Today's mail included 6 official looking envelopes: 3 from unemployment, 2 from my 401K provider and 1 from the people who administer COBRA.
Yikes. With each envelope, this becomes more real and I'm not just on vacation. I'm freaking unemployed!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
The original package of paperwork I received "that day" was overwhelming. Thank goodness for my friend Marie: she's the office manager for another law firm and went over the paperwork with me to help me understand what the heck it all meant.
Today I discovered that it's a lot of work to be unemployed! And it's all so confusing.
Like unemployement. There's a form that I need to fill out over and over telling them that I've been looking for work and am eligible to work each week. That's so I can get paid and it takes 10 days from when they receive the form until I get a check. Yikes. That's kinda scary. Oh, and I have to register on line with their job search service or I won't get benefits. And the scariest thing in the envelopes from them was a notice that there's going to be a phone interview and my answers to that can affect my eligibility to receive benefits. Crap.
Then there's COBRA. That's another maze of legal-eze and forms to be filled out. And it's not cheap. But, I do qualify for some new program that reduces that payment and I'll only have to shell out 35% of the total premium. Thanks President Obama. That reduces my payments from just over $600 a month to less than $300.
And the 401K stuff. There's options on what to do with that money. And very few options on how to pay back the loan I took last year to buy my car. There's still about 20 pages that I need to read through on all of that.
No wonder people are going crazy right now. The money that it takes to maintain a basic standard of living and the little money that comes in when you're unemployed is enough to send even the strongest person over the edge.
I'm lucky. I don't have a huge mortgage payment - my rent is very reasonable thanks to my wonderful, terrific, very kind landlord - my cousin Ryan (notice the kissing up going on here?). I haven't had a credit card in over six years, so I have no debt there. My monthly bills are fairly minimal, but I can reduce that amount by a few dollars. The only real debt? My car loan, but luckily, that's not financed traditionally and nobody can take my car away from me at this point.
But how do I pay for COBRA? And groceries? And gas for my car? And a haircut? And the oil change that's just about due? And any unexpected things that may come up?
It's overwhelming, and my life is small potatoes compared to others who have been laid off.
I think I'll go have a plate of red beans and rice. At least those will last for several meals!
Until Next Time,
Kel
1 comment:
Kelly, I've been thinking about you lately and wondering how things are going.
Please don't fret over that unemployment phone interview and filling out that paperwork each week.
I've done the interview before, you'll be fine. The paperwork is a pain in the neck to fill out week after week, but here is hoping that you won't be needing to fill it out for too many weeks.
You have a lot of great qualties that a lot of those "younger more beautiful" people don't have. I'm sure the right employer will be able to see that you are a perfect candidate for their job opening.
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