What Not to Wear in Unemployment

Now that you’re no longer office-bound, your closet is calling to you with its range of options. You’re giddy over the possibilities (suit no longer required? no matter! how about gym clothes!). But before your wardrobe fantasy goes too far, we have some advice.

Here’s what not to wear in unemployment. Unless, of course, you plan on remaining unemployed.

Traveling Tight: Don’t Get Fleeced by Currency Conversion Fees

Money’s tight. So every penny counts when you’re on the road…

Psst. You may be incurring up to 3% in currency-conversion fees when you travel abroad every time you use your credit card. In recent years, banks have started piling fees right on top of the standard 1% fee that Visa and MasterCard charge for foreign purchases. Why? Because they think you’re too jet-lagged to notice.

Productive Loafing: Get on Board

Underemployed? Recessionwire offers weekly ideas for being productive with your newfound free time. First up, joining the board of a nonprofit organization.

Downturn Deals: Dining’s ‘Winter Specials’

Now appearing discreetly in leather-bound menus all over New York City: “winter specials,” which offer five-star dining at surprisingly reasonable prices.

We all know they’re just dressed-up “recession specials,” but upscale eateries don’t seem ready to embrace the R word yet. That’s fine. Whatever you want to call them, here are five of the best high-end meal deals in Manhattan.

Love in the Time of Layoff: Honey, They Shrunk My Job

Ten in the morning and the phone rings. Marco’s voice sounds wrong. “Are you ok?” I ask. “Not really,” he says. And in the next breath, he shares the news. “I just got laid off.”

Silence on my end. Shock, dread, then sudden relief. At least he hasn’t been hurt, or told me that someone died. But wait—this is really, really bad news. Laid off. Laid off. What kind of phrase is that anyway? How are we going to make it on just my freelance income? How will we buy that stroller for the as-yet nonexistent kid we’ve been trying to have? Does this mean I have to learn to cook? Mortgage payments. Utility bills. All I can muster is a lame “Oh. My. God.” And later, “I love you.”

Nearly Free Art

Many of us are spending more time in our homes just as we have less to spend on our homes. Happily, there are creative ways to spiff up your walls without breaking out the college posters. Here, four works of art that practically cost pennies.