Michelle Singletary at The Washington Post had this column on June 12: Staying out of the red despite the pink slip.

A snippet:

Many folks facing a job loss don’t move fast enough to cut expenses. People waste money on high cellphone bills or allow their teens to continue texting. Only after the paychecks stop do they panic and begin to cut.

As soon as you know that job is gone, whether you get one minute’s notice or two weeks’ notice, you have to cut back.

Why? When you do start working again, there’s going to be a delay before you see your first paycheck. There’s also a wait time for your first unemployment check. You have to make the available money last as long as possible.

On one occasion, when my husband was laid off, my family kept our plans to see a show at the IMAX theater at The Henry Ford. We had ordered the cinema tickets when he was working. Whether we went to the show or not, we had to pay for the tickets.

But we didn’t make that trip an entire day spent at the museum complex – like we planned. We had not yet bought the museum tickets. That potential expense got crossed off our list real quick.