Surviving Christmas While Unemployed

With the holidays right around the corner I thought I would share a few ideas on how to keep your mental health and save a few dollars.


1 – Instead of sending Christmas Cards, call everyone on your list. We all have free nights and weekends on our cell phone, so use them. Don’t focus on your situation, but ask how they are doing, what is new, how are the kids, etc.
2 – Only purchase gifts for the younger children or grandchildren. Your adult relatives and friends all know that you are in transition and that your financial resources may be limited. Agree up front not to exchange gifts this year.
3 – Teach your children the real meaning of the season. Ask them if you can donate to a charitable cause instead of buying them tons of gifts. A small donation to the cause of your choice in their name is far more memorable than the latest Wii game. Let them decide on the charity, Heifer Int’l, Salvation Army, Food Bank, Pet Shelter, or religious based charities are all good causes.
4- Volunteer your time somewhere and include your family. Consider contacting a nursing home to see if they need help. You could go and read to someone who can’t anymore, or just visit and learn about what they did at the holidays as a child. Consider tutoring school age children. You probably have a great knowledge base and can definitely impact a child’s future.
5 – Limit your time at family events. Many of us have relatives that just don’t understand the current job market and will ask why you haven’t found work yet. Others may have just purchased a new house/car/boat or traveled on vacations while you have been counting every penny to pay the bills. . Avoid long discussions about your job search and focus on them instead. By limiting your time, you limit your exposure to these influences.
6 – Throw out the Sunday paper color guts. If you are not shopping for gifts, don’t tempt yourself with all the fancy electronics and gadgets that you can’t afford right now. It will only make you depressed.
7 – Make of list of everything you DO have. Most likely you have many things to be thankful about, your health, home, family and support group.
8 – Stay focused on your job search. I won’t dwell on this since there have been many articles about this subject in the newspapers, on the web, and as discussions on LinkedIn.


So there you have it. These are just a few suggestions to get you going and I’m sure you can easily add more.

What am I doing to survive this holiday season? My wife and I have agreed to limit our gifts to each other. We will each only purchase a few items and then they need to be useful items such as socks, sweats, t-shirts, etc. I have been trying to give of myself by hosting a networking breakfast for my job seekers group and will be playing “Santa Claus” to the same group this week. I have solicited donations to use as prizes, obtained some games for us to play, and my church choir is baking cookies for the event. It won’t be “over the top” but everybody will go home with at least a little something. As I have heard how some of the members are struggling to survive not only Christmas but the coming months I felt I needed to give of myself in some small way to help lift the spirits of my new found friends.

Merry Christmas and I hope that all of you have a wonderful and prosperous New Year!