We know a layoff is coming in a few months...how to prepare now?

[Marionnette]

Thank you for the replies. I will attempt to answer a few questions.

Hubby has a cell phone that runs about $45 - $50 a month. I have a Tracfone that I add minutes to when needed (once every 3 months or so I guess).

A few months ago I looked at our eating out - we spent over $500 in November! So we have cut that down but are still spending about $200 a month.

Now obviously if we took a $600+ monthly pay cut, we would petition to get the child support down (I know, not gonna be very popular with some people here at the Dis Boards but if we dont have it, we dont have it). We pay about $700 a month in child support so if we could even get that reduced a couple hundred, that would help.

We are in South Louisiana, close to New Orleans for the person who asked. And yes, we have Angel Food boxes.

He never works during the summer but all the idea about some sort of camp are good ones. He has actually thought about doing that for softball before since he is a softball coach as well. He gets a paycheck during the summer but I do not. However we will be okay until July, I think thats when his pay is reduced.

He said the promise of a new job looks good but it will still be a couple hundred bucks a month less than what we have now.

I like the pantry stock up idea as well!

I want to add that if you have ANY Disney trips in the planning stages, that you should probably put them on a back burner until you are in a better place financially. If you petition to reduce child support for your husband's other child(ren) while taking your daughter to Disney World, it is not going to be looked upon too kindly.

 

[SnowWhite607]

I want to add that if you have ANY Disney trips in the planning stages, that you should probably put them on a back burner until you are in a better place financially. If you petition to reduce child support for your husband's other child(ren) while taking your daughter to Disney World, it is not going to be looked upon too kindly.

Nope! No Disney trips planned! We went in June 2012 and no plans to go back anytime soon......maybe one day but not for the foreseeable future. DD wanted to take a girls trip but that may have to wait for a while.

And DH has one child who is now 19 and in community college part time (so we're not talking about a baby here). Old enough to get a job if need be. I am not looking to screw anyone but if our pay is cut by 600 or 700 a month and we still continue paying the $700 in child support that we are paying now, we are gonna get foreclosed upon.

 

[Darcy03231]

Nope! No Disney trips planned! We went in June 2012 and no plans to go back anytime soon......maybe one day but not for the foreseeable future. DD wanted to take a girls trip but that may have to wait for a while.

And DH has one child who is now 19 and in community college part time (so we're not talking about a baby here). Old enough to get a job if need be. I am not looking to screw anyone but if our pay is cut by 600 or 700 a month and we still continue paying the $700 in child support that we are paying now, we are gonna get foreclosed upon.

Doesn't child support end at high school graduation? Where I live it does.

 

[Marionnette]

Doesn't child support end at high school graduation? Where I live it does.

It depends on the state and on the support agreement that the parents have accepted. Some states require support while the child is in college full time. And some parents agree to support through age 21 even if the state does not require it. Every case is different and is always open to review when the circumstances of either parent changes (for the better or worse).

 

[donaldlovesdaisy]

Hey if you are in South Louisiana what about getting a job working offshore during the summer months. I grew up there and knew a few male teachers of my own that did that and when I did live and teach in one of the local parishes I knew several teachers who would go that route for the summer.

 

[SnowWhite607]

It depends on the state and on the support agreement that the parents have accepted. Some states require support while the child is in college full time. And some parents agree to support through age 21 even if the state does not require it. Every case is different and is always open to review when the circumstances of either parent changes (for the better or worse).

Right. Child support goes thru the DHS or whatever it is in that state......stopped when the child was 18 and then was reinstated when she enrolled in a college program. I think its normally 18 if not in school, 21 if they are in school.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

bank your tax refund. Couponing is a great money saver. Our grocery store prints on the recipe what my yearly running total in coupon savings is and right now I am close to $500 for a 12 month period!


Since your DH is not working in the summer he could mow grass for extra money.


Check with your insurance company and see what a difference increasing your detuctible would have on your annual payment.

Consolidate errands that need to be run. Make sure your tire pressure is set properly to insure good gas mileage.

Buy things in bulk. especially meats. My grocery store charges $5.00 for a one pound package of stew meat yet Sams sell a 5 lb package for $13.00- just got some today. Then repackage it into small packages. Oscar Mayer hotdogs 30 count pack was $3.00 verses the 8 count for $4.50 at the grocery store!

Have a garage sale.

 

[allison443]

He never works during the summer but all the idea about some sort of camp are good ones. He has actually thought about doing that for softball before since he is a softball coach as well. He gets a paycheck during the summer but I do not. However we will be okay until July, I think thats when his pay is reduced.

Are you a teacher as well? And neither of you work during the summer? That's your solution right there-can one of you get a summer job to make up the lost income?
When income decreases you can either cut expenses like you are getting suggestions, or increase your income elsewhere. If you're working a full time year round job trying to fit in a second job that's one thing. (especially coaching which I know is a lot of extra hours). However many teachers I know work during the summer. Some do seasonal things like lifeguarding, managing a pool/swim club, summer recreation programs through the town or parks department, sports camps, etc. Or they teach summer school.

Another idea would be umpiring or refeeing. I have a neighbor who is a softball umpire and it helps out financially.
Good luck! It's good you know it's coming and you are taking steps to plan for it.

 

[LovesTimone]

I have a few thoughts. If I may,

1) Is refi'ing your house an option, some people we know just did this and it made a huge difference in their monthly payment, I think a saivngs around 400.00 plus dollars a month.

2) Take a look at all of your appliances(sp?) - do they need repair, or something small that has come up fix it now.

3) For your car, have the oil changed, tires rotated, or tune up (only if it is time for a tune up they are very costly) preventive stuff can save big bucks later on.

4) Stock your pantry with basic items, find a closet for overflow, if you coupon con't, I always check store promotions, combine there store coupon with mgr. coupon to get the most for your money.

4 1/2) Do not go to the store hungry!!! Make a list and use it, impluse buys are very bad. Stay with seasonal items.

5) In the overflow closet, stock up on toothpaste, shampoo, body wash, personal care items. Household cleaners, baggies, foil, trash bags etc..

5 1/2) You will get into a cycle with the sales, try to keep on hand what you will need for about 3 months, then buy accordingly.

6) Do you take your lunch to work? I know alot of school teacher eat free or at a reduced rate, use this benfit. If not you and DH can take lunch, include soft drinks and snacks for during the day, the vending machine is not your friend. Do plan on lunch out once in a while with friends or co-workers.

7) Eating out, this is a huge cost. Plan on once or twice a month having dinner out? DH and I have really started checking out mom and pop resturants, and have found better food and service at a much better price.

8) Do you have kids involved in after school or other activities, football, baseball, dance, cheerleading these are important but costly, You might have to have them pick the one they like best. Keep snacks and drinks in the car, no drive thru.. that add's up quickly.

9) What can you cut out, home phone, premium channels, can you get by with out them. Magazines and the daily newspaper, maybe only go to Sunday delivery so you can get your coupons, and TV guide.

10) Turn your heat or air up or down 1 degree, have someone be the light police, turn then off when not in the room. Make sure the dish washer, washing machine is full when using. I air dry lots of items or lay on top of the dryer, sweaters, blouses, and jeans.

 

[jessica52877]

When DH lost his job last year the first thing I did was cut all our meals in half. The meat we normally would have eaten for one meal was now turned into two. None of starved.

We also turned down our heat about 8 degrees. At first I thought I was going to freeze but I put on more clothes and just got used to it.

 

[North of Mouse]

Wow, you ate out to the tune of *over $500* in November alone? You are afraid of having your house foreclosed on if you lose approx. $600 mo. income?

Sounds like you have some serious budgeting issues if you have been eating out with that kind of money. I doubt seriously that this is the only area that money is flowing so freely. I would cut the *eating out* completely. We have been in a pinch before, but we only had one paycheck and two children - we certainly weren't eating out. I can make lots of good, nutritious meals for $500 mo.

Depends, really, on what you are willing to do to get things in hand. You have to really be serious about wanting to do it. When you are spending that much, it will probably be very hard to get *child support* payments lowered any.

 

[ilovemk76]

OP, your budget should only be generated with your and DH's salary from your teaching jobs. The "extra" jobs should not be included in your budget.

Getting a coaching job one year does not guarantee it the next year. I am having a hard time seeing how this is a layoff. You and DH both have your full time jobs and he did not get his part time job that he has to apply for each year.

Some teaching jobs pay you over 12 months while others pay you for the months you actually worked. If you are paid the later way, you need to put away money during those months to have money during the summer.

I agree with North.

 

[ktrask]

If our husband is a coach have him dart contacting AAU programs in your area. My husband is an AAU baseball coach and is paid for the coaching.

 

[diznee25]

This is something someone on the budget board posted a few years ago that I've never really followed up on - I saved the link in case I ever needed to earn some pin money or just got that nostalgic for teaching. (Actually, I'm about there some days!)

These are the people that give the SATs, I think, and also do a lot of testing - they use remote scorers. If I can think of anything else, I'll let you know.

http://www.pearsonassessments.com/pai/ai/about/careers.htm

I just looked into the Professional Scorer jobs, and they require a 4 year degree....regardless whether you work from home or at a facility. I don't have a 4 year degree.

Just an FYI for anyone interested.

 

[Pigeon]

If you are both teachers, can you tutor? The going rate will depend on where you live. Around here it's about $30/hr. Where my sister lives it's at least $50.

Could either of you find work teaching adjunct courses at a community college?

I wouldn't bother stockpiling food, I'd rather keep the money in the bank. As a pp noted, you can't pay bills in stockpiled food. Eat fewer meat based meals and cut out the junk.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I'm not a big one for stockpiling food either. Last spring I brought home some dog treats.

Well, apparently there were moths in the dog treats. They got out and I had to go through my kitchen and throw away anything grain based that was not wrapped in foil. Those moths got through cardboard AND plastic. EVERYTHING. Cereal, quinoa, flax seed, oat bran, flour, cornmeal, sugar etc. I even found some in a package of COFFEE!

If we'd been on a close budget it would've been devastating!

 

[averysmom]

Thank you for the replies. I will attempt to answer a few questions.

Hubby has a cell phone that runs about $45 - $50 a month. I have a Tracfone that I add minutes to when needed (once every 3 months or so I guess).

A few months ago I looked at our eating out - we spent over $500 in November! So we have cut that down but are still spending about $200 a month.

Now obviously if we took a $600+ monthly pay cut, we would petition to get the child support down (I know, not gonna be very popular with some people here at the Dis Boards but if we dont have it, we dont have it). We pay about $700 a month in child support so if we could even get that reduced a couple hundred, that would help.

We are in South Louisiana, close to New Orleans for the person who asked. And yes, we have Angel Food boxes.

He never works during the summer but all the idea about some sort of camp are good ones. He has actually thought about doing that for softball before since he is a softball coach as well. He gets a paycheck during the summer but I do not. However we will be okay until July, I think thats when his pay is reduced.

He said the promise of a new job looks good but it will still be a couple hundred bucks a month less than what we have now.

I like the pantry stock up idea as well!

Be careful with the child support thing... my friend's ex-husband just took a pay cut and took her to court to get the support reduced... it cost him over $3000 in court costs because he had to pay her fees too, and his payments went down $29.00 a month. Make sure you do some seriously checking into this before your proceed... it may not be worth it! I doubt they'll cut your support by almost 30% (200 dollars less from 700) from a 6000/yr pay cut.

 

[AJ1983]

Be careful with the child support thing... my friend's ex-husband just took a pay cut and took her to court to get the support reduced... it cost him over $3000 in court costs because he had to pay her fees too, and his payments went down $29.00 a month. Make sure you do some seriously checking into this before your proceed... it may not be worth it! I doubt they'll cut your support by almost 30% (200 dollars less from 700) from a 6000/yr pay cut.

I live in Canada, and we have recalculation clauses in our child support agreements. The paying parent submits their income for the previous year to the child support enforcement office once a year, and if their income has changed, the child support is increased or decreased automatically. Then, nobody has to go to court each time they need a variation. There are also websites for people to determine their support, based on their income, prior to entering the court and incurring costs. Again, in Canada, there are websites such as mysupportcalculator.ca to assist people to see if its worth fighting over. Like you said, $3,000 vs. saving $360 over the year doesn't really seem worth it.

In this case of the OP, in Canada your support would be lowered from 700 to 644-$56 reduction.

In the case of pp, it sounds like your friend got stuck with her bill because his application was unnecessary, and therefore the judge felt she shouldn't have had to pay a lawyer for him filing such a silly claim -$29 indeed!

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

First I am in NYS. When my husband was laid off and on unemployment the judge refused to reduce his child support. So I would think hard on that. His extra income should not have been even included in his child support. You may want to recheck his amount versus earnings.

At $667.00 per month for one child the reduction would only be $113.00 per month or approximately $25.00 per week. Since it is supplementary income, it would be denied here. I did a Louisiana calculator and it stated $136.00 for the amount of $667.00.

During a modification both parents incomes (mom and dad) are looked at. If your husband's ex makes quite a bit less, expect to be denied. Also if your reduction in income is not great than 20% some state will not even accept it.

Just some things for thought. I also can't see where if you spend $500.00 a month in eating out how a reduction of just a bit over $100.00 is going to put you in foreclosure.

I truly hope all works out, but it looks like the fat out of the budget is going to happen in your house, not the ex's. Good luck!!!!

 

[SnowWhite607]

OP, your budget should only be generated with your and DH's salary from your teaching jobs. The "extra" jobs should not be included in your budget.

Getting a coaching job one year does not guarantee it the next year. I am having a hard time seeing how this is a layoff. You and DH both have your full time jobs and he did not get his part time job that he has to apply for each year.

Some teaching jobs pay you over 12 months while others pay you for the months you actually worked. If you are paid the later way, you need to put away money during those months to have money during the summer.

I agree with North.

Coaching is not a part time job that he just got. When you coach in my state, the amount is figured into your paycheck and you get it all at once. Like you get a certain percentage depending on the sport and your position - head baseball coach makes an additional 8% of his salary, gold coach makes an additional 5% or whatever. It is then added into your yearly salary, divided by 12 and paid to you monthly in one lump sum.

This was a job he had done for the past 15 years.