Losing your job is a massive strain. Once you were making a comfortable living, and now the rug is taken out from underneath you. It can cause a massive strain on your well-being, your relationships, and, of course, your finances. We can be ill-equipped to deal with the problems it can throw up for us financially, but there are ways around the matter to save yourself some sanity, and all it requires is a little examining of your own spending habits and making some healthy changes.
Look At Your Outgoings
If you take the time to go through your bank statements and look at what your spending habits are, you can begin to address the balance. Can you see any patterns forming? Is every other card payment for fast food or a takeaway coffee? By identifying the outgoings that are not necessary, you can make big changes to saving more money. If you are only relying on your own income in the short-term, you will need to make some sacrifices in this respect.
Look For Compensation If You Are Owed It
Sometimes the reason you’ve lost your job is due to a workplace accident, and you have been unable to work there. If you feel that you are due some compensation, you can go down the legal route and hire a personal injury lawyer to take your previous employer to court. If an employer has treated you unfairly in this regard, you are well within your rights to pursue this further. Just be sure that before you endeavor down this route that you do your research and make sure that this is something that you want to do.
Reduce Your Bills
You may be paying too much for your utilities in the meantime, so contact your suppliers and see if you are overpaying, or try to switch energy suppliers for the best deals. Many energy suppliers provide fixed tariffs, so at least you won’t have to worry about how much electricity you are using or refusing to turn the heating on during the winter. It doesn’t mean you have to go without the essentials. You may also wish to look at your mobile phone contract and reduce your internet data, especially if you have the internet at home.
Contact Your Creditors
If you have mortgage payments and credit card bills, it may be worth contacting them to freeze your payments before you miss one, or if that is not possible, then paying a smaller amount every month will give you some breathing space in the meantime. If you are paying a credit card bill, it is possible to negotiate a lower interest rate; and if you are paying a mortgage, it may be possible to make an interest-only payment for a while.
It can be difficult to keep positive in the aftermath of losing a job, but in the short term, you can make these changes and help to keep yourself ticking over while the search for new work is undertaken.
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