with us eating some of it for ourselves of course.) But to help lower cost, I also fish and hunt small game for him.

The ferret diet isn't so bad with us only having one right now, a bag of it's food last over a month. She currently eats Science Diet Sensitive Stomach. So once again we buy bulk for the most cost effective route.

Above all else, keep you head up and MAKE things work for you. You may be on hard times, but with a little effort and some creative thinking you will make it through!