<p>Maybe Bush will further enhance unemployment benefits, since he’ll be joining those ranks in less than two months?</p>
<p>Glad you can laugh a bit, and glad you have a nest egg saved up for rainy days like these. Hope you find something even better than the job you had!</p>
<p>I’m sorry “JustaMom”. I am so impressed how prepared you are for this.</p>
<p>sorry to hear of your job loss, glad to hear how prepared you are financially to deal with it.</p>
<p>I watch Suze Orman every week. I think she is very smart. I love the people on the “can I afford it” segment.</p>
<p>
Now that’s an idea! :eek:</p>
<p>I watch Suze Orman every week. I think she is very smart. I love the people on the “can I afford it” segment.</p>
<p>I had not seen Suze Orman before they started doing her on Saturday Night Live. Now, try as I may, I just can’t take her seriously. (But glad you did!!!)</p>
<p>Maybe you could add a bit of Suze to your phone line…“as you spank me because I took out a second mortgage to go to Cancun…”</p>
<p>I love your new business idea justamom! I’m with you, whatever works! Some things are recession proof:)</p>
<p>^ And some improve in recessions. ;)</p>
<p>Just a mom, your safe and conservative planning is even more impressive in OC, where conspicuous consumption is a way of life and every one has to one up their neighbors Mercedes or Hummer (at least in SouthCounty!)</p>
<p>Good on you JM!!!</p>
<p>Actually, I have learned to live frugally from my mom & grandmother, who both raised me. I live a simple lifestyle. </p>
<p>I recently (as in last month) sold my 10 year old Camry, and paid cash for a Toyota Yaris. I just knew I didn’t want a car payment (I won the Camry on Wheel of Fortune in 1998 - really) and not having a car payment is the most freeing experience a person can have. Really. I rent (a very small home, in a nice community, been here 10 years), cannot afford (and never have been able to) to buy a home. Enjoy one or two trips a year, but rent apartments when available when I travel (rather than hotel rooms), don’t eat out often (saves on the waistline too), borrow books and DVDs from the library. I’m generous, and definitely not stingy or a scrooge. I splurge when I want (or need), and don’t go without (I own an iPod, enjoy my laptop, have a cell phone, enjoy cable and high speed Internet). But I am a reasonable person, and budgeting comes easily for me. I don’t crave the next best and biggest anything (except job, right now!). And I am a Cancerian, so family and home (and cooking) are at the tops of my list. I’ve been working full time (yes, really) since I was 14. I dropped out of school, and then snuck back in at 16 (someday I’ll share the story, it’s pretty cool). My family says I should write, and that would be great, but in the meantime I need some income. Would love to sell a few scripts I’ve written, but was holding off in hopes of being a creative director of them (I have produced and directed several short films). No Mercedes or Hummers (the cars that is) for me. At least so far! If we had decent public transportation I’d get rid of the car altogether. </p>
<p>At least I no longer have to “worry” about losing my job! Now on to the next adventure.</p>
<p>I want to hear the story of you dropping out and sneaking back in to high school! :)</p>
<p>(I won the Camry on Wheel of Fortune in 1998 - really)</p>
<p>Also cool. :)</p>
<p>The shortened version is that my mother & grandmother moved our family to New Zealand (1972), and then on to Australia for business, and as a political statement. </p>
<p>After a miserable year of HS in NZ (complete with uniforms, prayer yes, prayer!, and teachers that were just plain mean), when we landed in Australia, I told them I wasnt going to go to school anymore. My grandmother called me on it (I was 14), and told me I would need to work f/t and pay rent at $35 a week if I was planning to live in their house. </p>
<p>I lied for a job at Woolworth (saying I was 16), and got a job in the card and stationery department. I loved it! My department was right next to the music dept, so I got to listen to music all day long. AND I made more than enough to pay my rent and enjoy my free time as well (I earned $2.15 an hour for a 40 hour workweek). Anyway, I loved working and figured I would never go to school again. </p>
<p>After a year there, we moved to Israel for a short time and on to Brazil for another year. Because of the foreign language issue (I didnt speak Hebrew or Portuguese), I needed to go to school but I was in language immersion programs, and only studied language (no RRRs for me). I loved learning the languages (which were easy for me), but still hated going to school. </p>
<p>The summer of my 17th birthday, we moved back to the states, and I reconnected with my old friends, who all were now in a public alternative school, which they described to me, and sounded like something I could get behind (K-12, 10 kids per grade, no grading system (pass/fail), open enrollment between grades (as long as you could do the work), and ultra-intellectual, which was great for me) since I had traveled extensively, had worked a real job, and now kids my own age held little appeal. Including my old friends. I needed intellectual stimulation. </p>
<p>Anyway, I went to the board of education to enroll and was told there was a wait list of at least a year. That was in August. I put myself on the list. </p>
<p>My mother received a home visit (!) from the BoE letting her know that I was required to be in school because I was a minor. She enrolled me in the local HS. I never went. Ever. Instead, every day I showed up at the alternative HS, took classes, did the assignments, even got tutoring for subjects I was required to have for graduation (I had no US history credits, surprise, I did have history, but it was Commonwealth based), no US government credits (again, I knew much about the Parliamentary system), and no foreign language (only Spanish, French or German qualified). I was cast in every theater production, and won several awards. I LOVED this school, and more importantly, I LOVED the teachers. </p>
<p>Every time I was asked to bring paperwork from home, I would say I forgot. At home I was latch key, so intercepted the mail from the BoE and the other HS. I signed my mothers name, and even wrote a letter (typed) claiming I was in the hospital, which was why I was not showing up to school (to which they replied that I would need a letter from the doctor saying I was fit to return). In April (so what was that, 8 months later), I intercepted a letter from the BoE telling me that a space had opened up at the alternative school, and that I would need to bring this form to the head teacher, have an interview, and if he agreed that I would be a good fit, sign it & mail it in. I went to him and asked him for his blessing. He was confused. What do you mean? Youre already a student here. Um, yeah, except Im not enrolled, and never have been. He said he had never had a student sneak INTO school before, signed the form, and shook my hand. I graduated at the top of the class (not until I was 19 though as I had a LOT of work to make up), and he helped me to get a full scholarship to college (my family had no money to send me to college). He is still a dear friend, and I am grateful to him and all the teachers of that school for turning my life around.</p>
<p>And yes, that IS the shortened version!</p>
<p>That’s quite a journey, JustaMom! Thanks so much for sharing.</p>
<p>Wow, that’s quite a story! It sounds like you had some amazing experiences as a teenager.</p>
<p>I can’t help but think that anyone as creative & resourceful as you were at age 17 isn’t going to be unemployed for long… though I can see you taking a different direction, perhaps starting your own business or consulting. One advantage of being self-employed is that even though business can be slow – we freelancers never fire ourselves… so it is one avenue to consider. (NETWORK! – employers sometimes will switch to outsourcing work or using temporary hires, because they save on various expenses like employee benefits – so in a slow economy there can be a reasonable amount of work available following that route – so call everyone you know to let them know you are available)</p>
<p>What a great story, Justamom! I am in awe of your resourcefulness at such an early age. I think I know why your mother and grandmother felt the need to make a “political statement” in 1972. I remember that red map well. I made a less drastic political statement. I decided to move to that small spot of blue on the map.</p>
<p>I agree with calcmom about opportunities for freelance and consulting work. I have heard several stories about employers doing this rather than adding to their payroll when times are so uncertain.</p>
<p>Justamom:</p>
<p>I’m a latecomer to this thread but I want to say that admire your spunk and wish you the very best of luck. I agree that consulting is the way to go in difficult economic times.</p>
<p>Wow! Thanks for the inspiration “Justamom.” I know you’ll figure out what you want to do in reinventing yourself and land nicely on your feet as you have all of these other times. That alternative school sounds like it was awesome!</p>
<p>The best part of writing that out was it gave me an outline for a longer story. </p>
<p>Thanks for asking.</p>
<p>You are an inspiration, "just"aMom. It gives us a solid reminder that there is no one path for everyone, and the journey itself can be very enriching. It seems pretty obvious that you have special skills for surviving and thriving. Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>Okay, on the Class of 09 thread we have an idea for a reality show. Now, "just"amom has outlined a life story that should be made into a movie. What a story!</p>