Should You Have a Survival Job During Unemployment?
(By Go Banking Rates)
Being unemployed can make you feel useless, not to mention anxious, about the future of your finances. The outlook for American jobs isn’t great, either, as the unemployment rate in July remained at 9.5 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even worse, 45 percent of these people have been without work for 27 weeks or longer.
Obviously, you won’t remain without a job forever, but that stretch of time between getting laid off and finding a new position can drag on longer than you can afford. So what do you do during the interim to maintain an income and avoid accumulating debt?
Living Off Unemployment Benefits
Many people choose to file for unemployment as a source of income. However, it doesn’t pay much and not many people could live off that check alone for long. In fact, the average unemployment check in the U.S. per week is $293.
Relying on unemployment could be your best bet considering how bleak the job market is these days. Ultimately, though, your goal should be to begin earning your own paycheck again.
Finding New Sources of Income–the Survival Job
Many of the unemployed are seeking out survival jobs–low paying, menial positions that help them keep their heads above water while searching for a “real” job. However, CBS News reports an estimated 200,000 jobs need to open up every month to reduce the unemployment rate, but private employers added only 71,000 jobs in July. This means if you choose to take this route, you have to take what you can get.
Disadvantages of Taking the Temporary Job
If you have the opportunity to earn more than unemployment benefits are providing, or your benefits have run out, you will likely want some sort of job to provide income. Before you take the first offer that comes your way, here are a few potential drawbacks you may encounter that should be considered.
Appreciating Your Own Financial Education Experience
I won’t say I grew up in a poor family, nor will I say I grew up in a rich one. From my knowledge, although my parents can contend this, I think we were in the lower middle class zone of the economic spectrum.
I was born in the Pennsylvania, then was moved to Texas for a couple years until moving back to my birthplace. The second time around, however, we moved in with my grandmother. Since I was only about 5, I don’t know any of the discussions or agreements that happened at the time, but we ended up living with my “Gram” through my college days, although I stopped living at home after my junior year.
Sharing a home with another wage-earner (my gram) definitely helped my parents be able to take care of my sister and I, but looking back, I know we definitely lived much more frugally than my wife and I do now. Although we could have gone to public school “for free” (paid via our required property taxes), my parents sent us to private Catholic school from kindergarten through high school and paid out of their pockets. As I said, it helped to have 3 adult incomes in the house, but we weren’t shopping at the fancy clothes stores; we got most of our clothes at Value City and Sears, and sometimes Goodwill and Salvation Army. It always could have been worse, I know.
But really, it was only when it came to clothing and maybe some toys that I felt less privileged than other kids, but what kid doesn’t want something he doesn’t have? I do, however, despise the polyester pants I had to wear because 1) I was a very fat kid and 2) polyester clung very unflatteringly to me. I think I even started a few “friction fires” in my day.
The Power of Forgiveness
I had a puppy when I was younger. Well, not really, but it’s pertinent for me to be able to tell this story.
I really wanted this puppy. I spent years pining for it, and then a year later, I finally got it. You could say “I loved him and hugged him and petted him and called him George” (literary reference), but that is true. I couldn’t be apart from this puppy for more than a few minutes without feeling lost and alone. I would walk it twice a day or more, fed it like a king, rolled around and played with it any chance I could get. I loved it and I knew it loved me back because when I got home it would “puppy tackle” me and followed me wherever I went.
But then life hit. I couldn’t ignore my job and other duties just for a little puppy, right? So while I still played fetch, walked it when it needed to go potty, and made sure it stayed fed, I just didn’t have the same enthusiasm. I didn’t love it any less, but I felt I couldn’t balance my work life and play life without feeling the pressure from both sides. “George” would still run to the door when I got home and didn’t seem to show any less love for me, but I didn’t know how to respond in kind.
Get Your ING Direct $25 New Account Bonuses!
I love my ING Direct Orange Savings account. Well, love is a strong word. I really like it because I get a much better interest rate than my main bank, but even better, YOU get money for opening an account too!
I just loaded up on some more $25 ING Direct referral links, so if you don’t have an account yet (and you’re interested in one) keep reading…
Your bonus for opening an account is $25 (and $10 for me) with a minimum opening deposit of $250. That’s an instant 10% return on your money 
To receive this $25 bonus, you have to use one of the links below and you must be a new ING customer opening an account with at least $250. That means you can’t already have an ING Orange Savings or Electric Orange Checking account.
Orange Savings Account Referral Links
- Open ING Direct Orange Savings – Link 1
- Open ING Direct Orange Savings – Link 2
- Open ING Direct Orange Savings – Link 3
- Open ING Direct Orange Savings – Link 4
- Open ING Direct Orange Savings – Link 5
If you click on a link and it says, We’re sorry, but the referral link within the email you received has expired and is no longer valid. We recommend that you contact the sender and ask them to re-send the referral email. Or click Continue to proceed with the application process without the account opening bonus. Then the link has been used and move on to the next one (I’ll go ahead and clear it out soon).
Happy savings!
How I Saved $500 in a Month with Little Effort
By Vanessa
I earn good money, more than most of my friends (and family!) but as a consultant I work hard for it – I get inside my clients’ businesses, I help them with whatever they may need, I offer my advice, my contacts, my services and of course my time. I work late and on weekends and as a result my partner and I recently decided to reward our hard work with a new car.
The Dream
I have always wanted an Alpha Romeo (probably because of my Italian background – who knows) and so my partner and I headed to the prestige car dealership. It was a gloomy Saturday afternoon and as a result we were the only customers, and were able to head out straight away on a test drive of the new 147, in red of course.
The Alpha was fast, it was smooth it was beautiful and because Alpha Romeo are not going to make the 147 anymore, we would have been able to lease a brand new one for just over $500 a month – perfecto! Or so we thought. When my partner and I looked at our situation – our earnings, minus our mortgage repayments, phone bills, power and water, $500 a month seemed like a drop in the ocean.
However, we soon realized we were in the situation that many of you are probably familiar with, of spending everything we earned and not being left with $5 at the end of the week, let alone $500 at the end of the month – when was the last time you saw $500 left in your bank account at the end of the month? How could this be – after our bills and mortgage repayments, a couple of transfers to our savings account (to pay for a trip to the home of the Alpha!) there was nowhere near enough left to cover repayments for a new car, month after month.
Winners of the “Go To Bat” $50 Gift Cards!
Congratulations goes out to both Sarah R and Tom! You guys won a $50 gift card to Sports Authority Check your email to claim your prize.
We’ll try doing more giveaways like these this year.
Auto Forums and Youtube can make you a “Weekend Mechanic”
Some time ago, I told you how to change your vehicle’s oil. It’s not a job for everyone because it can be messy and takes time. It also takes a number of oil changes before the money spent on parts and supplies brings the average cost down to make sense to do it yourself.
However, not all of us do our own auto work to save money. In my case, I just like getting into the engine bits, but just enough to not really risk breaking the car (much). In other words, I’ll change fluids, because it’s not hard, but I’m avoiding replacing brakes and other things that help stop your car.
My Honda Ridgeline has reached 60,000 miles, which means it’s about time to replace the transmission fluid and the rear differential fluid (it’s an All-Wheel Drive truck, so it has a gearbox in the back that needs lubrication from oil). Knowing the dealer, and even non-dealer mechanics, charge hundreds of $$$ to do these fluids, I chose to turn to the internet to learn how to do it myself.
I searched and quickly found the following article that covers both the transmission fluid AND the rear diff fluid:
http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20628
It’s an excellent write-up with photos and a list of required supplies. With forums, you get to read through everyone else’s questions and experiences to make sure you don’t make someone else’s mistakes. For instance, someone decided to use the drain hole in the truck’s trunk to run a hose and fill the rear diff fluid up. Personally, I used a $10 gallon pump kit from the local auto store. Took longer and more energy, but I can reuse the (washed) pump for other chemicals down the road.
“Go To Bat” $100 Sports Authority Giveaway!
Well I haven’t done a giveaway in quite some time, so I figured I’d start with this one from State Farm and Sports Authority!
We’re going to give away Two $50 gift cards to Sports Authority!
State Farm has teamed up with MLB to give people a chance to attend the 2010 World Series, while at the same time making a difference for their favorite charity by “going to bat” for them.
All you have to do is visit www.statefarm.com/gotobat, play the online Home Run Derby game for the charity you’d like to “go to bat” for and once a week, for ten weeks, State Farm will select a winner and their charity. The winner’s charity will receive a weekly donation ($100 for every home run hit that week in MLB) and the winner themselves will receive a trip for two to the 2010 World Series!
This “Go to Bat” program is void in Quebec & where prohibited. Participants must be a legal resident of the U.S. or Canadian provinces of Alberta, New Brunswick or Ontario, and must be 18+ at time of entry.
So to help spread the word for them, we were given TWO $50 gift cards to give out to our readers! (You’re very lucky too, I don’t get anything myself )
Clever Dude and his bride started with $113,000 in consumer debt and in just 3 short years, it's gone!