The Hidden Costs of Unemployment

My husband and I lost our jobs earlier this year. We knew unemployment would bring a major shift in our budget. We would not have money coming in to the house, but on the other hand we would not have the expenses of child care, driving to work every day, and paying for things like lunches at restaurants. However, we soon realized several expenses we were not anticipating.

One of the first things we noted after becoming unemployed was an increase in our utility bills. Because we were unemployed, the house was no longer empty all day. We could no longer turn down our thermostat each morning, so the air conditioner was running more frequently. Televisions, radios, lights, ceiling fans, and lights were on more during the day as well.

No longer were the kids eating breakfasts, lunches and snacks at daycare. All of our meals were eaten at home, so we had to purchase more groceries. We also felt compelled to change their clothes when they got messy at mealtime (rather than letting them be messy like they did at daycare), which equaled more laundry. Our daycare had provided diapers, so we now had to purchase diapers for two children who are nowhere near potty training age.

When it comes time to look for a job, finding someone to watch the children becomes an issue. Most of our friends work during the day so we sometimes ended up having to pay someone to watch them for a few hours. While daycare costs $30 per day where we live, sometimes we would pay sitters to come in for a short time the same amount of money.

Less money for gas would seem an obvious benefit of not having to go to work each day. But, somehow unemployment had us driving around even more. Kids in the house all day every day is not a good idea. So, trips to pools, playgrounds, and libraries became frequent. We also drove around job-hunting, running errands, and going to the unemployment office a time or two.

Health insurance is another additional cost of unemployment, if you can afford being jobless and buying private health insurance (which is not always possible). Through my job I was allowed 30 days of insurance after my last day. But that 30 days came and left quickly and we were soon faced with having to purchase private coverage, at least for the children.

Because these are tough economic times, there are many families in the same position. The extra expenses of being unemployed surprised us, and had us scrambling to try to find even more ways to cut back our expenses. I have thankfully found employment and my husband has a second interview today. We are hoping that we are soon both gainfully employed so we can get our budget back on track. Being unemployed is costly, in more ways than one.