The Coast Guard’s employee support program is suggesting workers not getting paid due the partial government shutdown hold a garage sale, babysit, and list unwanted items in a newspaper or online.
“Have a garage sale — clean out your attic, basements, and closets at the same time,” a tip sheet from the Coast Guard Support Program recommended. The memo, entitled “Managing Your Finances During a Furlough” and obtained by the Washington Examiner, also suggests selling “unwanted, larger ticket items through the newspaper or online” and suggests offering to “watch children, walk pets, or house-sit.”
Other recommendations included on the sheet include turning a hobby into a stream of revenue, tutoring students, providing sports or music lessons, or becoming a “mystery shopper” to rate retailer’s service.
Although other military services have not been impacted by the partial shutdown because they receive funding from the Department of Defense, the Coast Guard receives funding from the Department of Homeland Security — one of the agencies impacted by the partial shutdown.
As a result, approximately 41,000 active duty Coast Guardsmen have been working without being paid. The tip sheet specifically applies to the 8,500 civilians who compose the Coast Guard’s workforce. Approximately 6,400 of those workers have been placed on indefinite furlough, and more than 2,000 labeled “essential workers” have been working without being paid, Coast Guard spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Scott McBride told the Washington Post.
According to McBride, they were last paid for the pay period that closed on Dec. 22. He said the tip sheet has been removed because it does not “reflect the Coast Guard’s current efforts to support our workforce during this lapse in appropriations.”
The tip sheet also provides advice for cutting down on spending by creating a new budget and to consider “needs vs. wants.”
“You’ll want to cover basic needs such as housing costs, utilities, food, transportation, and critical medications first,” the memo says. “As you draw up your own unique of what’s important to you, you may also need to consider making some lifestyle changes.”
“Look for creative ways to reduce spending, such as getting magazines and movies from the library,” the memo said.
Lisa Honan, a furloughed federal worker identified as a program support assistant for the EPA, said that she hoped the shutdown didn’t continue so that families would have to sell their “heirlooms.”
“A lot of that is easier said than done,” said Honan, whose husband is also a federal furloughed worker, told CNN Thursday morning when asked about the tip sheet. “You know, I mean, it probably will come down to it to where you could drive for a, you know, ride sharing service or — I don’t know. I just hope that it doesn’t drag on for much longer to where we will have to start selling our family’s heirlooms.”
The Coast Guard did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
The partial government shutdown has impacted approximately 800,000 federal employees. The shutdown has stemmed from a dispute over border wall funding, as President Trump and Democrats are at odds over the $5.7 billion Trump wants for the project.
[Also read: Corporate America stung by government shutdown over Trump’s border wall]
