Sven, a 34-year-old former Microsoft contract worker, spent last week trying to jog more. This week, with his unemployment benefits about to run out, he’s focusing on how to save more.
While I was working at the woodshop yesterday, I asked my friend how much he thought I could get for my PlayStation2. “I’m not using it anymore, not even to watch movies,” I said. “So I was thinking about selling it on CraigsList.” We talked about whether I’d include any of the games I had or sell them separately, what kind of controllers I had with them, and then we finally came up with a price that seemed reasonable: $80. This is something I plan to do this week—though, since deciding to sell off the PlayStation, I’ve occasionally thought that I might be making a mistake.
I’m more worried about the losing things that make be happy. Also: if I still need money later on, do I suck it up and sell my DVDs, too? My CDs? All of the books in my bookcase? My late-grandfather’s (admitted poorly kept) heirloom furniture? My tools? My grandmother’s china? These are all things for which I could get a decent amount of money. But I know I’d regret (in different degrees) losing everything that I’ve just listed.
Still, it needs to be done. Though I’m picking up any hours that the woodshop can offer me, and am (at least for one more week) still getting my unemployment insurance from the state, I need the extra cash. The thing is I feel like I’ve cut as much fat from my monthly bills as I can manage. I still have internet access in my apartment because it makes job searching easier (and yes, cable comes with it, but that’s only because it’s actually cheaper for me to have the cable/internet bundle). But I’ve trimmed a few more dollars from my cellular phone bill by reducing my texting plan, and I already keep my gas and electric usage as small as possible. I buy groceries more than I eat out now. (And, in either case, restaurants and QFC are within easy walking distance, which saves a little money for gasoline.)
I’m also making myself stick to a budget. This is much harder than it needs to be, as most of the jobs that I’ve had in recent years have paid me well enough to safely count on my bank balance to be high—which got me used to not having to check my balance on a regular basis. I understand that this was not a responsible way to deal with money. I’m learning a hard lesson, and learning it very well. Hopefully this lesson sticks with me.
Have an unemployment story to share? Write to jobless@thestranger.com.
Die, Microsoft, Die.
Cable TV??
The sense of entitlement here is disgusting. If this guy were really hurting, he’d cut the Web and cable–bundle or not– and the cellphone (Reduced the texting plan? What the fuck.). And, boo hoo, he has to shop at QFC. Oh, no! No more Whole Foods.
Believe me: life can get worse.
What a sob story.
Oh, the travails of the truly disadvantaged: “Must I sell my Playstation? Oh, woe is me.”
So, this guy’s unemployment benefits are about to run out and NOW he thinks about saving money?
You. Sad. Bastard.
You haven’t even begun to feel the burn.
The possessions- unless they make money, they go.
Reducing your texting? Puh-lease.
The library has free internet. and cable? Cable?
and don’t get me started about the food. You still eat out? on unemployment?
Yeah normally I’m pretty sympathetic to this kind of story but I’m not feeling this one. It reads more as a tale of American excess than a tale of American woe. Perhaps the one good thing to come out of this mess is the realization that we’ve just got too much shit.
*posts to slog mobile from an iPhone*
OH, CHRIST. You people are assholes.
A few years ago, I was unemployed for 7 long months. While it’s important to cut expenses where possible, it’s also important to keep things around that make you happy. Being without a job is depressing – if eating out here and there makes you happy, then do it.
Just an FYI stories like this are why some people are still republicans.
I’m not excusing such idiocy or ignoring that the top 1% live like kings regardless, but if you have to sell all of your dumb worthless products because your unemployment insurance ran out, you weren’t saving enough.
One last thing: there is plent of henious shit going down that’s way worse than eating easy mac and not playing video games. Please report on that.
I don’t think Chastity had a Playstation or texting 🙁
I actually agree with him. I have been working only part time for a year while supporting my unemployed girlfriend and trying to go to college. The job market sucks and both of us fill out countless applications and go on many interviews only to find the jobs have been filled. It sucks.
Does the fact that I am sad to think about selling my COACH bags I bought during better financial times make me some sort of entitled asshole? Does the fact that I feel bad about my stupid $19.99 Go Phone while people upload picture onto Flickr from their iPhones make me unfeeling towards the homeless?
I think not. I think most of these comments miss the point. Oh and talking about another persons excess in a comment on a blog you go to from the INTERNET? Is excessive all in itself. If you have a problem with entitlement why don’t some of you cut back on your own internet service and donate your laptops to an inter-city school.
I resonated with what he said.
Hey Sven. Don’t listen to these guys. (Unless you want to.) Selling your stuff won’t pay off, except maybe to convince lazy Slog commenters that you’re really trying. However, switching from QFC to Trader Joe’s will net you better, less rotting-on-the-shelves food and save a ton of money. The Seattle Public Library is an utterly amazing resource, for more than I ever even suspected. Internet networking must be the chance to build bartering networks and cheap fun networks, if not jobs right at this moment. Free podcasts can get you through the #@*(& workout.
Yes, the fact that he talks about his “gas usage” means that he has a house…and the fact that he’s a “woodworker” probably means he lives in someplace ritzy like Snohomish or Issaquah…suburban-rural areas where homes are still $500,000 plus.
#13: That is incredibly ignorant. There is at least one large woodshop near Ballard. Oh, and this may be a shock to you, but some one-bedroom apartments in Seattle are heated with gas.
All you haters that leave this guy these judgemental comments have too much time on your hands. Personally, I think insulting someone while hiding behind a computer screen is for cowards.
Ok, #14, let’s let Sven tell us.
Does he live in a humble one bedroom apartment in Ballard with a (rare) gas burning fireplace…
OR…
A four bedroom home with hardwood floors, a two car garage with an SUV and sailboat and in Issaquah??
@11: Well said. The bitter patrons of the politics of resentment would have us believe that any grief one might feel over losing an ultimately trivial luxury is equivalent to loudly proclaiming “let them eat cake!”
And well said, again, when you point out that those who complain about “entitlement” by-and-large feel entitled to things to which they are not. Like, for instance, commenting on the internet.
What a bunch of assholes.
@ Sven and others who’ve been brave enough to share their stories on Slog,
Please know that for every one of the worthless jackholes who post idiotic comments about how your life isn’t austere enough, there’s some of us who are hoping for the best for you and for your success.
@13: So you’re telling me the back side of Capitol Hill, where I’m around the corner from a wood shop, is actually Issaquah? I HAD NO IDEA.
If you’d been following the series you’d know he rents a studio apartment in Cap Hill that raised the rent $300 three months into being unemployed. And why would you begrudge him working in a wood shop when his friend is just trying to help him earn a buck? Isn’t that the fucking point?
Though I do think maybe, he could have saved money months ago by selling things or not living the lifestyle he’d become accustomed to, that’s not for me to say. Sometimes our lessons are hard learned. But those are the ones that stick with us the most.
It’s OFFICIALY official. Slog is tired, boring, and mean. What’s the point of posting these, again, Eli?
Wow. Most of you people are assholes.
@19: Thank you for saying that.
Seriously, to those who’ve sent your stories in under the “unemployment” banner: I may not endorse every decision you’ve made, nor felt particular sympathy about certain budget cuts you’ve had to make. All the same, this recession is about the fickleness of the American model of gain. My sympathy lies with those who can learn to recognize the problems, and not with those who wish to spit on its victims.
Man, why doesn’t this guy turn off his cell phone and leave himself without a contact number for potential employers to reach him? Listen Joe Millionaire, if you can afford to pay 40 bucks a month for a frivolous thing like phone service, why don’t you keep your complaints to yourself?
Stupid Tools Who Swallow It Whole – 1
Assholes Who Ask Simple Questions – 0
That settles it.
Seattle really is for the Tools.
Reasons to keep Internet for someone who’s in the tech industry:
1. Training. You can’t stay in the library for 15 hours job searching and doing self training. You can though go to the library to check out books on various subject matters in the tech industry (XML, Silverlight, Flash, Javascript, Java, C#, ASP.NET, SQL, UML, tech methodologies)
2. Scrap the cell phone and get vonage or use Skype for calls. Saves you money on the cell phone bill. Or get the GoPhone from At&T. use it only for important calls, if you need to do phone interviews use Skype or Vonage or some cheap alternative to land line calls while using VOIP
@27: Yeah, replace your phone with your laptop. Slightly cheaper and and twenty times the volume and mass! Yay! You should do it!
You’re absolutely correct @3, the sense of entitlement around here – as exhibited by a pack of self-absorbed asswipes who think their ability to anonymously berate the lifestyle choices of the recently unemployed makes them somehow important – truly is disgusting.
Why do I get the feeling you’d still be verbally jackbooting this guy in the groin even if he did take your advice and completely divest himself of every worldly possession, just to satisfy your smug sanctimony?
Hope you never end up in similar circumstances, because I’d hate to have to sully my steel-toed Dickies by inserting them into your nether regions – only by way of imparting a lesson in economic relativity, of course.
@12 for the win with really useful advice.
Oh, Fred Meyer is cheaper for some things and so is Safeway.
@3 A cell phone is harder to get out of than one may think. If he just renewed his contract, it could be quite costly to get out of it, with money he doesn’t have.
And, cable will lead to a shitty reconnect fee when if its cancelled, worth 1-3 months of the bill when used.
Yeah, a little uncalled-for harshness. That said, I think what got people riled up was this line:
“I buy groceries more than I eat out now.”
I mean, sweet Jesus. The only excuse for that line is if he actually means cunnilingus, in which case it’s mildly depressing but not obnoxiously entitled. Or obnoxiously entitled in a different way, maybe.
Anyway, point is, plenty of people go their whole lives buying groceries more than they eat out, and wouldn’t dream of eating out while unemployed (with obvious exceptions like a lunch interview or whatever).
Or, to follow up with an analogy, imagine an unemployed New Yorker saying something like “I take the subway more than I take cabs now.” And it’s like, holy fuck, really? Most people take the subway more than they take cabs. Cabs are nice, but for someone with lots of time and not much money, they make no fucking sense whatsoever. 0% is how often you should be taking cabs.
Likewise with restaurants. It just goes without saying that an unemployed person shouldn’t be making the money/time tradeoffs that restaurant eating implies.
Again, all apologies if “eating out” means oral sex. I too buy groceries more than I eat out, and it’s no way to live.
You mean I can’t eat out at all of the fine Tom Douglass eateries once I lose my job? What do you mean? Next you’ll be telling me that Prada and Gucci aren’t needed while I am unemployed as well.
Internets a luxury now? Seriously? I have been jobless for over 2 months, and if I didn’t have the internet I would go stir crazy. The internet also makes job searching easier, and I can check my email a few times a day which I often need to. Not just once when I go to the library. And I’m gonna say it, you can’t watch pornz at the library. And everyone knows the internet is for porn.
This MIGHT be about entitlement, in the fact that every American deserves the dignity of a fucking job and paycheck they can live off of, and a lot of people don’t have that right now, and there’s no relief. So I think someone is entitled to bitch about losing something so insignificant as a playstation 2 if that brings them a little fucking joy or relief from this fucked up world.
and sorry, I meant to say every PERSON not every American…. but that’s a whole different ballgame.
God what a bunch of assholes these stories are bringing out. The tragedy of the comments continues.
I’m with Original Andrew @19.
For the majority of you idiots…things to think about:
A phone is essential for getting employment. Lot’s of folks do not have landlines anymore. So yes, that means a cell.
The internet is essential for seeking employment these days (hello? death of the newspapers: no fucking classifieds!) and basically essential for dealing with the unemployment office. And yes, Comcast really is making it cheaper to have basic cable wrapped in with internet (they’re frantic to get new subscribers). A very underemployed friend is getting cable TV for the first time in her life because it’s about $10 per month cheaper than stand alone cable.
The nearest library branch to me is a bus ride away and my monthly internet is less than a bus pass, so going to the library would not only be a highly inefficient use of time, it would not represent a cost savings. I can’t be the only person for whom this is true.
@ 34, your joke is old and poorly told
@38, not as old as the head cheese around your cock’s head.
Yeah, the venom here shows that the world is filled with judgmental assholes. I’m guessing that Sven now realizes that he should have saved more and spent less on things. The best things in life are not things. Anyway, sorry about your predicament, Sven.
To everyone getting pissed at the commenters….at least my comments…notice I never mentioned the cell phone or the internet service.
My comments were regarding his bemoaning the lost of his playstation and having to *gasp* shop at QFC (the most expensive grocery store this side of whole foods). Yes, a cell phone and internet ARE mandatory, but cable TV is not (he’s full of shit about cable being cheaper to add on, and it costs extra. That’s like saying the super big gulp is cheaper than the 16oz because it costs less per ounce). Neither is text messaging. Your new boss isn’t going to text you the job offer. Whining about having to cut a useless monthly charge like that is complete entitlement.
Having to sell your shit and reduce your standard of living is terrible, and we should be pissed as hell at the jerkoff rpublicans and asshat wallstreeters who got us into this mess, but i’m not really feeling to sorry for Sven at this point, that’s all.
People actually feel “bad” for having a no-frills phone rather than a phone that can upload photos to Flickr? Seriously? I generally reserve feelings of badness for, say, ignoring my mother’s calls or kicking homeless kittens.
I gotta say that internet phone services might be a good idea if he really gets into a pinch, especially since he already has a computer and existing internet service. What’s up with the idea that more “volume and mass” is bad when you’re poor? (Again: He *already* has a computer!)
Perhaps people should focus on saving, budgeting, and being frugal BEFORE the unemployment money even gets spent. We are all in this shit together so let’s not waste resourses better spent.
You have got to be kidding me. Sven is only now snapping that he doesn’t have resources (a.k.a. money)?
I hated growing up Mormon for lots of reasons but I’ll tell you, I know how to budget and plan.
Even though it isn’t a joyride, you can indeed live on minmum wage for a while (even in Seattle) but you have to know what you are doing.
Redefine essential costs as being only: rent, food, medical and savings— you save some money no matter how much you bring in or pay out. It’s the discipline you are establishing more than the cash value. Entertainment and “fun” are free things everywhere around you.
Plan ahead Sven, PLAN.
I just want to point out that Sven is not me. Whoever brought up Issaquah is conflating the two of us. *I* live in Issaquah, though I don’t have an SUV. And I’m not 34- unfortunately. Sven the unemployed ex-Microsofter is some other guy, and I don’t think he lives in Issaquah.
All you people that want Sven to sit in a dark skid row tenement, eating dog food? You people suck. How about a little fucking compassion? Yes, this guy’s life could be worse. So fucking what? We all could live in Bangladesh, and make $300/year. We all want to try to make our lives a little less painful, whatever our circumstances.
Ugh, well Eli, I have been enjoying this series. I’m unemployed and it’s been helpful to hear survival stories from other people. But it seems like whenever one of these stories is posted, the angry villagers with their torches come out. Some of these posters are acting as though they have a right to tell the poor sap how to live, eat, spend their unemployment $. All I have to say is unless you’re self-employed, you’re next.
good luck dumbass selling your old ps2 on craigslist for $80; you can buy them re-furbished at the store for $40. no wonder your ass is unemployed. you need to suck it up and realize that you’re one of the unintelligent failures of america who will be working at drive-thrus and serving me my coffee for the rest of your life. now quit leeching off unemployment and shine my shoes.
@27, etc (including OPSven) – the 3rd cool thing about the library is on spl.org. Under Browse, click on Digital Books & Media, and you can get to a sh*t ton of books online, including the entire Safari Online catalog (for tech stuff – great for anyone trying to homegrow some new skills with minimal $) and Idiot’s Guides. It’s all free if you have a library card, 24×7.
some great tips on here for saving cash and getting by, if you don’t mind reading past all the haters hating on the other haters. SPL is an amazing resource, as a few posters have pointed out.
The reality is – if you are unemployed, and JUST figuring out that you have to buy groceries now, you have a long way to go to get to self-sufficiency. Which suits the rest of us survivors just fine…
Two words: grocery outlet
(http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safar…)