We have all heard statistics about how too many of us are deeply in debt and are only one paycheck away from being homeless. We have heard the advice about what we should do to save for the possibility of losing our jobs.  How many of us have said to ourselves, "I can't afford to start saving right now, but I will start soon."  Or have said, "I won't lose my job, my company needs me.

I have heard this advice, and still said "that won't happen to me." But it did.  I worked for the same company for ten years, spending everything I made as I went. Then I was given warning that my hours would be cut. Knowing Christmas was coming, I began looking for new work. I told myself that finding a job is easy.  I thought that someone who had a history of working for one company for ten years and had recommendations from the general manager and the owner of that company would be an excellent way to show I would do a wonderful job at any job I chose.

I put in application after application, and scored only two interviews.  Searching for a job is the most depressing thing that I have ever experienced. I finally took a seasonal job at a department store as a second job to get through the holidays. Within a few days, I was laid off at my first job due to slow business, and my second job became my only income. I suddenly found myself with the same number of bills I had always had, but with half the income. My family has made some major changes in our lifestyle to make sure we keep from falling behind. Here are some easy things we are doing to make the crunch less painful.

1. We quit eating out.  We are a very busy family.  I work and go to school.  My husband owns his own business. My kids have sports, boy scouts, after school programs and school functions.  Eating out is easy, tastes good, and even better-someone else does the cooking and the cleaning. These days I take a lunch with me to work. It is nice to have my lunch ready and be able to relax instead of having to rush somewhere to order, eat and get back before my break is over.  

2. We started making drinks at home, rather than buying bottles of drinks every time we go somewhere. I make coffee and cappuccino for myself. I make my husband ice tea. We use a water purifier that we keep in the fridge. And my kids are stocking up on juice rather than soda. Every time we stop for drinks when we headed out, we were spending six to ten dollars.  We use travel cups to bring our drinks with us now for a fraction of the cost. 

3. We have family game night at home. With my new work schedule I am home in the evenings more often. When we aren't at a sporting event or scouts, we play a video or board game. We are having a lot of fun that doesn’t cost anything but a bag of popcorn.

4. We are using the library. I love to read. I also love to buy the books that my favorite authors write. But I am surviving very well on reading someone else's books, and my reading selection is a lot wider now than if I were still buying my books. The library also has a variety of audio books that I listen to during my commute or while I am cleaning. 

5. We shop the clearance rack for clothes. This is one I found out about because of my new job. After Christmas, it gets really cold and snowy where I live. It is also when all of the coats, sweaters, hats, gloves and long sleeve shirts go on clearance to make room for spring items.  Most of these items are at least 50% off. That's a huge savings for waiting a few weeks to buy clothes.  

6. Recently a friend brought me along to the dollar store, and I was prepared to be bored.  Instead I was amazed. The fancy gifts bags that cost $4-5 in the discount stores are-you guessed it-$1! There are cards, hair accessories, and kitchen utensils. 

7. We don't buy all of the huge picture packages from school anymore.  Each one of my kids has both fall and spring picture packages, and professional packages for every sport they are in. That is a lot of money for pictures. Digital cameras are amazing. I take pictures of my kids participating in the sports and email them to the kids’ grandparents to display in their digital photo albums.  

8. We rent movies rather than go to the movie theater. I am the first to admit, there is nothing quite like experiencing a movie in the theater. But honestly, the last few times I went I was annoyed by other people talking and blinding me with checking their cell phones every two minutes. At home we can rewind if we missed something, or if a scene was so funny we just have to watch it again. And we can buy a ton of snacks for what we would pay for popcorn and soda at the theater. 

9. We explore our creative selves. My husband makes lamps and does wood burning drawings for gifts. I love to pour candles to give to the ones I love. My son did a painting on glass of an eagle to give us for Christmas.  These are things that take thought and time, and I find are appreciated more than fancy gizmos. My children are really enjoying drawing and painting, and I love that they are being so creative.

10. We communicate about saving money. We explained to the kids that we aren't making as much money as we used too and we need to find ways to save money together. We talk about how we are all cutting out things to save money, so they don't think skipping some activities is a punishment.

Losing my job has been a very stressful experience, but aside from not having extra money, a lot of positive things have happened because of my job switch. My family is spending more time together by doing family activities. We are learning that managing money is very important. My new job may not pay as much as my old one, but it is a much more positive environment and my commute has been cut in half. I have more time to spend with my family, and we are finding that to be much more rewarding than spending money.