<prompt> Human: Hey guys, I just got laid off from my job making 110kyear. Sole earner for family, wife, 3 kids. I have a little bit of runway to look for another job but I am looking for sound advice because I cant think straight right now and my wife is more hysterical than me.I have 150k mortgage on a 350k home, payments 1360month. 0 credit card debt, cars are paid off older one worth 3k and newer one worth 25k, but I have 19k on a home equity loan with variable interest rate 4.25. Min payment is interest only 70month which is what Im going to start paying now.What Ive been averaging:600month groceries300month preschool fee ends in May190month car insurance for 2 cars100month phones150month utilities100month internetTVNetflix80month gasAnother 200-300 miscellaneous but will cut back on this stuff nowI have 14.5k cash and could burn through that money if I cant find a job in several months. I also have 90k in 401k that I can withdraw with the penalty if it gets really bad. So how crazy is it? I need phoneinternet to look for a job. But do I pull my kid from preschool and go into hermit mode? Cancel TV and Netflix which is only 10month. Think about selling a car? Let the mortgage bank know and talk about changing terms? Also, thinking about next job, do I hold out for six figure job or just take whatever which I really dont want to do but will if I have no choice and if thats what makes sense. Whats the best way to think about this? Do I take a job ASAP that pays way less, how much less makes sense? Just need sound reasoning. Thanks!Editupdate: Wow, thanks everyone for all the awesome feedback. Definitely makes me feel better. So major take away is 1 relax thanks for this again, I really needed to hear this 2 apply for unemployment which will extend my runway 3 hold out for maybe a month for somewhat equal paying job, then start to scale back expectations. Honestly, I wasnt very worried until my wife started barraging me questions, worries and concerns. I started to wonder if I was like the Captain of the Titanic, where not taking drastic measures immediately was being stupid. Yeah, that definitely DOES NOT seem to help unless this is equivalent to the Titanic analogy, so I started to second guess myself and wanted others opinions.Sorry I cant respond to everyone and thank you one by one. Ive read everyones comment and want to thank you all though.Assistant: I was recently laid off too actually my company closed and aside from what others have said already, I have the following advice:1. File for unemployment. Dont be too proud to do it. It just returns some of the money you paid into it back to you. 2. Make a detailed prioritized list of which expenditures are non-essential. Start cutting back from the bottom of the list until you are at a monthly level that you can sustain for six months. 3. You should aim at having a new job within six months. Any longer than that will not look so great on a resume. If you are approaching that timeline without having a job lined up, start considering lower paying jobs, ideally in the same field though.4. 80 of all positions according to my case worker are filled through networking, so leverage any and all connections you have. I went through my stacks of business cards and connected with everybody on LinkedIn. Not a single one of my applications to open positions I was qualified for lead to an interview, but everybody who knew me from past business interactions wanted to hire me immediately once they found out I was available. You have to network your ass off now. Human: This is solid advice, thanks! I am kind of embarrassed about this but Im going to make a list of all the people Ive worked with and start contacting down the list. Any advice on a good way to make this statement to get over the embarrassment factor?  <response>: Its business. Its ok to keep it business if they are not personal relationships. As long as you had a good working relationship with them it is ok to contact them solely for this purpose. They will appreciate you not wasting their time with chit chat that youve never done before if the sole purpose of it was to talk business. They will see it as soon as you ask it. Just be forward and confident and know what you can contribute to them. Research in every individual contacts position is a plus. 