November is here!! The holiday season is upon us. I am sorry, but I had to take a break, my job was ending and my birthday was coming. Now, both are gone. I am back on the lookout for another position. Hopefully, not short term again, and I have 11 months to another Birthday. I think of it as a personal reboot. What does one do, when they have to job hunt during the holidays? Well, mostly pray and hope that a position comes that will cover their finances through the holiday season. Since I have moved to the DC area, I have had a few holiday seasons where money was very tight or I was unemployed. They weren’t the best holidays ever, but, they weren’t the worst. If you are like me, you visit family during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. Well, if you are unemployed, you may not be able to travel or, you may just pick one holiday. It is nice, if you can get your family to visit you, but, entertaining on a budget may be too difficult. When money is tight, I usually just pick Christmas to visit my mother. Also, I drive to Michigan, instead of flying. However, this depends on the price of gas. There have been times when driving and flying cost the same amount. Another method of travel is Greyhound (www.greyhound.com). I know, the bus sounds unpleasant. But, it isn’t the same as it used to be. The seats an atmosphere are more comfortable, and they even have Wi-fi. A refundable roundtrip ticket from Maryland to Detroit is $230. That isn’t that bad. My only other traveling expense is parking, and if I take the Maryland train (MARC) and pay for a roundtrip train ticket, I don’t have to pay for parking. And, you probably won’t find a flight that cheap. Also, I can work on my blog along the way home and back. The next issue for a Frugal Diva during the holidays is gifts. Obviously, if you are unemployed, your gift list is not going to be very long. Also, many people will get cards instead of gifts. Well, at least in my case. Also, I have noticed that the gifts that I do purchase when I am unemployed tend to be more thoughtful, because I really have to look at what I am purchasing. I don’t want to buy someone a gift when I am unemployed and it turns out to be something that they re-gift, or “accidentally” throw away. It is funny how that works, isn’t it. The first year that I was unemployed, I went to Tuesday morning and I bought two very nice baskets, tissue paper, bath salts, soap, tea (in festive tins), English Biscuits, candy and spa robes (I got lucky). The baskets were medium sized, well made and could be used to make a gift basket or centerpiece. I also purchased clear and colored saran wrap. The local grocery store had red and green for the holidays. I also went to TJ Maxx and Ross to purchase, slippers, lotions and eye masks. I packed all of my items in my car and I drove to Detroit. I assembled my gifts when I got to my destination. The benefit of making my own baskets was that I was able to decide what items went into them and I was able to stay under $150. My biggest expenses were the basket ($7 – 12.99) and the robes ($10-15). The other items ranged between ($2 – 10). Looking back, it sounded like a well planned strategy. But, at the time, I was making decisions on the fly to stretch my money as far as possible. It all worked out, but I didn’t know that it would at the time. The only thing that I did know then is that I had Frugal Diva skills. I still don’t know what I am going to do this year. I am hoping that I will get a job during this 2nd week of November and I won’t have to worry about unemployment.
