I Hate being Unemployed

I have been unemployed now for five months, and I absolutely hate it. The hardest part is actually wanting to work but not being able to find a job. I came down off of my high horse several months ago and stopped expecting potential employers to pay me what I was making at my last job (which was $53K annually). I even took a notch lower and stopped asking what I felt I was even worth, yet to this day I still have had only one prospect and after two interviews I received no further phone calls. So, here I sit day after day after day applying for jobs and hopefully something will pan out soon. As I write this I feel both silly and calmer because at the start of this blog I was slightly enraged and depressed. I have two daughters in Girl Scouts and a son in Soccer and with school just started back a month ago, I am having to come up with $20 here and $30 there to pay for school activities and extracurricular activities. Before I would just write the checks and not even give it an after thought, but now that I am unemployed it is extremely difficult to come up with these funds. I try to hide the fact that I am struggling from my kids, so I borrow the money and pray that either a job comes through or I will be approved for unemployment so that things will get a little bit better. I know that there are worse off people out there in the world, but I never dreamed that I would be in this bad of a position…ever. It is very humbling.

On the flip side of this, I have made some changes that will benefit us even once I find a job such as shopping at thrift stores, using coupons, budgeting funds, cooking meals more at home, paying closer attention to nutrition, etc. Even after I find a job I know that I will continue these new habits just because they are good habits to have. No longer able to afford to order delivery pizza as much, my kids look forward to and even have a song they sing when they smell pizza cooking in the oven. (Tonight it is Digiorno's Pepperoni Pizza). Awwww….the pizza is almost done now and here comes my kids singing the song down the stairs…”Mommies, cooking pizza…Mommies cooking pizza….Mommies cooking pizza..” Hearing them so happy has already lifted my spirits and makes my problems seem minute…if even just for tonight.