I'm one of those currently without income and scrambling for another job, but Curmudgeon is currently employed (geez, wouldn't it be nice if we could be employed at the same time?!?) plus he just (as of last week) started collected Social Insecurity. But I've been un- and underemployed when I've been alone, too, (or worse yet, married to my alcoholic ex-husband).

You've applied for unemployment benefits? If they turn you down because you were fired "for cause," fight it. Present your case logically and you'll win.

Like Richard says, "Claim every benefit you can. Pride is for the rich." Do what you have to to keep body and soul together. It IS worth putting up with the bureaucracy and filling out steaming piles of paperwork.

Keep your spirits up!!! Do positive things! Map out your job search. I know it's a heck of a lot more tiring and time-consuming to be looking for work than actually having a job, but ya gotta do it and you've got to do it every day. Find time to learn some new skills, too, if you can. Take advantage of having a, uh, "flexible" schedule. Don't forget to keep in touch with friends. And let them buy you lunch or feed you and tell you about jobs. Let EVERYONE know you're looking.

I got laid off from my comfortable 10-year job four years ago when the economy started going to hell in a handbasket. I'm a graphic designer/digital pre-press production person, etcet etcet and my former employer felt so bad about laying me off they gave me a couple freelance clients on a platter. So I had to buy a new computer (etcet etcet) and set myself up freelance. I also got a part-time job in the industry before they dried up. In the past 4 years I've been putting together a package of part-time (not necessarily in my field or paying what I get when I'm working in my field), freelance (don't forget you have to pay self-employment taxes on this), and temp jobs either through an agency (which specializes in creative jobs, graphics & editorial) or independently hired.

Things work out for the best. Really. I was majorly disappointed in not getting an editorial gig in February with a local publisher (PLUS my major freelance client brought everything in-house). But Tom landed in the hospital in April for major heart surgery and I wouldn't have been able to hold that job and do all the stuff I had to do because he was in the hospital and because we had NO income (other than my $58 week from unemployment), no savings and no insurance. (Talk about steaming piles of paperwork.)

Shortly after Tom could drive again, etc. I got a wonderful temp job. I think both the employer and I fantasized about it becoming permanent, but after the woman I filled in for came back to work and their seasonal rush was over (after 15 weeks instead of the 6-8 they said originally), they didn't have the work to justify keeping me on. However, now they know me and like me and I can fit in seamlessly whenever they need me again.

But now I'm out of work, collected the last two payments on my last unemployment claim (from the part-time job that fired all the part-timers just before Christmas last year) and can't file again until after the first of the year. We're still getting food assistance from the local food pantry, thank goodness. There's a whole bunch of programs we're ineligible for simply because we own a house. (Despite the fact it's falling down around our ears and costs us less in mortgage/taxes/insurance than anything we could rent.)

I know it's hard to "enjoy" having the free time when you're scrambling for enough to pay the rent/phone/electric and food bills. The hardest thing I ever had to learn is not to "worry" about money -- I get "concerned" but not worried. When you need it, it comes. But if you use your time in a constructive, creative, positive way, you're a lot less likely to succumb to depression or feelings of hopelessness. Don't cut yourself off from friends.

I'm full of advice -- now I need to stop reading Mudcat and check my on-line job sources, send out a few resumes, let a few more people on the list know I'm looking again, etc. And cross some more stuff off my DAILY To-Do list (which I make up first thing in the morning, even when I'm working.)

Hope this helps.

Linn