Making Me a Millionaire

A New Job and Big Changes

My husband got the job!  He actually starts next week so that’s pretty fast.  We didn’t expect for him to start until after the holidays but I guess the sooner the better right?  Because the sooner he starts working the sooner we’ll get a paycheck and the quicker it will be for us to get back on our financial track!

With this new job, he will be consulting and will basically be flying places every week and living out of a hotel.  It’s a great job for him but this is scary because it means I’ll be alone during the weekdays and it changes our lifestyle dramatically.  The good thing about this is that we’ll be able to earn air miles and hotel points like crazy and he’ll have an allowance for food so we can cut out a big chunk of food expenses.

So since he’ll be working wherever the project needs him, we can live wherever we want!  We’ve been looking at states that have no income tax because well…we don’t want to have to pay income tax!

States with no income tax

• Washington
• Nevada
• Texas
• Florida
• South Dakota
• Wyoming
• Tennessee
• Alaska
• New Hampshire

We’ve also been looking at California (I know bad idea) because good weather is important to us.  I know that’s a terrible reason.

But of the list above, the most appealing to us right now is Seattle.  My only concern is..you guessed it…the weather!  I also don’t like the fact that their winter sunlight hours are so short and that Seattle seems so far away from the rest of the country.  A flight back to New York to see my family would be rough.

Do any of you have suggestions on good places to live and raise a family in the near future?  Things that are important to us include big city, good eats, diversity, good weather, family friendly place, preferably not as much traffic, good schools.

The Job Market

We’ve all heard how terrible the job market is right now and how difficult it has been for people to find a job.  Well there’s nothing like experiencing it yourself!

After checking the unemployment rate for my husband’s age/race/educational level, I was surprised to learn that the unemployment rate for someone like him was only 4.5%! If you change the variables around, the results are very shocking.

Since his lay off, he has been applying to many many jobs (somewhere around 50-60), has posted his resume on all the career sites, updated his LinkedIn profile and all.  All of this hard work (not to mention the reaching out he did to his network) got him 1 interview.  This is coming from a man with a MBA from a top school, a very good resume/career path, and excellent communication skills.  It just blows my mind.  All through his career, offers have landed in his lap when he wasn’t even looking.  It is definitely quite a change to see him trying so hard and not hearing anything.   Initially we weren’t too worried about his layoff because he would be receiving severance for several months but after seeing what is out there (or more like what’s not there), our optimism is beginning to waver.

What To Do When You’ve Been Laid Off

Remember when I said there was talk of lay offs at my husband’s company?  Well guess what?  It was true and he’s getting laid off.  He has 2 more weeks of employment and then he will unemployed just like me.

All I have to say is that I am so glad we decided to take charge of our financial situation before this and that we put away the bonus he recently got instead of spending it.  My only regret is that we didn’t start sooner.  But oh well, we learn from these experiences right?

What makes our situation a little scarier is the fact that I don’t have a job either.  So when his severance runs out, we’ll be in big trouble.

So here’s a list of things we need to tackle ASAP and ways we are going to try to cut down on our spending:

1. Tell our friends and family. I know some people are embarrassed by the fact that they are unemployed and are too prideful to ask for help.  But I believe that your friends and family will not laugh at you if you are jobless.  They are more likely going to want to help in any way they can.  By letting people know you are in search of a job, you can increase your chances of actually getting one.  Your buddy from your kickball league might know of someone looking to hire in your field.  Doesn’t hurt to inform others you are looking for a job.
2. Review our finances. Because we have no idea how long it will take for him to find another job – we need to prepare for the worst.  This means taking a look at how much we’re spending each month and deciding where to cut.
3. Beef up the resume. He has already spent today working on his resume and has had several people review it.
4. Start looking for jobs. We’ve decided we’re going to open the job search to various locations around the country.  I think this will open more doors for him and increase our chances of finding a good job.
5. Get on LinkedIn. I’m a huge fan of LinkedIn.  I used to think it was pointless but my husband was once recruited on LinkedIn when he wasn’t even looking for a job and landed a great job/promotion with a nice salary increase.
6. Change our spending habits. We actually have a weekend getaway that we’re leaving for tomorrow.  Luckily, we will be in the Great Smoky Mountains where most of our activities will be outdoor (read: free) activities.  But now that we know he will be out of a job, we are going to be more vigilant with our spending.  Since I do most of the grocery shopping, I’m going to make sure we only buy necessities and try to find as many coupons as possible.
7. Sell my stuff. Craigslist, ebay/half.com here I come!

Things I will Do to Reduce Spending:

• No more clothing. I usually like to get new clothes when seasons change.  Even though I’m pretty good about getting good deals on clothing, since this is not a necessity, I won’t be spending any money on clothing as long as the hubby is still jobless.
• Cut down on juices. Juices are great but sometimes its not necessary to have that much extra sugar in your diet.  Water is free so why not cut down on the juices?
• Set my thermostat to 67. Bundling up, moving around the house and drinking green tea and soup is not that hard to do!
• Consolidate my errands. I’m going to try to save gas by grouping my errands together.  That way, I can go to the post office, then stop by the supermarket, then fill up on gas all in one trip!
• Lower my cable TV package. I love National Geographic but right now it’s not worth the extra $10 a month.
• Don’t eat out unless it’s under $10.
• No more movies. I used to be willing to go to the movies only if they were the matinee shows.  But now?  No more.  I pay $19 a month for Blockbuster All Access which allows me to rent unlimited DVDs.  I will make good use of that!

If any of you have suggestions please let me know.  I welcome any kind of advice on how to best handle being unemployed as this is a first time for us!