COVID-19 has disrupted virtually every aspect of life today. In addition to the health burden, the economy has suffered a significant hit, causing millions of businesses to either shut down or operate under a reduced capacity. According to the international labor organization, out of the 3.3 billion workers globally, 1.6 billion in the informal economic sector have suffered massively in their ability to earn a living. Chances are that you also have been adversely affected financially in one way or another. Losing a job during this time can significantly destabilize your life and throw you off balance. Recovering from such a challenge can be even tougher. Here are some tips on how to quickly recover after losing your job due to COVID-19

Avoid panic and do a self-assessment

If you have lost a job or your income due to COVID-19, the tendency to become mentally stressed is quite high. Losing a livelihood at such a tough time can easily throw you off the financial balance leading to emotional stress and social distress. The first thing to do is to take a deep breath and relax and avoid, as much as possible, the stress that may come with such a loss.

Rather than contemplating the loss, you should take this time to conduct a financial assessment seeking to understand your financial position. The assessment will allow you to get a clearer picture of how much investment you have made that could sustain your cash flow, how much savings you have and any liabilities. Getting your financial position is crucial to your ability to live comfortably and within your means even as you contemplate of the next move.

Apply for state or federal aid

The federal government, as well as different states in the country, runs various employment benefits programs. These programs are primarily targeted at cushioning workers who have lost their jobs against the financial burden thereafter. Checking out with your state and the federal government may help ensure that you apply for any relevant aid that may come in handy in easing your life. Some states do offer a considerable monthly stipend to help support your comfortable living.

Restrategize financially

After suffering a job loss due to COVID-19, you should focus on restrategizing your finances. When restrategizing, your primary goal should be to reduce as many unnecessary expenses as possible. Re-evaluating your daily, weekly, and monthly expenses can help you identify unnecessary bills and terminate or defer them. For instance, you may consider canceling your unnecessary monthly subscriptions, switching to low-cost utility plans, doing your groceries on a wholesale purchase basis and maximizing on cooking at home rather than eating out. These strategies will go a long way to cut your monthly expenses.

Negotiate your bills

In the spirit of minimizing your expenses as much as possible, you should endeavor to negotiate your monthly bills to keep them as minimal as possible. If you have a pre-existing loan, you may contemplate engaging the lender to restructure your repayments. Some of the options that you may pursue include getting a loan deferment until the economy improves. Should you have an existing mortgage, you may also contemplate engaging your bank to consider you for loan forbearance. Lastly, you may also want to negotiate with your landlord to get a few months of rent waived off your monthly payments.

Tuck your savings safely

Although the economy is gradually coming back, no one knows for how long things will be on a go-slow. Besides, you are probably not sure of when you will secure your next job. The safest and most recommendable thing to do at the moment is to tuck your savings away in your bank account. These savings may come in handy in the future should the current situation get even worse.

Contemplate your new move

The lockdown and stay-at-home orders should be an opportunity for you to contemplate your next move. With the economy on a slowdown, it will take some time before new employers come up to offer you a job opportunity. In case you were employed somewhere before you lost your job, this would be the best time to think of self-employment opportunities rather than looking for a new job altogether. You may also want to take this time to learn something new and improve your skills. Taking advantage of the web to undertake some online courses would help you gain some competency that will help you regain control of your situation much faster.