Now I am thinking about writing a dear Abby

column or somethng, but for normal people.

Ho!

So let’s say you are in the job loss boat, what

do you do?

Stop spending immediately.  Be very shrewd.

Then put the money you owe in order.  Prioritize.

If the neighborhood butcher probably won’t come after

you right away, put his bill at the bottom, but do

not forget about him.  There is such a thing as karma,

and it can come back to bite you.

If your funds are shrinking fast and you are freaking

out, start thinking about further belt-tightening.

Like, give up the newspaper. Yes, I know you need it for

the want-ads, but you can read it at the library.  That’s

probably a hundred bucks a year right there.

And while you’re at the library, go to the bathroom there

and that will save you on toilet paper at home.

Think about what you can liquidate.  Look at online

auctions like ebay or zobids or yahoo.  Yes, it might

be a nice painting, but you can’t eat a painting these

days, can you???  It all comes down to survival.

Can you break into your retirement plans?  Normally

this would be a crazy idea of a short-sighted person,

but these are tough times. We do what we have to do.

Look at other expenses.  Maybe it is cheaper to go

to a cell phone that charges by the minute.  However,

watch out, because if you cancel your old cell phone

contract, that could cost you a couple hundred bucks

right there and for nothing.  It all comes down to being

smart and really thinking about expenses.  If you can

make a pot of soup out of left-over chicken bones.,

that just save you some money, didn’t it?