Pull Together as a Family

When a family member loses his or her job, it’s important that everyone pitch in. By involving the kids and your spouse or partner in building a budget and saving money, you’ll gain buy-in for any cutbacks you choose to make as a team. Financial discussions and decisions can also help the children learn about financial responsibility.

In addition, it’s important to work together so that your efforts result in concrete positive changes. For example, if one person is cutting back drastically and the other continues to spend money (or denies there’s even a need to curtail spending), all the spending cuts will be for nothing.

As a group, act as if this new financial scenario will last a long time and make changes based on the worst case scenario. Then, you’ll be pleasantly surprised — and financially more stable — if the unemployment period ends sooner than you anticipate.

Here are a few ideas.

• Save on utilities. For example, discuss how turning off the lights and electronic equipment saves money. Keeping the thermostat lower in the winter and higher in the summer can cut heating and cooling bills significantly. Fixing a dripping faucet can save a lot of money in wasted water. Think of other ways to save energy and money.

• Eat great meals at home. The average restaurant meal costs about $15 per person. The average home cooked meal costs half that. Get the family involved by designating one night a week when each family member is responsible for the meal — pre-planning, shopping for ingredients on sale, etc.

• Encourage family members to do their part in contributing to the household. You even may ask older children to get a part-time job or offer neighborhood services, like raking leaves and yard work, for a few extra dollars a week.

If you're not sure how to talk to your kids about spending cutbacks, read more about it here.