During YALSA’s October echat on advocacy, there was a lot of discussion about how the economy is having an impact on the advocacy efforts of teen librarians. (Chat participants remarked on difficulties in gaining sponsorships for programs as a result of limited funds within the community.) I’d been thinking prior to the chat about another way that the economy is having an impact on teen librarians – their own finances.
I thought it could be useful to provide some resources to YALSA blog readers to help in managing finances .
The National Foundation for Credit Counseling provides many useful resources on their website including:
- A budget worksheet that helps keep track, on a monthly basis, of spending. It includes tracking everything from net income per month, to credit card payments, to spending on entertainment. Even if you aren’t concerned about the impact of the economy on your own finances, this could prove to be a useful tool for keeping track of spending.
- An article that does a very good job in providing insight into how to “survive job loss.” The article includes information on being smart about everything from managing emotions to credit card spending to getting counseling and support in finding a new job.
- An article that provides tips on how to survive a recession and covers information on making yourself invaluable at work and managing debt.
Along with the above three resources, the National Education Association’s Member Benefits web site includes an article titled Recovering in a Financial Crisis. The second page of the article, in particular, provides good information on managing credit and breaks the information down into categories based on where someone is in a career cycle – just starting out, mid-career, or pre-retirement/retirement.
Have you found any resources that have been useful in managing your finances during the economic downturn and that you think would be useful to YALSA blog readers? If so, add them in the comments section.
