The recession has hit some places harder than others. People in states like California, Michigan, and Florida were particularly hard-hit. With unemployment at record levels and few jobs available locally, residents of hard-hit towns are picking up stakes and moving, sometimes without thinking things through. If you plan to relocate, it’s always better to have a job lined up before you show up, rather than hoping to get one once there. Here are few things you need to consider when opting to leave for greener pastures.

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Freelancing is the wave of the future, but it takes a completely different financial mindset than being an employee. You may know how to create a budget when you’ve got a paycheck that comes in on a regular basis, but how do you deal with a situation where your income varies from month to month? It’s a whole new way of managing cash flow and you have to start thinking more like a business and less like an employee if you want your financial house to stay in order.

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The Internet is an amazing world where you can find just about anything and information about many things. As time has progressed, it has become easier and easier to get part time jobs on the Internet as well as find a traditional job on the Internet through jobsite searches and most companies have streamlined their human resources department to a heavy web-based model. With SEO and online marketing becoming more and more popular every day, it is no surprise to see people create new and inventive ways of making money online. The lure of working from home is one that is very pleasing to single and stay-at-home moms and can be great for the disabled.

Sometimes there are things we just can’t do ourselves and we hope that we can find someone to do it and cheaply. We can surf Craigslist hoping to find someone, but there is a new website, Fiverr.com, that allows us to pay a small $5 charge to have tasks done for us. It is a great way to get something simple done for us when we just don’t have the time to do it due to our busy schedule. There are various tasks available such as photo manipulation or caricatures of pictures done for you in a flash, the sky’s the limit and you can also make money by offering your quirky services to the public.

Regardless of what you offer, you will make $4 on the task as the website takes $1 of your earnings to pay for their hosting and administrative costs, so many of the tasks are quick and sometimes do not live up to the hype, but for $5 you can expect perfection. Although the website is interesting, it is not going to replace Craigslist or any of the freelance design websites that using a bidding format to get work for struggling designers and artists. The main draw of this website is the low cost and the fun things you can find for people to do for just a few bucks.

In the past, blue collar workers were mechanics, plumbers, and construction workers. They made less than their white collar counterparts who sat in offices and made bigger salaries for being “knowledge workers” and not manual laborers. While both blue and white collar workers are suffering job losses, the fact is that if you have a manual skill, you may be out of a job, but you’re hardly if every out of work. You can use those skills to pick up temporary gigs, save you money on your own expenses, and network your way into better jobs. If you have time and money to diversify your skill set, take a look at some of these manual skills to help you both make and save money when times are tough. (more…)

If you are like most Americans, odds are you or someone you love may have recently suffered a job loss or a cut in pay and now you find yourself wondering how you will be able to pay all your bills. Whether it is something as simple as buying the weekly groceries, or the fear that you may lose your home if you can’t pay your mortgage, a job loss can cause many a sleepless night, leaving many wondering where exactly their next paycheck will come from. Some even fear the thought of not being able to find a job, causing their quality of life to suffer. While unemployment may not last forever, here are some creative ways to make some extra cash to pay your bills until you are able to find a steadier paying job. (more…)

Some areas of the country have been in a deep recession, like nationally known Elkhardt. There jobs dried up in the RV industry and few other industries remained to offer a job opportunity. Many workers were faced with either poor job prospects or the decision to move to a more booming area, which were also few and far between. As the recovery picks up steam, some areas will begin to boom more heartily and it’s here that many people waiting to make the decision to move can finally start looking at the pros and cons of moving to find employment elsewhere. There are so many factors, not the least of which is the cost of moving, and financing moving costs on your own which you will have to fund someway, either through conventional or payday advance loans. (more…)

Budgeting wasn’t exactly fun, but it was probably easy enough when you were employed. Once you’re laid off, almost every aspect of your budget has to be re-evaluated to see how expenses can be cut and income maximized. Learning how to create a budget in bad times can be the start of your financial education that has a lasting impact. It can even help you start to develop a wealth consciousness where before you just were simply too busy to pay attention to every facet of your daily finances. (more…)

Unlike family vacation ideas on a budget, business travel budgets aren’t looking for a fun experience more than savings. You can really get some great airfares today, as airlines compete for fewer customers, but that doesn’t really take into account the amount of lost time in travel and the simple inconvenience of it all. If you’re able to convince your clients that you can provide the same level of service without actually showing up in person, they will probably be happy to agree to a more technological solution that saves you money too. (more…)

With the price of living going up and more companies going out of business, many families have deemed it necessary to take on part time jobs along with their full time jobs in order to help make ends meet. This may be because of the company a loved one worked for going over, or simply because now more than ever people are seeing the importance of being able to set a little something aside in a savings account just in case something happens to them. Even when prices and the economy aren’t much of a concern, many people are still pulling down full time and part time jobs for a variety of reasons. (more…)

Not a lot of people are lucky enough to truly love their job. While the pay and benefits might be great, just getting up and heading out the door isn’t always an exciting or even appealing idea. So, the only solution is to find a new job, but in the current economy many people often wonder - is it a bad time to change jobs? (more…)