holy cr@p!

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-20-2003
holy cr@p!
13
Wed, 10-13-2004 - 9:46pm
I wrote a few times about our massive debt and a terrible thing happened today - DH lost his job. I don't know what we're going to do. We are screwed.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-23-2004
In reply to: iwannabsahm
Thu, 10-14-2004 - 9:14pm
I am so very sorry you are going through this. I know exactly how it feels as DH came home in late June and told me that he was "suspended indefinitely" due to an incident between him and his supervisor....which meant that he couldn't apply for unemplyment (because technically he wasnt fired), and he couldnt use his job of 23 years as a reference..Being that we had just finalized on the adoption of our 2 babies, have debt that we have been working on paying, a mortgage, and the usual bills, we were both sick about it. I started making phone calls the next day. Catholic Charities has a program that helps with certain bills, I called several churches, WIC, and any other program I could think of. I also called all of my cc companies, and my phone company, electric and gas companies. SOme places were willing to work with me and some were not. Additionally every place I called had more suggestions for me. There are resources out there, but you have to keep calling all of these places to recieve any assistance. DH recieved a call back from his job a month later, and he was told he could come back to work (fortunately he is in the union, and what they did was against union rules)...but being he had been suspended, I know that they are just looking for an excuse to fire him for good...It is sickening. I am glad your hubby has a severence package. Make sure he lists his resume at Hotjob, monster, etc, and as another poster mentioned, let EVERYONE know hubby is out of work as you never know who may be looking for help. DH was offerred a job on a loading dock (at a friends place of business) making 2/3 of what he is currently paid (he is in the healthcare field), but he would have taken it until he was able to find something in his field. I also spent alot of time on the ivillage jobseekers support group board. You may want to check it out, as I recieved alot of great hints to pass on to hubby as far as sending out his resume etc.

http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/listsf.asp?webtag=iv-wdjobsupport&nav=start

HTH, I wish you all of the luck in the world

~Dawn


Edited 10/14/2004 9:16 pm ET ET by shiningonme

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-06-2004
In reply to: iwannabsahm
Fri, 10-15-2004 - 12:12pm
You're right about the unemployment cks not starting until the severance pay time is over. I don't agree with that. I think you should be able to pay off stuff with the severance $ while living somewhat off the $220 a wk unemployment. Good luck with the job hunting. Try to keep positive. Its true that a man is practically his job, watch to make sure he doesn't get depressed. donna
Avatar for akirez
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: iwannabsahm
Fri, 10-15-2004 - 2:20pm
I went through a lay-off several years ago and we had severance and were paid out for vacation. I was able to go to unemployment and file and I started receiving benefits as soon as I started applying for the requisite number of jobs each week. I highly recommend doing that ASAP! I knew people who didn't go to unemployment and later regretted it. After all, the company pays for that too. If I recall correctly, the severance and vacation pay-out were taxed at a higher rate, so you actually end up with less up front than if your husband were receiving regular paychecks. Let him take a little time off to relax--a week or two--and then he can focus his full attention on the job search. Good luck--I'm sure you'll both be fine. I was so scared when I was laid off, but in retrospect it was very good for me and I have a much better job now doing what I wanted to. Just make sure to adjust your monthly bills as much as possible--cut out extras, pay only minimums and delay anything that you can. Hold onto his severance as long as possible and try not to stress too much!

Akirez

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