Two thousand, two hundred people are locked out of their jobs due to a contract dispute.
And, I am sure, a lot of people are very worried right now. The Holiday Season is just about to start – a time when many tend to spend more than they really can afford and any loss of income can feel like disaster has stricken. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Vicki Highfield’s husband is one of the 2200 who found locked doors when they went to work. Now, both are without a job. Vicki had quit hers a while back as part of a plan to build a homestead and become self-sufficient.
Jenise interviewed Vicki just a few weeks ago and we were introduced to their four year plan for self sufficiency. The goal was for her husband to also be able to quit his job. In four years. Not now. That episode was titled How to Live Happily Without a Job.
Well, Vicki and her husband got a much earlier then expected chance to see if their plan is working.
“It Pays To Be Prepared…”
Years ago my husband and I started our plans of being self-sufficient.
We both had full time jobs and spent the majority of our time making money for someone else. We were living, but didn’t have a life.
We paid down all of our debt, and as soon as we became debt free, I was able to quit my job to grow food for our home. We have an orchard started for our fruit needs, a garden large enough to feed us and sell the excess, and animals are in the plans for next year.
We learned how to barter and trade for needed items, so no money has to change hands. We recycle, reuse and re-purpose everything we can.
Our plans included my husband being finished with his job in the next three and a half years, but then the unthinkable happened. The company he works for had a contract dispute and locked out all of the employees in August of this year. Over 2,200 people are without their jobs, and many are panicking because their homes and cars are in danger of being repossessed. They cannot pay their credit card bills, or their utilities.
How are we doing? We are just fine. We have no outstanding debt and a freezer and cabinet full of enough food to last at least 6 months. Hunting season is coming, so we will be well stocked with meat.
Many of his co-workers have asked how we remain so calm during this trying time, and our answer is simple. We have what we need and are happy with what we have. We know how to take care of ourselves without the need for currency.
The local news did a story about the locked out workers, and my husband was interviewed by them as he sat outside of the company, asking for his job to be reinstated. We are still hoping that he and the 2,200 other people can get back to work soon, but if not, we will be okay.”
We are very happy that Vicki and her husband are doing okay. At the same time, we want to ask each and every one of you: Are you prepared? Would you do okay? What is your plan?
Please share your tips and your experiences weathering an unexpected change in income or life as we know it.
Vicki Highfield’s husband and a co- worker trying to get their jobs back
On this podcast you mentioned a documentary regarding marketing, and how we are made to believe we need products. What was the name of it?
I believe the documentary I cited was, “The Century of The Self.” It was a BBC documentary. It’s on Vimeo here: https://vimeo.com/10245146
It’s well-to-do for those that have the ability to become or try tp become prepared, whether it’s a back-up plan or the likes of beating out the rat race. But I find myself having a difficult time-often perplexed- figuring out what kind of people and where they stand/stood in life are able to do such things? Surely not everyone is going to be a CEO of a company with a small wad of playing money, nor can everyone be that individual who happened to finish college with an outstanding degree working a somewhat decent job with room for saving money. Even those that labor with higher pay, if all they did was work and exhaust their efforts just to put into a savings fund with interest- where’s the common person? Of course, anyone with a will and a way can achieve just about anything; but a dead-end burger joint career that leads to self sufficiency or close to it is very hard to fathom.
Of course, time is that which tells the tale. However, in a sense where becoming jobless out of nowhere hits, what’s to happen? One individual working day-in and day-out, for a job that’s at minimum wage or just above maybe, who rents a small apartment with bills to pay and groceries to provide and payments to make-loans, insurance, perhaps medical bills-finds out one day they don’t have a job.
That’s a lot to worry about.
There’s a lot of articles on “how-to” become self sufficient, and along the lines of how others have done it and a day-in-the-life-of. Even most if not all of the “how-to” ones never really delve into how-to, only what should be done and the marked obvious.
I have yet to find any writings on how your common lay person made it to living sufficiently or close to, how it’s done and the experience of transition.
My husband and I worked dead end jobs, none of us able to achieve more than a common labor job without special certifications-which excluded all driving opportunities. Our daughter is due in a month, and I had taken off because of the pregnancy. He had been working, and fell with Lyme disease and his fast-food employer kicked him to the curb, without regard to the details. So here we sit, 400$ due to live, no money left and without many luxuries most people would call necessary. Medical bills out the roof, loans that we had intended on paying off now piling up, and not a cent in any bank or savings accounts. The only change we lay claim to is a tithing jar.
So even if we were working, full-time 40+ hr jobs, the both of us, it would still take beyond years alone with survival in this side of sufficient living.
So if anyone has any idea of where these articles are at, please don’t hesitate to notify. Really, that was my main concern-finding such writings to read.
As far as living self sufficiently, I dread why it became so unnatural and inconvenient for others that it’s no longer a dream, but becoming a historical fad.
I enjoyed the article.
May,
I truly wish that your husband will recover soon and that all is well with you and your baby.
As far as answers. I don’t think there is one answer which fits for everyone and it sounds that you are in need of help. Hopefully, either your state or your community/churches can and will help you.
I recommend to check out this episode with Carl http://184.154.247.208/~sustajo7/live-without-bills/ He has a lot of information on his YouTube channel and his blog on living bill free. And he has done it and helped many others.
It is very hard to do this as a single person or a small family. The people we have interviewed often have chosen to live in community or at least come together and work towards the common goal.
http://184.154.247.208/~sustajo7/the-venus-project/
Diana has lived in an intentional community for a long time and wrote books on how to do this succesfully
http://184.154.247.208/~sustajo7/1258-2/
All the best to you.