In Step Three you need to figure out how you are going to pay for some, or all, of the following necessities:

• Housing

• Utilities

• Phone

• Food

• Transportation

• Child Care

• Legal Fees

• Health Care

Unless you are independently wealthy, divorced with a large settlement, or are retired with a good pension, this means that you MUST get a JOB! You probably do not have enough emergency money to wait for a "perfect" job, so you need to be willing to take whatever job is available right now. You may need to take MORE THAN ONE job for a little while. If you have young children, you will need not only childcare that you pay for, you will also need some help from your family and/or friends (because sick children can't go to childcare). Go ahead and ask your family and friends if they will help you!

If you have technical or professional job skills and current contacts to help you find a good job, by all means, get busy trying to market yourself. If you don't, think about taking a staff position at a local college, university, or hospital. Because they employ a lot of people, those types of employers usually have good benefits, including health care (after a set waiting period), child-care assistance, and opportunities for advancement. Many educational institutions have a tuition remission plan that will allow you to take classes for free, and the really good ones may even have a plan that will allow your child to attend college at a reduced rate. Hospitals frequently have in-house training programs that will allow you to move up the career ladder while maintaining job security.

If universities or hospitals are not an option, visit a job counselor at your local workforce development office (every town of any size has one of these), and ask them to help you get a job with the local employer that has the best benefits. Another option is to find out what local businesses (supermarkets, hotels, and transit authorities) have employees who are unionized, and try to get a job with them. You will have to pay a fee to join the union, but you will at least get some benefits.

Step Three is a hard one. While you are solving immediate problems, it is okay to begin to dream about the life you want to have, and to tell yourself that you will not always have to work so hard or be so broke. What are your dreams for the future? Write them down, or cut pictures from a magazine that show the life you would like to have. With a little hard work, you can have your dreams!

Do you have a job or another source of steady income? Then you are ready for Step Four. It is okay to look ahead to the next Steps, even if you have not completely finished Step Three.