I suddenly lost my job at the end of March. I was shocked! Well, kind of. My workplace is scaling down but they don't want to admit it. At least 30% of the workers there were literally doing nothing. They weren't doing their normal jobs but instead doing whatever. Cleaning, sorting, moving things...just busy work. My department had seen an incredible downshift in work for a year an I was the newest in the department. I immediately kicked in to survival mode and here is what I did (with $0 in the savings account and in no particular order) and suggest the same for you:
Check the status of all bills and see what needs to be paid asap and what can wait. Pay for home an vehicle first, because you can't do anything without either! All others are second.
File for unemployment! It will take anywhere from 2 weeks to 10 weeks to start up. Hopefully you won't need it, but it's a band-aid for your new bullet wound. I hadn't used unemployment in many years and didn't want to, but I needed to.
Sell everything that isn't nailed down! Ebay was my choice although there are other outlets. I listed whatever I could, checking what it sold for before, what the current bids were an undercutting them. I didn't make as much of a profit as I could have, but I was looking for fast cash. Thing is, you have to get stuff up ASAP because sales won't happen over night. I also found items at yardsales an dollar stores that brought in some extra money.
Evaluate your own skills. Some fast an easy money I found was doing pardon paperwork for people with blemishes on their records. In my state, you can do the paperwork for a pardon from the Governor yourself, but it is kind of difficult. I have the ability to understand what was being asked and also ask the right people for further explanation. I made some good money doing this charging $350 per pardon and about $40 I had to pay out for information and paperwork. I had at least a $300 profit per case! This may sound high, but consider the fact lawyers charge $2,000 and up for the same thing. What can YOU do? We can all do way more than we ever thought when in survival mode! Trust me!
Meal planning. I have kids, so I had to make sure I could keep up nutritious meals for them. My oldest was going over food groups so I made sure there was a grain, protein, fruit, vegetable an dairy. It's not that hard as long as you plan it out.
Found free things for us to do as a family. Facebook groups are good for that as well as liking pages for places that are notorious for having events.
I called in all those Veteran discounts. 10% here, 5% here. It all pays in the end and I utilized every one.
I researched homemade items like cleaners especially. From scrubbing counter tops to carpets, I found a cheap and effective way to cut costs in those areas.
I kept waking up at 5am every day. No matter what, you have to keep going! Sleeping all day won't get you anywhere!
While I worked, whether it was Ebay, dishes, whatever, I listened to Youtube videos on making money. Little ideas sparked other ideas and while none became huge producers, I've made a bit here and there. Everything helps!
I liked all the Facebook pages for local grocery stores. I found the deals. Whether it was burger, chicken, cereal, whatever, I found the cheapest deals and snatched them up! I bought more than needed and stored it or froze it for later meals.
Again Facebook groups-yardsale pages specifically. Often you'll find people throwing up o jobs for $20-$100. Make sure you'll make enough to cover gas and get to it! These pages are also good places to sell items. I often made the meet up spot a big box store parking lot. I first asked the person where they were located, then gave the location saying it was half way. It was really only a mile away, saving time, gas and in case it didn't go through, I wasn't out much if anything really.
Check with friends about places they know for work. Even short term stuff.
Take an hour or two a day developing a business. Draw out a plan and get to work! I've developed a few plans and am still seeing which are the ones to push and which are time wasters.
Most of all, keep your head up and stay motivated!
You can always become a temp! Some income is better than none, and we all know temp work typically sucks and is low paying, but you have to do what you have to do. Swallow your pride and make that phone call!
Get on Monster.com, Indeed.com, and other job sites as well. LinkedIn is another. Make sure your Facebook is locked down if you have a weird sense of humor, setting your hometown to somewhere on the other side of the country. Remove any public details that will link you to it. Companies will research you there almost always anymore. Anything even remotely questionable may prevent you from getting the job.
Improve your resume! Update that sucker and expand on anything you can. Don't lie, but you mak need to make it a bit bigger than it is. ;-)
Network everywhere! You have time, use it to talk to people. Networking could lead to temporary or permanent work! Or maybe a sale of something you're getting rid of.
Give up any expensive habits. You can't afford to smoke if you on't have a job. Do you like soda? Drink water. You see where I'm going here.
I hope these tips help someone out there. This is most definitely going to be a blog topic when I set up the site!