3 Months....

Yesterday was exactly 3 months from the day that my husband went to work and learned that he would be laid off in 4 days. It has not been an easy road. We had too much in resources to qualify for any help. By the time we would qualify for help, we would be on a slippery slope and I'm not sure we could make it back up.

In the beginning, I think we were both pretty confident that another job would come along quickly. When a month passed, and then another, we started to wonder. It was getting to the point that we really needed to talk about the what ifs. Neither of us wanted to have that conversation. Like if we avoided it, it would all go away. If something didn't come along soon, we'd have to talk about the "B" word----bankruptcy. Now, I know that isn't a horrible thing and certainly needed by some, but my husband has to have good credit to have a chance at getting a job in the field he was in.

So, exactly 3 months from the day he learned he was being laid off, he was offered a JOB!! I truly have no words to describe the feeling. Yesterday he went to 2 job fairs. The first had several companies and the second was a job fair held by just one company. The boys and I tagged along (we didn't go into the fairs...just tagged along to the town and dropped hubby off) because hubby wasn't feeling well and I didn't want him to have to worry about driving. He was at the first fair for an hour and the second one for 3 hours. I was trying not to get my hopes up too much, but thought that perhaps it was taking so long because he was offered a job. The fact of the matter is that he had 5 interviews and from one of them he was offered a job. Now, this was the first job he had an offer letter from, but others had contacted him and they had talked salary (with nothing ever developing from them). Just about everyone we saw and heard from would have been a significant pay cut. We were pretty much accepting that either I would have to return to work or he would have to have a second job. Well, this job actually pays MORE than where he was working. It isn't a lot more, but we are thrilled!

This, of course, is wonderful news, but we aren't out of the woods yet. Money is dwindling way down and the last time he started a new job it took 3 weeks to get a pay check. Hubby was drawing unemployment, but it wasn't even enough to cover our mortgage. Once he starts work, we will have NO money coming in at all (oh...aside from my work at home thing where I make $100-$200 a month....I'll try to work more this month to help out). Things will be tight, but I think we'll pull through. Through all of this, we've learned that we rally need to sit down, make a budget, and then stick to it!!