Sorry to hear that, man. GPF gave some good advice on how to start. If you still have a job until 10/30 and you'll get another 9 weeks of severance, that gives you until Jan. 1st to find a position. Start looking now. Maybe you can get a seasonal position at any store to help until you find something more permanent. That way you'll have the severance plus the seasonal work to try and save up for a bit.

Also, would you qualify for unemployment? You've been paying into unemployment insurance for years, I'm sure, so no reason not to take if it's available while you look.

As for generating a little money through advertising, the 'Click to Continue' ones wouldn't bother me at all, nor would banner ads at the tops/bottoms of pages. Do what you have to do to get through this tough time.

Syd Lexia wrote:

Klimbatize wrote: Also, would you qualify for unemployment? You've been paying into unemployment insurance for years, I'm sure, so no reason not to take if it's available while you look. ...I don't quite understand how unemployment works, but I've been told it comes out of my Social Security. So any money I collect now is less money I'd have for retirement.

It does not come out of your Social Security benefits later in life. They are two separate entities. Unemployment benefits are technically a form of insurance. You have been paying into that insurance your entire working life; it's on your pay stub. Receiving unemployment when you qualify does not affect your future social security benefits. Being unemployed, in general, may lower your Social Security benefits later because you're not paying into it, obviously. But if it's for a short period of time, you likely won't see any effect.

A little background, I worked in insurance for a few years (and I still maintain my clients accounts) and I worked closely with Social Security, Medicare, Health insurance, etc. I have helped people who were receiving both Social Security AND unemployment at the same time. It all depends on if you qualify. Still, it would be a good idea to look into this yourself because I do think it's a viable option.

I realize that unemployment is going to be far less than what you made while working, but it can be a decent stopgap while you look for other employment. I am not very familiar with how severance packages affect unemployment benefits, but I do not believe it would alter your eligibility to receive unemployment as soon as you are laid off.

And yeah, monetize the shit out of this site. It's been free for years so it's probably about time you at least made a few bucks off of it. I know it wouldn't be enough to pay all your bills, but if it helps I say go for it.