How to Lose a Job Day 3

So to keep up yesterday's convo:

1.How to rock it if you lose your income.

If you don't already have one, get together and make a list of every expense and bill you have. Figure out how much you need to spend every month to stay in the black.
If you have savings, figure out how long it will last.
If you think you'll need to take in extra income right quick, talk over your options- if hubs takes an in-between job, he'll lose his unemployment, if he's going to file for it, so weigh out which is more valuable. Perhaps Mama will have to go to work for a stint, or perhaps you'll wait it out for a bit and see if a new career presents itself in the near future.
Talk about what you'll do with your insurance, in case of an emergency.
Make a commitment to avoid using credit cards unless _____. You two get to decide, but decide together and stick to it. Be very, very careful with using debt right now. You can make it.
Talk about what you'll cut and what you'll keep in your lifestyle. It's not forever.
When you let go of some things, and hold tight to each other, you may have never felt so rich.
There are a lot of options here- Either way, get ALL your money's business on paper, and MAKE A PLAN.

2. Things you can (and need) to do with all that time.

After the first week when you kind of just relax and enjoy the mini-vacay, you need to get back to some kind of a structure in your day.
Decide what time you're going to get up every morning, and stick to it- perhaps just keep it the same as always- if you start sleeping in all the time, you'll start feeling grubby and it will be really hard to get out of the schlump.
If you're going to enjoy the extra family time, create a new "normal" of what a day will look like.
Plan in some fun things you can only do now that he's home every day, like mid-week trips to museums or the zoo (things you have a membership for), picnics, trips to the park, trips to grandma and grandpa's etc.
Your Hub will have time for his hobbies that he maybe hasn't had for a while, so encourage him to enjoy them.
Mamas, talk over how you spend a typical weekday with your Hubs, because he may not know all the things you squeeze in. For instance, Jim's a very hands-on dad, and when he's home, he's very involved in everything. But that's always just been weekends, which are so different from the week, the day-to-day stuff.

3. It's like being honeymooners all over again.

Remember how hard it was to figure out how to "do life" together once you tied the knot and shared an address? It was probably also really, really fun, but let's face it. We all made a lot of mistakes and learned from them. Now, it's all a new game.
He's home a LOT. Like never, ever before, perhaps. He's not used to it. You're not used to it. Your kids aren't used to it. It's awesome, but it's also super tough after a while to maintain normal life, and to get things done.
Perpetual Saturday cannot last forever.
He'll be on your turf, and you'll need to talk it all over so he knows what to expect, and so you two know what to expect from each other.
He'll feel a little out of place after a bit- you may not think so now, but you may very well start to get on top of each other's nerves, and you'll just have to work it out. You may even, if I may be so blunt, annoy the bejeebers out of each other from time to time- so talk it over, laugh it out, embrace the unique season, and make it fun.

There are a few challenges, and several hidden rewards in losing a job.
It's not forever- so bear it, and enjoy it as much as you can.