so…if we are going into a recession…how best to we prepare for it?

This very weekend my wife and I are going through ALL our expenses. We are not rich people.

We are starting with the prudent assumption that at least one of us probably could lose our job during next eighteen months due to lay offs.

We are cutting out every non-essential housing expense from Sat TV, to expensive foods, to not using the AC. I’m embarrassed to write that it took fear of recession for me to finally this weekend replace every incandescent light in the house with low-power compact florescent bulbs. I should have done that years ago!

I’m starting to ride bike to the snail rail (Silicon Valley’s lame mass transit) then ride that to work each day instead of drive. It was costing me $350/month to drive to work.

Fortunately we are NONtypical Americans in that we: 1) have NO DEBT load, except for a $800/mnth mortgage payment for our China home. 2) Don’t have a big fat USA mortgage payment; we rent. 3) Dual-income earning family.

Our personal challenge is that we have only some cash easily accessible in our bank accounts; the rest is locked in ROTH and 401K.

I believe CA max unemployment payment is about $1800/month, assuming your salary prior to lay off was high enough.