Remember those care packages your family would send you when you were in college or summer camp?

They were often balm for the soul when extended absences from home led to loneliness. As we’re stuck at home these days, the absence from home isn’t the problem. What many of us are experiencing in our new shelter in place existence is the loss (permanent or temporary) of a job that gave us daily connections with people in 3-D and a sense of purpose, a reason to get up. While still others are adapting to a new work-from-home routine that might mean a shorter commute but extended disconnections from our three-dimensional colleagues.

Care packages can still hold an important place in our lives today. Whether you send your friend a pound of her favorite coffee to brighten her day or your pro-bono client who just laid off her entire staff a bottle of wine with a note of solidarity care packages still hold a place in our adult lives.

Ellevest*, an online retirement savings, financial planning and investment platform for women recently posted several “digital care packages” for it’s newsletter readers who are unemployed, furloughed or trying to work from home. I highly recommend them and they are all free.

Care Package #1 – Job Loss

7 Things To Do If You Lost Your Job

Ellevest’s lead career coach, Stephanie Girard and lead financial planner, Rachel Sanborn Lawrence provide you with a 7-step road map to help move you forward.

What To Know About Filing For Unemployment

Rachel Rabinovich, a certified financial planner, walks you through the unemployment in plain language. The only thing that is different than what she explains is the absence of the one-week waiting period for unemployment if you live in California. There is no waiting period.

Care Package #2 – Working from Home

This digital care packages helps you with the common problems people experience working from home – discipline, efficiency and disconnection

23 Hard-Won Tips For Working From Home

How To Stay Connected When Everything is Canceled

Care Package #3 – Where To Find It. How to Spend It. How to Save It.

Face it, every one is tightening their belts or trying to make ends meet on the new unemployment benefits. This digital care package gives the facts about the CARES Act stimulus package and what might be in it for you as well as some helpful tips about how to jump start an “essentials only” budget to manage this unexpected upheaval in your checking account.

How To Get Help From The New Stimulus Package

How To Cut Back To An Essentials Only Budget

How To Save Money By Spending Intentionally

* Full Disclosure: My husband and I have been saving for our retirement and investing our savings with Ellevest, however I receive no benefits from posting this information or sharing it with you.