Love in the Time of Layoff: Sugar Mama Days

“Let’s stop and get bakery,” he said. I closed the refrigerator, leaving behind the eggs and fruit we might have eaten. We got in my car and drove to the roadside cafe.

I ordered a blueberry muffin; he ordered a cheese-filled croissant. The total was $6. I paid.

He hadn’t even made a move for his wallet. And it wasn’t the first time.

Six months ago, I was laid off from a job I loved and a salary I really, really loved (you would, too). I left with a nice little pile of severance and had accumulated a substantial 401K. My savings were okay, too. But I was single. It makes a difference, it turns out.

When I met Sugar Boy, he was very clear: He was a dog-walker; he was a painter…

Screwed: 1,400 at Siemens AG

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s partial total: 4,400

German manufacturer Siemens AG plans to eliminate another 1,400 positions… Avon Products Inc. will be cutting its overall work force by 1,200 in the coming years… Pratt & Whitney may close down operations in Connecticut, laying off 1,000 workers in the process… Gov. John Lynch of New Hampshire warns of 750 state layoffs that are planned to begin in September… Hardinge Inc. will layoff 50 workers from its facility in Horseheads…

Recession Briefing 7.23

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

The recession is changing the makeup of homelessness in America to include more families and more people in suburbs and rural areas. (Christian Science Monitor)

How does one sell a $35,000 watch in the middle of this recession? (Wall Street Journal)

Could you live on zero dollars a day? In Utah, a modern-day caveman has lived for the better part of a decade that way. (GQ)

10 Tips for Learning to Cook from Scratch

Two years ago I could go for days without setting foot in my kitchen. Work had taken over my life, and I didn’t even make coffee for myself. I had lots of nice things—four sizes of pots, skillets, a stock pot, a wok, baking sheets, pie plates, a slow cooker, a rice cooker, a bread maker, a KitchenAid mixer—but they were just crowding my kitchen.

While fantasizing about a balanced life, I read the book Apartment Therapy by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan. To get the most out of your living space, it advises cooking at least one meal a week at home. So one evening I invited a friend over for dinner, thinking: How hard can it be to make pork chops? My friend, who was raised in Italy and can make gnocchi from scratch, said the pork chop was fine even though it tasted like shoe leather. I was mortified and vowed to change.

So I was lucky—when it became necessary to cut back on my expenses, I was already cooking a few basic dinners a week. Now I take lunch to work, do takeout even less and watch my ingredient costs. Right now a lot of people are considering cooking to save money, and I’m pretty sure many are in the same boat as I was: starting from scratch skills-wise and cursed with a rarefied palate from so much eating out. Here are ten tips I learned along the way…

Signs of the Recession: Mystery 101

Everyone is wondering who is behind the billboards that are popping up all over the country, from Times Square to I95 in Providence. Well, we’re not telling.

The campaign, which is oh so Upside of the Downturn, features slogans like, “”Self worth is greater than net worth” and “Stop obsessing about economy, you’re scaring the children.” The Associated Press says some mysterious and deep-pocketed East Coaster is to thank for the Recession 101 PSAs. They started appearing in June and are in 1,000 spots around the U.S.

We have some ideas…

Work Off Your Costs

These days it might not be easy to find the cash to pay all your monthly expenses, from rent to membership fees. Yes, you can negotiate for lower rates, but there are also ways to create your own discounts—with a little labor.

According to the Times, many landlords have started shaving hundreds off rent for tenants willing help out with tasks like changing lightbulbs and taking out the building’s trash. But these “super-tenants” aren’t the only ones getting discounts on their monthly costs. Across the country, more and more companies are letting their favorite clients handle work exchange for taking money off the dues and fees they’d otherwise be paying.

And why not? Everyone’s a winner, since the company gets a free service and the customer gets a discount on dues. Wondering what kind of businesses are up for letting you volunteer your time in exchange for a better rate? A few ideas:

Landlords
Whether you volunteer to pick up packages for other tenants or work as a weekend handyman—there’s no limit to the services you can offer to take over for your building’s landlord…

Screwed: 750 at Kimberly-Clark

A daily review of the employment fallout around the country and the world.

Today’s partial total: 1,680

Kimberly-Clark is laying off 750 employees, 600 of which volunteered… Carlisle Tire and Wheel is closing its plant in Cumberland County, PA, putting 340 jobs at risk… Buckeye Partners plans to layoff 260 employees… Belden is closing its Massachusetts plant and plans to layoff 170 plant employees… Gemini Manufacturing Corp. plans to layoff 81 workers… Erica Lyons plans to close its Miami facility and layoff 75 workers…US Airways is set to layoff 34 employees at General Mitchell International Airport…

Recession Briefing 7.22

What you need to know today to survive and thrive in the recession.

An iPhone app that feeds into recession rage? The idea in the “Squash the $treet” video game is to squash as many “shady bankers, creepy fraudsters and corrupt CEOs” as you can — for cash. (CNBC)

Who is behind the Recession 101 ad campaign? It has to be someone who would profit from people getting their minds off the recession. (New York/Daily Intel)

The poor economy is taking a toll even on the dead, with an increasing number of bodies in Los Angeles County going unclaimed by families who cannot afford to bury or cremate their loved ones. (Los Angeles Times)

Bailouts Are for Bullies

Asked why the federal government refuses to bailout CIT, a major small-business lender on the brink of bankruptcy, a Treasury Department flack told MSNBC last week that “even during periods of financial stress, we believe that there is a very high threshold for exceptional government assistance to individual companies.”

That didn’t prevent perennial overachievers like Bank of America, American Express, AIG, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, GM, Bank of New York Mellon, U.S. Bancorp, Northern Trust — wait, there’s still more — State Street, BB&T, and Capital One Financial from collectively receiving hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars last fall.

What gives? The Obama Administration keeps touting small business as the engine of private-sector job growth so crucial to the nation’s economic recovery. CIT — which received $2.3 billion in TARP funds in December — has a million clients with some $6 billion in credit lines, all for small and midsize businesses that are now tapping these funds for every penny. Maybe that’s peanuts compared to the $600 billion fall of the Lehman Brothers, which federal officials now openly regret not saving from bankruptcy — economists estimate the collapse cost the nation as many as two million jobs. That’s a lot of jobs, but nothing compared to the 120 million Americans who …

Young Jeezy’s Next — “The Recovery”?

Unlike the Great Depression, the Great Recession hasn’t produced quite the same amount of artistic output. Remember “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime”? We’ve still mainly got lots of dimes. Even dollars (oners, natch). Or, “Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries”? Despite the “forgotten, silent crowd,” the recession hasn’t really required everyone to throw one’s hands up and “laugh at it all.”

So we’ve got Young Jeezy’s “The Recession,” which was released last year. In it, he raps about tough times paying bills and getting work. And we don’t think that’s going to change even in the Recovery.