5 Things to Do When the Bread Earner of Your Family Gets Unemployed

Job loss puts a family into great financial and emotional stress. Most of the families don’t know what to do when their sole working member is laid off. Glance through the article to know about few things you/families should do after the sole bread earner gets unemployed.

Things to do when the bread earner of the family gets unemployed

Here are the 5 things you should do when the sole bread earner of the family loses his job and become unemployed:

1. Evaluate your financial situation: Evaluate your financial situation and find out if you are drowning in debts. Calculate the total money in your savings account. Is it enough to live comfortably for a few months? Can you afford to pay all your bills (credit card, utility, mortgage, etc.)? If not, then you have a big thing to worry. You’ll have to think about the ways to tackle the situation efficiently.

2. Assist the person to secure another job: You must inform everyone (neighbors, friends, relatives) that your mother/father (the only working member of the family) has lost her/his job. You should not hide this fact from your well-wishers in shame. There is nothing to be ashamed of. Anyone can lose job in the present economic scenario. It is perfectly normal.

Your friends or neighbors can inform that member of your family about job vacancies in several companies. Apart from that, you can upload your their resumes in several job websites. Look at the newspaper to know about the new job opportunities. This will help your mother/father in getting a new job.

3. Reduce family expenses: It is important to make some financial adjustments when the single working member of the family is laid off. You can’t possibly afford to spend money lavishly. You need to make rapid changes in your lifestyle till your husband or father (the earning member of the family) gets a job.

Plan a suitable budget and start living frugally. Don’t spend a single penny for the items you don’t need. Compute the total money you spend daily. Find out the areas where you can cut down your expenses. Save money whenever possible.

4. Look for alternative source of income: If you don’t have much money in the checking account, then it is better to start looking for alternative source of income. This is the time when you should try to help your family financially. You can start looking for a job. If you don’t like to travel frequently, then you can work online. If you have equity in your home, then you can take advantage of cash out refinancing. You can even rent out a spare room in your home. This will help you generate cash for the family.

5. Explain the situation to creditors: It has been found that most of the families avoid creditor's calls when they are going through financial difficulties. But it is a mistake. Rather the family members should contact the creditors and explain their current financial situation. The creditors may agree to work out a payment plan considering their situation.

The families can consult debt experts to know about the tips to handle such a situation. The family members should try to reduce the usage of credit cards. But it will be a mistake to close all the credit accounts suddenly. It will hurt credit score big time.

Last but not the least, if your husband, the sole earning member of the family, has lost his job, ask him to apply for unemployment benefits right away. Your husband will qualify for the unemployment benefits especially when he has worked at least for a few weeks. Your husband can get unemployment benefits for minimum 26 weeks in most of the states of the country. If you and your husband are living in New York, then your husband can get around 67 weeks of extra benefits. Tell your husband to retain the documents proving that he is desperately searching for a new job.