How Will You Live if You Lose Your Job?

Have you ever thought about how you will live if you or a spouse loses a job? This is something most of us don’t like to think about because it’s either uncomfortable or it won’t happen to us. It can, though.

My husband sent me a text message on Friday that was short and to the point. It said, “I just got fired.” After I called him to see if he was okay, I spent the next 45 minutes staring into space, trying to figure out what to do next.

I knew I had certain things I needed to do immediately to protect us and our income as much as possible, like refilling our prescriptions before the insurance got cancelled. I also did the math in my head. How much would his final check be with overtime and vacation time added? How much money would he get from unemployment? How many months of emergency fund did we have until everything we had worked so hard for was gone? To say it was unsettling is an understatement.

It turns out we’ve been planning for this day, sort of. We never expected him to get fired, but we have been responsible with our money. I can pay the mortgage for so many months and cover our monthly expenses before we dip into savings. It wasn’t always this way. We’ve worked hard and did without many things to get to this point.

So how would you live if you or your spouse lost a job? Do you have any money in savings? Do you know how much unemployment you would be eligible to receive? Do you know how you would pay your bills? Do you even know what bills you have?

I highly encourage you to take the followings steps, even if you don’t think it will happen to you:

1. Make a list of all your monthly expenses – loan payments, utility bills, groceries, gas, extra curricular activities for your kids, church tithing, rent or mortgage, gym memberships, prescriptions, Starbucks, etc. Add it up to see how much you are spending every month.
2. Pinpoint which of these expenses are wants and which ones are needs. If you take a sudden loss of income, remove the wants first.
3. Figure out how much you have leftover every month and start putting some of that money into an account with the highest interest rate you can get.
4. If you have a job that pays you overtime, live on the amount you usually bring home, and put all of the overtime pay in savings. This requires discipline, but you’ll be thankful you did. My husband has been at this job for a year and a half and has worked more overtime than regular time. Unless we had an emergency expense like car repairs or hospital bills, I put every dime of overtime into our money market account. It adds up faster than you think.

Unemployment is barely enough to make rent of pay mortgage. Make a plan now so life isn’t so uncomfortable if you lose a job.

 

Free Entertainment in the Most Overlooked Spot

Captain America. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The Help. Breaking Dawn.

Do any of these titles sound familiar to you? These were some of the hottest movies of 2011 and rent for as much as $5 a night, depending on where you get your videos. If I told you there was a place where you could “rent” them free, would you go there instead?

Go to your local library, a place that isn’t just for books anymore. But perhaps the best part about the library is that you can get these titles in video and books. Many libraries even have these titles in blu-ray, audio books and e-book formats. And, once you have a library card, you can order reserve these titles online, if you library offers that service. Mine does, and I live in a fairly small town in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, which only has one small library. I’m fairly certain that if my library has it, most libraries in the metroplex do.

Not sold yet? Let’s talk money and value. I’ll use myself as an example. My husband and son watch a super hero movie every Friday night (and sometimes another on Saturday or Sunday). We usually rent them from the local video store or through our Verizon FIOS TV. That means we spend anywhere from $1 to $5 a night, depending on the title and the location.

Last week, I went to the library and borrowed three DVDs from the X-Men series. My library lends movies for seven days, with another 7-day renewal option. Basically, I got three DVDs free for up to 14 days. Does your video store, cable, satellite or other provider offer anything that inexpensive? If they are out of the movie you want, will they let you reserve it online so you’re guaranteed to get it as soon as it is returned? What if you return your videos late? Are the late fees as cheap as $.25 cents? I currently have an overdue movie that will cost me less than a dollar. Had I rented it from the video store, my late fees easily would have been $3 or more. Also, what happens if you don’t watch the movie you rent? Do you get reimbursed?

Figure out how many times you rent movies, or if you have a service like Netflix, how much are you paying every month? If you really want to save money on entertainment, check your local library before you run to the video store for you next movie rental. You just can’t get better than free.

Just Because You Can Afford It Doesn’t Mean You Need It

Wanting something and needing something are two very different things. Last week, my blender broke. It was over 20 years old and its time had come. I’ve been wanting a new blender for years but I felt guilty buying some new, fancy, expensive model when the old one worked just fine. In my head, I couldn’t justify the expense.

When I told my husband the blender finally bit the dust, he got very excited. “Does that mean we can finally buy a Blendtec?” he asked. For those of you not in the market for a blender, the Blendtec is a top-of-the-line blender that can blend anything – even a brick. (If you don’t believe me or you just want to be entertained, check out this site.) It also costs a lot of money – about $400 to $500. Its competitor is the Vitamix. It is equally expensive and claims to replace 16 different appliances in the average kitchen. These blenders are both really cool, and I would love to be the owner of either one. I can even afford one, but when it came down to it, I did not need all the functions that made them so expensive. I bought a $100 blender that does exactly what I need it to do, which basically is to make smoothies.

Saving money is sometimes as simple as weighing the difference between your wants and needs before you buy something. I wanted the expensive blender. I needed the less expensive blender. Being honest with myself saved me hundreds of dollars.

As you get into more high dollar purchases like cars and homes, weighing your wants and needs becomes even more important. You may need a car to get to work or drive your kids to school or get to the grocery store. Do you need the biggest, fully loaded, most expensive model on the lot? You probably don’t if most of your trips are less than 30 minutes long and your family is relatively small. Features like a built in DVD player and seat warmers (if you live in a warm place like Texas) also may be something you don’t need. Buy choosing a basic package over a premium package, you could save thousands of dollars, which translates to lower monthly payments when you are financing a vehicle.

When it comes to wants vs. needs, the best thing to do is to be honest with yourself. Are you buying something because you want it or do you really need all the bells and whistles it comes with? If you ask yourself that question every time you buy something, you’ll be amazed at how much money you’ll save.

Saving Money on Prescriptions – even if you have insurance

If you’ve had to buy a prescription drug lately, and a generic brand is not available, you know how costly that can be, even if you have insurance. My doctor recently prescribed a medication for me that has been life changing for a condition I have had and will have my entire life. It took my insurance company three weeks to approve the drug, and the cost is more than $50 a month. Ouch! If I had to pay for it without insurance, it would be several hundred dollars a month. Double ouch!

One day when I was on the phone with the insurance company for an entire hour (much of that was on hold), I decided to go to the website for that particular medication to see if they had any coupons. I figured while I was waiting on the insurance company to make a decision, I could just get a one week-supply of the medication and pay the full cost, minus any discounts on that website. I was pleasantly surprised with what I found.

The manufacturer of my prescription offers a savings card that saves me $15 off my co-pay once a month. Instead of $52 a month, the cost of my prescription came down to $37 a month. That’s still a lot, but by using that card, I’m saving $180 a year on a medication I have to take.

That got me to wondering how many other drugs have similar offers that most people never think to look for. At random, I started pulling up websites for medications I’ve seen featured on television commercials, as well as medications my son takes for asthma. I was surprised to see how many drug manufacturers offer programs to help people save money on their medications.

Some will help even if you have insurance, and some have programs specifically for people with no prescription drug insurance. If you take a medication regularly, you may want to search for that medication’s website and see what type of savings you can find. If you can’t find it there, find out the name of the pharmaceutical company that manufactures your medication, and go to that website to see if they have a program that helps you afford your medication. Here are links to prescription assistance programs for some of the top pharmaceutical companies in the country: 

AstraZeneca

GlaxoSmithKline

Bristol-Myers Squibb

Merck

Eli Lilly and Company

If there is a generic brand available for the medication you take, check with your pharmacy about programs they may offer. Wal-Mart has hundreds of medications for just $4. Tom Thumb, Albertsons, CVS, Walgreens and Kroger offer similar programs for generic drugs. Don’t be afraid to ask. There’s no harm in saving money on a medication that is saving your life.

 

Unique Valentine Gifts at Incredible Savings

It’s that time of year when florists jack up the prices of their roses and chocolate hearts line of the aisles of every grocery store you visit – all in the name of love. As hard as it is for me to believe, Valentine’s Day is already two short weeks away. Do you know what you’ll be giving your sweetheart this year?

When you’ve been married as long as I have (13 years and still going strong), it often becomes a challenge to give a gift that means something, doesn’t cost a fortune and doesn’t necessarily fit in the cliché heart-shaped box. I think women have a particularly challenging time finding meaningful Valentine gifts for their husbands.

This year, thanks to the many e-mail subscriptions I have to daily deal sites, I offer you these unique ideas that aren’t all cheap, but most of them are unique and an incredible value for what you pay. Most can also be gifted to men or women. Act quickly though. Many of these deals have time or inventory limits.

$15 for $40 worth of flowers from Flowers-Nationwide.com


$20 for $40 of casual fine dining at Jaxx Steakhouse


$30 for 60-minute full body massage


$59 for 3 Days/2 Nights in Vegas, plus $50 VISA Rewards


$84 - Lobster for Lovers Dinner for Two or Maine Lobster Dinner for Four


$159 for 5 Days/4 Nights at Laguna Suites Golf and Spa or the Ocean Spa Hotel in Cancun, Mexico


Pay $100 for $200 of seafood and steak at  to Spend at GetMaineLobster.com

If these deals aren’t for you, consider subscribing to daily deal sites (AP Daily Deals, Living Social, Groupon, Amazon Local, Urban Dealight, etc.) for other ideas. I saved a ton of money shopping these sites for Christmas and have already received more than a dozen e-mail offers for Valentine’s Day. Just be aware of the expiration dates. Nothing is a good deal if you pay for it and never use it.