I really enjoyed this article by Laura Ziesel on Making the Most of Underemployment. Here’s a snippet:
When my husband and I moved to California a year and a half ago, we had no jobs lined up, only a spot in grad school. Upon arriving, we settled into our new town and immediately started applying for jobs. After we arrived in California, it was about two months before we found work, although even then I was underemployed and continued looking for work. But we look back upon those months as some of the best we’ve had. Although money was tight, we decided to make the best out of our situations.
Most likely, you’ve been in a similar position, or you may find yourself in one in the future. Though the unemployment rate is on the decline (the most recent jobs report finds it at 8.5 percent), 59 percent of Americans still believe the economy is worsening (according to a new Gallup poll). And regardless of the state of the nation, twentysomethings are still likely to encounter tough times, big moves or life changes—like going back to school or having a spouse do so—that leave them with a little more free time. Here are some of the things we did that helped us not only survive, but thrive:
Read the full article for lots of helpful tips and encouragement.
I work part time from home, and watch our 3 year old daughter. I have been looking for part time work. Anyways A friend and I started our own web blog that I have dedicated several hours a week to. Since this is not paying the bills yet I keep looking for more work. When My husband was laid off a few months after my 4 year old daughter had passed away we flipped storage units, he did odd jobs like painting apartments etc.. until he got another job. During which time I really wish I had known how to coupon. We currently are still paying catch up from the medical bills of my daughter that passed etc… So now we live on less, and yes at times it is very stressful, but I am learning how to use my administrative talents in different ways. I just tell myself some days just remember God has a plan, and does not want me to stress.
I have some student loans, and I’ve found that just continuing to be in school until I find a job that will allow me to actually pay the loans back is a lot less expensive than paying the loans back (we’re talking a difference of over $200 per month, and I’m not accruing interest on the loans while I’m in school). Plus, I’m getting more education that I can use to find a better paying job.
When I first got out of school, I got employment as a librarian at a public library. I was shocked at how little I was paid; $8.50 per hour. My oldest daughter was in public school, which is the only reason I was able to afford to take the job; making that little, I wouldn’t have even been able to afford to put her into daycare. When I got pregnant and had our two youngest, we made the decision for me to stay home because, when we were researching daycare in the area so that I could go back to work, we found that not only would daycare take my entire paycheck, but it would also take a large chunk out of my husband’s. Not worth it!
So, I go to school part time and get more education, and I stay at home with my babies. My fourth degree will be finished when my youngest is going into grade K, and I’ll be able to even put the younger two into private school (the oldest will be graduated by that time) because my employment prospects will be a lot better.
My husband is in school and I just graduated last May. I have a shiney B.A. with nowhere to use it… I worked through a temp agency this last summed, but the assignment ended. I’m trying my best to contribute to our GI Bill/husband’s part time job income, but I am finding I love expanding my horizons by cooking and gardening and saving money more than i could imagine liking employment!
I know our season of underemployment wont last forever,but I’m learning to enjoy it while I can. And who knows… maybe DH will be so successful as a mechanic that I can stay home and continue to enjoy serving him and our kids when they come!
My husband is a surgical tech and I have a really well paying part time job. We are happy and live in our hometown and lots of family nearby. My husband has decided he wants to go back to school to be a physicians assistant, there isnt a school close to us so we would have to move. Since we have always wanted to move to warmer weather, this would be a great opportunity. Problem is, no family, no jobs set up- He wont be able to work as hes in the 2 year program. I will have to support us but I cant if I dont have help. I dont want to work just to put my kids in daycare. Is this possible? Can we realistically live off of student loans?
Don’t do it. Try to get grants and scholarships to pay for the school, and see if you can get some sort of other type of aid for groceries and such.
You can live off student loans, but I think you will regret it. My husband and I did that and I truly regret us ever getting the loans. I should have just figured out some other way to pay our bills, because now we have $20k in student loans. We cannot afford to pay the loans back; I am having to stay in school so that we don’t have to pay them back (it is cheaper for us to pay out of pocket for me to attend school than it would be to pay back the loan, and the loan isn’t accruing interest) because I have no job. After getting 3 degrees at the same time, the only job I could get after getting out of college paid $8.50 per hour (I worked as a public Librarian). The degree I’m going after now is a teaching licensure, and there are several companies in my area who will hire me because I’ll have a higher level degree and they don’t care what the degree is in, but until that time I just have to sit on those loans, knowing how in debt my family is, knowing we can’t afford to pay those loans back ($200 per month to go to school vs. $500 per month to pay the loans back!) until I get work, and that I won’t get work for years…
Don’t do it.
I have to second what Leighann said. We also went that route and are now wishing we hadn’t. We moved 400 miles away from all family and friends and used the student loans to live off of. Two years later, we are struggling to pay it back and regret it.
Before going that route, I would definitely look into grants and scholarships and whatever else you could do to help supplement your income for that time.
DO IT!! Perhaps my opinion will be different from others stated here. The additional education may be spendy now but will open many doors later. I am a long time nurse practitioner and have much experience with PA’s. There is and will be plenty of work in the future for this role. If husband is lucky enough to get a slot in a program (not easy) then dont pass up the opportunity. As to the student loans there are clinics/federal programs (many underserved populations) that will “eat” the loans when he is done if he makes a 5 yr commitment (while getting paid salary of course). This is a situation where looking at what you want for you family long term is important. Short term will be unpleasant certainly but worth it!! Good luck.:)
Thank you for your opinions! Its very helpful! We wouldnt move until my husband got accepted to a program and he would do all of his pre-req’s here. This would more then triple his salary when he graduated, that is why I feel it would be worth it. I am practicing and learning to live frugal now (paying off all debt!) so we are prepared for the program. Its a huge risk, I do believe it will pay off though. I know living in debt will suck (thats where I am now with his school from surg tech and a new car) but I hope it will only be temporary.
In two weeks I finally get to go back to school and finish my elementary education degee–so excited! Since the construction company my husband works for is really slow this time of year, he is going to go on unemployment and stay home with our son. We spent all last year saving up so we could afford to go from 1.5 incomes, to just half an income. Money will still be very tight, but it will be worth it! So glad we have always lived frugally and worked so hard to pay off debt so we are able to do this.
My husband was laid off last summer. It was one of the best things to happen. As I’m a teacher, we had the summer off together and he had so much quality time with our kids. He’s now at a job he likes much better. Plus, we were actually still able to save $2000 during those 4 months, all because we were already out of debt. What a blessing!
Wow…our problem is we’ve been underemployed for 10 years….that is why I went back to school {with two children} and my husband is also. I just graduated last year and he this year {I’m mid-30s ,my dh is early 40s}. Now, our prospects are potentially the same {blah}. I am starting a business and he won’t receive any significant pay raises in his current job {not at least for 5-10 more years….he’s a firefighter}. We have combed through the budget time and again and are still finding ourselves short hundreds each month with expenses rising. I am doing extra little things on the side to make money while my business starts and he is working a 2nd job. We don’t have any credit card debt or car payments…our only debt is mortgage and student loans and perpetual medical bills. We homeschool as well and I coupon, etc to save money. I’m not saying all this to complain but to point out that underemployment is not just for folks just starting out in careers….it can happen later in life too. We aren’t sure how to squeeze more from our income to get everything paid. I would love to see an article like this for families….we max out our time daily and work hard.
Thanks so much!
I think it can especially happen later in life. My husband (in his 50’s) was laid off for a year and went to a very poor paying job for a couple of months. He is currently in his field but is still not at the level he was previously because of the slow economy. But God is faithful!! We have been married over 30 years and He has NEVER let us down. We have had high medical bills over the years because of the health needs of one of our children, but God has taken care of us. Our budget is bare bones; the many things people say to “cut out” were never “in” to begin with. But there’s nothing wrong with that! We live simply and enjoy our home. We need to be good stewards with whatever God entrusts us with – whether little or much 😀 I appreciate all the encouragement; it helps to know we aren’t alone!
I know what you mean about continually looking to see where we can cut more. We do that all the time, in an effort to make ends meet. We have been underemployed for 5 years. The amazing thing is that we still find things to cut! It takes some serious effort, though.
For example, in 2010 we ate for .70 per person per day. By making several more cuts, in 2011 we ate for .40 per person per day.
This month I just lowered our thermostat 2º. According to the gas company, each degree save 1% of your bill. Because we had several warm weeks, the heater didn’t come on at all for those weeks (it’s cold again now, though) which saved us even more.
I make birthday and Christmas gifts using what we have on hand.
We do all haircuts at home (my husband cuts mine).
And we are HOME; this cuts down on gas expenses.
Our income has stopped right now, so it gets even harder.
I hope you can find some more ways to cut as well as ways to increase your income.
I would love to hear what you eat for .40 a day! Very interesting.
I have 4 1/2 months worth of menus on my site, and recipes, too. I am in the process of redoing my entire website (I’m moving hosts, which means I have to recreate every single page, link, photo, etc.!)
As part of the redo, I’m redoing my menus to reflect the changes in our eating. When the new menus go up, they’ll show how more of what we’re eating. It’s taking about 10 hours (or more) per menu to move right now. They will be up by February 1st (or sooner, I hope!) You can see them then. You’re also welcome to lok around now to see how I’m keeping costs down!
My husband and I were in a similar situation while I was in grad school. I had a part time job and then a fellowship and an internship, and he had an engineering degree but couldn’t find work as one. So he took what he could and eventually worked his way up. I started grad school 2 weeks after our very simple wedding. I had quit my fulltime job to go to grad school. He’d just graduated and had not yet found a job- a lot of changes all at once. Plus we’d moved 500 miles!
We found ways to pass the time, although honestly I did not have a lot of time due to my studies!
We went for walks. We walked to the library or the Half Price Books store nearby. We played board games that we got as wedding gifts. We used mypoints giftcards to go out for lunch once or twice a year. For our first anniversary, we spent the night at a state park. He played video games and taught himself more computer programming languages, which eventually boosted his income.