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Sudden unemployment can really help you think creatively. The OC Register has a profile of a guy who lost his condo after being laid off from his 6-figure corporate development job — and is now living out of his leased BMW and a storage unit — and using his rewards points to survive. <\/p>\n
\n“I’m not going to claim I was cheated out of my house,” Kennedy says several times. “I didn’t pay my mortgage.”<\/p>\n
Now the former frequent flier from his days working in IT and finance is living off those rewards – airline loyalty programs and hotel points. His clothes and everyday supplies packed into his leased BMW, the single Kennedy stays a few nights here, a few nights there, always running the numbers of how many points he will use and trying to stick to a self-imposed $5-a-day food budget.<\/p>\n
His life is up in the air.<\/p>\n
“I’m on hold but time keeps going. That part’s frustrating,” Kennedy said. “I should be in major-dollar earning years and I am losing major-dollar earning years, which I will not get back. That part is frustrating and a little scary.”<\/p>\n
This week, Kennedy is at the Holiday Inn Express in San Clemente, where he converted his United Airlines miles. He brought down the 7,000-points a night cost to 5,000 by adding $100 for his four-night stay, so it costs him $25 a night. But there’s an added benefit because he can expand his food budget with the free breakfast. It’s also convenient, as he can drive up the 5 Freeway to get his mail at the Mailboxes Plus in Irvine – he has a post office box because he has no address. It’s here he gets his unemployment checks, which he and 147,000 other jobless people in Orange County are using for survival.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
He seems to be keeping a positive attitude and isn’t giving up. We wish him luck!<\/p>\n