Immediately file for Unemployment Compensation. Don't put this off. Some states penalize laid off workers when they delay filing their claim. Procrastination can reduce your benefits.
Sit down with your spouse (if you have one) and discuss the layoff with them. Nothing formal at this time. Just discuss your feelings and thoughts, their thoughts, etc. Once you have a laid out a plan of action, include your kids in some of the discussions. You don't want to alarm them, but if they're old enough to be aware of the current economic situation, then they're old enough to be included in many of the details. Just use common sense.
If you are losing your health insurance, and you have no other option for getting affordable insurance, look into COBRA coverage. If you had health insurance coverage at work, you should have been given COBRA paperwork for this option at the time you were laid off. This is very important - please refer to the detail page (the More link) for resources and further information.
After you have thoroughly studied and completed the first three items above, take a few days of rest. Sleep late, watch TV, read a book, visit with family, or whatever it takes to relax and prepare yourself for your new job - finding a way to survive through your new situation. Do not over do this - you still have obligations - job contacts for Unemployment, etc. - but a short break can do wonders for your state-of-mind.
Now, you need to focus on your financial situation. Using a pencil and notebook, or a spreadsheet, itemize where every penny you spend goes - this includes everyone in your household. Right now, don't try to see what you can do without. This list is meant to total the current entire household's daily spending habits. We'll work on a trimmed-down budget later.
While you're gathering the daily spending data, you can work on recurring bills and estimated emergency expenses. This will require you to gather all of the past year's data that you can. Once that data is gathered, you can estimate what your monthly expenses will be for your normal and emergency bills. In the next Item, we'll have you combine all of the data from Item #'s 5 and 6 and then help you figure out what your monthly expenses are likely to be during the coming year. For now, just gather and categorize the data.
Here, we'll manipulate all of the data that you've gathered in Item #'s 5 and 6, and calculate the total monthly expenditures that you are likely to experience over the next year - if you make no lifestyle or financial changes. After completing Item #'s 8 and 9, you'll know whether or not you're going to have to make major or minor changes. Don't get discouraged! We'll work through this with you. Changes are not always bad - some are very beneficial in many ways. For now, just focus on the tasks we've set up for you. We'll work the rest of the issues in later Items.
Now we'll total your income, and see how your income compares to your expenses. This will determine how much work we'll have to do to keep you solvent while you look for a new job/career.
Take a deep breath. You now know where you stand. We'll get it all organized, and get ready to start on a plan to go forward, toward your new goals.
Time to get to the nuts and bolts of this series. We'll introduce the "B" word again. Don't give up yet - we've got you covered.
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