How to stretch your money when you are unemployed !

The unemployment assurance, or “chômage” in French, pays 80 percent of your last earned salary. During this period, you must start looking after your funds effectively. Here are some tips on how to do this.

Unfortunately, the bills will continue to come in. Start by writing down a list of all your monthly expenses. For example:

• Rent,
• Parking,
• Health insurance (obligatory for all the family),
• Mobile phones,
• Cantonal tax,
• Federal tax,
• Fixed telephone and internet costs,
• Credit cards (pay the minimum required on a monthly basis). A recommendation is that if you receive a severance package when you leave the company, it is better to pay off your credit cards and don’t use them until your financial situation improves,
• Loans  payments (for example if you bought a car),
• Other transport costs, such as fuel or public transport,
• Food shopping budget (generally around CHF 600 per month).

Some other fixed costs include the family’s pocket money.

Once you have done a list of all your monthly fixed expenses, deduct them from the total amount you receive from the unemployment assurance. Then, you will be able to budget for other non-monthly expenses.

Non-monthly expenses include:

• Civil responsibility insurance policy (once a year),
• Car registration tax (Office Cantonal des Automobiles et de la Navigation),
• Electricity bills (Services Industriels de Genève), which is payable three times per year,
• Car Insurance policy (twice a year),
• Billag television and radio tax (due every three months).

Once you have the total amount of these non-monthly expenses, you will need to make a monthly provision for them.

For example, to make an annual payment, take the total amount and divide by 12. In this way you will ensure that you will have the funds available to make the payment.

These provisional funds for future payments should not be touched!

An easy way to budget for all these expenses is to use an excel sheet. For those who are not familiar with it, this website provides an excellent introduction.

How to stretch your money, when buying at the supermarket:

Firstly, it is a good idea to do a weekly menu. Start with the base foods; those that last a long time and are cheap, which include rice, pasta (spaghetti, elbow macaroni, etc.), and potatoes.

Spices and seasonings, such onions, garlic, coriander, scallions, salt and sugar, are good too.

Salads include carrots, tomatoes, and lettuce (as they are sometimes expensive, so buy the ones that comes already mixed).

Meat: Chicken pieces packaged in bulk in plastic-coated trays (breasts, legs and thighs). Ground beef, meat, fish and pork, can change price, so shop around.

Fruits: Fruits in season are cheaper. As always, look out for stock on special at the supermarket.

For breakfast: eggs, sausage, cheese, flour, bread, marmalade, jam, jelly, butter, coffee, milk, and cereals.

To compare prices before buying, the two main supermarket chains in Geneva each have their own weekly newspaper in which they advertise products on sale.

Check also the products that you have in storage, and make a list before buying. There are also some things that if you buy in bulk can be very cheap, such as toilet paper, hand soap, deodorant, shampoo, tooth paste, laundry products, cleaning products, and others canned goods.

Good luck with creating and stretching your budget. The first step is always the hardest, but good budget planning will help you in the long-term.

If you have any other ideas, we welcome your comments.