When I was made redundant with a week's notice I had to think quickly. I sat down with a spreadsheet and listed all our expenditure. I marked everything that was unnecessary, such as subscriptions, and finally came up with a figure for the minimum amount that I HAD to earn daily in order to keep the house and not starve. That daily figure was actually lower than I expected and it gave me a target. It also felt far more achievable than, say, a yearly figure.

I spent the week surreptitiously copying and photographing documents at work that I thought might come in useful. I also copied the company's entire customer database so that I could do a mailshot. I ended up offering those customers the service which the company had been offering but no longer could without me.*

That let me earn enough to survive and then some. It also gave me time to figure out what I really wanted to do. I earned enough to retire to a Greek island.

That's just my anecdote. Nobody can tell YOU what to do, OP. It's personal and depends on your personal skills and location. But perhaps my anecdote will give you an idea. . .

• It was an accountant's decision to get rid of me and close down my department "to save money". They ended up losing customers and money.

When I was made redundant with a week's notice I had to think quickly. I sat down with a spreadsheet and listed all our expenditure. I marked everything that was unnecessary, such as subscriptions, and finally came up with a figure for the minimum amount that I HAD to earn daily in order to keep the house and not starve. That daily figure was actually lower than I expected and it gave me a target. It also felt far more achievable than, say, a yearly figure.

I spent the week surreptitiously copying and photographing documents at work that I thought might come in useful. I also copied the company's entire customer database so that I could do a mailshot. I ended up offering those customers the service which the company had been offering but no longer could without me.

That let me earn enough to survive and then some. It also gave me time to figure out what I really wanted to do. I earned enough to retire to a Greek island.

That's just my anecdote. Nobody can tell YOU what to do, OP. It's personal and depends on your personal skills and location. But perhaps my anecdote will give you an idea.