Skripper Time

5 Tips for Saving Money - Skripper Style

Being laid off has given me a whole new perspective on money management. 

1) Zip.ca:  I'm a movie lover, but let's face it:  movies are expensive...plus, I can't stay away from the popcorn, which isn't great for my hips either.  I recently joined Zip.ca - and signed up for the 2 movies per month for $5.95.  It was super easy, I created my list of movies I wanted to see and presto chango!  they shipped me my first DVD.  Once I watch, I put it in the envelope they provide and send it back in the mail.  Then they ship me my next movie.  Sweet.

2) Embrace your freezer:  If you're like me, you've got food squirreled away in your freezer that hasn't seen the light of day in, like, forever.  I've made it a rule that I have to use up at least one item per day from the freezer.  Save the world from freezer burn - and keep your grocery bill down at the same time.

3) Coffee shops on the cheap:  Being unemployed means a lot of networking, and a lot of time spent in waiting in coffee shops in between meetings.  It's hard to resist buying something, and you don't want to always be the cheapskate in the corner using the free wi-fi without a purchase to validate your presence.  Here's the thing:  a chai latte can cost close to $4 - but a regular chai tea with milk and sugar only costs $1.50.  It's basically the same thing - or so I keep telling myself.

4) Coffee shops on the cheap, part II:  Starbucks offers 2 hours free wi-fi if you have a registered Starbucks card.  So buy a card, put $5 on it and register.  Voila!  Free internet for 2 hours a day (should be enough time to get you to the next meeting). Thanks Jane for the tip!

5) Rediscover your local library:  I have always loved my library card, ever since I was a little girl.  In recent years, I've let it lapse, but it's now my new best friend.  I've got more time to read, and less money to buy books.  Enter my library card and my new stack of literature to keep me busy when I'm in the need of a good escape.

10 tips for surviving a layoff

Every day it seems that more and more people are joining the "layoff" club.  A month and a week into my layoff journey, I've learned a few things that I thought I would share.

1) When your boss stops looking you in the eye, you're going to be laid off.
This comes from personal experience, and has been confirmed from fellow layoffees.  If you "layoff radar", which I call "laydar" activates, there is usually a reason.  At this point, start bringing your stuff home, bit by bit.  Do this surreptitiously, just in case you don't get laid off and need to bring it all back.

2)  Tell everyone that you know that you've been laid off.
In today's economy, there is no shame in a layoff - it's happening everywhere.  Tell everyone so that they know you're looking for a new job.  Leverage all the relationships you can, because times are tough people, and you need every bit of help you can get.  You would do it for them.

3) Don't tell your furnace that you've been laid off.
My furnace still thinks I go to work everyday, and goes down to 17 degrees at 8:00 am.  I can't bear to tell it otherwise, so every morning I'm reminded that I should be at work.  It's a little motivating, and as I start to freeze, it gets me off the couch and into the day.   And David Suzuki loves me a little more for it.

4) Pity, Party of 1.
Getting laid off sucks, no matter if you liked your job or not.  So get a tub of ice cream and eat it.  Watch TV all day in your pajamas.  Be annoyed at the people that didn't get laid off. People are going to want to take you out for dinner to make you feel better.  Let them.  They have jobs dammit - they should pay.  Take at least a week or 2 (depending on how much severance you get) to just sulk.

5) Break up with the non-essentials.
Face it - you're at home now, you can't justify the cleaning lady or the dogwalker.  You are now both.  And the gym is debatable, especially if it is an expensive one like mine was.  You can try to negotiate a suspended membership, but if your gym is evil like mine was, they won't agree, even if you play the single income family card, along with the times are tough card and i love the gym so much card.  Stupid Mayfair.

6) Do a budget and stick to it
Hmmm...no money coming in.  Suze Orman would tell (rather, she would shout) that you should shave down to just the essentials, and I wouldn't disagree.  You are about to become a very boring person.  Gone is the movie-going, dinner-eating out, brunching, Costco devotee...you are now subject to rigid budgeting that will allow you to survive without an income for at least 4-5 months. Your friends will respect it for a while, but then forget and start inviting you out again.  Remember that your PVR is your best friend (and notably, wasn't part of the non-essential list. What are you, crazy?).  Be firm!

7) Sleep in if you want to
You're laid off.  Being laid off has to have a silver lining.  Sleep in if you want to.  Don't feel guilty about it, unless you sleep past 9 am every day, at which point you're just lazy.  Get out of bed already!

8) Start a blog
Why not?  You've got time on your hands, and it's better than just talking to yourself all day.  Just type what you're thinking and then read it over and over.  Check your stats every couple of hours to see if anyone else has read it.  Feel slightly resentful that your friends and family aren't visiting your blog every hour. 

9) Hang in there
It won't last forever, you'll find another job.  

10) Get annoyed at people who constantly tell you #9

And so we go...

Here I am blogging - why?  Because I got laid off, because I like to talk about pop culture, because I'm a marketer with a keen interest in digital and social media.  The great thing about being laid off is that you have a lot of time to do the things that you have been putting on hold forever...tidying up the basement, finishing the paint around the new kitchen door, and oh yeah, setting up a blog. 

My friends have always told me that I should write - that I have talent in this area - but writing never seemed to equate to dollars to pay my mortgage, so I just did it sporadically (TIFF updates on facebook, etc).  Now that I'm unemployed in a failing economy, in a lean job market where more qualified people are entering the job hunt everyday, I need something to distract me from the never-ending weight of 'you need to find a job - pronto - or your dog will be forced to eat low quality kibble (the horror!)'.  This blog is that something.

Pressure Creates Diamonds

In the past month, my employer broke up with me, I broke up with my boyfriend, my gym and my cleaning lady (the latter two are a direct result from my employer break up).  They say that change is good - I say that sometimes your life blows up around you without permission.   

'Pressure Creates Diamonds' is a quote from General George S. Patton - which I think it perfectly suited for my life today.  I'm under the gun to find a job, my personal life took a turn for the worse and my retirement savings have declined to the point of nausea.  I figure if pressure creates diamonds - I'm going to be sporting a 15 carat diamond pretty soon.