Hiding a layoff from the family, bad idea? (update)

My spouse does not know yet that I was let go as a retail manager. Bills are coming up and I cannot keep this quiet. How did you handle it?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 2 months ago, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.

Keep everything in writing and save the confirmation numbers. It saved me later.