Household budget after job loss

1. 1. List money in for the next 30 days only

   Severance, final paychecks, UI (if already approved), partner support, and cash on hand. Ignore optimistic “I’ll get a job next week” income until it clears.

2. 2. List essentials due in 14 and 30 days

   Housing, utilities, food, getting to work or interviews, insurance you can't drop, and minimum debt payments that keep fees from piling up. Everything else can be negotiated or paused.

3. 3. Work out your runway in days

   Cash plus money coming in soon, minus essentials. The WUUUH cash-flow planner does this math for you, and the basic version doesn't need a bank link.

4. 4. Pause before you cancel blindly

   With subscriptions and promo rates, a pause or a hardship call often works out better than canceling and regretting it once you're working again. Draft first, and send only when you're ready.

5. 5. Protect the first paycheck when you return

   Keep hardship holds in place until the money actually lands. Update cash-flow with your new take-home pay, then report the change on any open assistance cases.

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