Bad Credit Blues

We are all facing tough economic times. There is not denying it, though it seems like until the last few months, the politicians and big business leaders have tried! But now that everybody is forced to face reality, let us look at a few things that consumers can do to survive these days of a falling stock market, tight credit, and bank instability.

First. Save money. Save money. Save money. Try to cut your expenses as you can, and of course, you need to address that unsecured debt. If you have lost control of your debt, you are not alone. Take a look at this online debt payoff calculator to help you get a start managing your credit. It is hard to save money when you have to spend hundreds of dollars every month just to keep up with past credit card usage.

Prepare for unemployment. US job numbers are grim. Your job may be safe, but lots of people are unsure if they will be employed in the near term. Understand that this has nothing to do with your value as an employee or anything like that. When companies fail, they take down good workers and skilled employees too. Here are some good tips on preparing for a job loss. When a prepared person suffers a job loss they can make good use of their time off of work because they are not immediatly concerned about how the next set of bills will get paid. When an unprepared person suffers a job loss, they have to struggle because they cannot spend all of their time looking for another opportunity because they have to many fires to put out.

Some people do very well in a recession because they had steady sources of income, kept their bills and debt low, and made sure they had some cash reserves for an emergency. Do you have a plan B? If you lost your job, could you think of a way to bring in extra income over the short term? Could you find a freelancing job to tide you over? There are more types of freelancing jobs and contract work than most people think: Look at Freelancing Jobs: Plenty of Work.

Also, think about how you would cover your family’s health. Have you looked into unemployment health plans? These may be COBRA extensions from your job or individual health plans.

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