Getting By with Nothing
One of my Facebook friends, the indomitable Kelly Pettit, posed the question:  How do people without jobs for years get by? If I lost my job, I would be homeless in about four months. What gives?
I was struck by the creativity and diversity of the responses.  Here are selections from her “thread.”

• You learn to live on less
• Families or spouses take over paying for your life
• Crime
• Off-books work
• Closet slum lords
• Cut out everything superfluous:  cable, snacks, heat, trips, car
• Mommy and daddy’s trust fund
• Cashing in the 401K
• Sell your house and live a low key life for probably 15 years
• Student loans
• Family care giving exchanges
• Tiny businesses
• Carpenters always find something to do
• Renting out your family home and living with your spouse and children in another house
• Get unemployment for a while
• Spend your savings
• Juggle credit cards
• Get a bit of help from family and friends
• Foreclosures by banks usually take up to 2 years, so you can live in your house without making a payment

(my note: sometimes foreclosures move with breath-taking speed, so don’t count on that two year period of “breathing room.”)
A couple of Kelly’s respondents offer these positive perspectives:

• There are ways to make it through life on very little.  I have to say I truly enjoy the simpler life, as opposed to always being on the go, and stressed beyond belief.
• Some of my happiest times in life was when I was struggling . . . and it was all about being together and it really was *good*.  Later, when we were flush, not so much.

A deep bow of respect and gratitude to the contributors to Kelly’s post.