All the major world economies, including the UK, are now officially in a recession.  Companies are losing money and laying people off, there is negative growth within the market and few companies are looking to expand.  At such a volatile economic time it is important to come up with a plan  to get you through as safely as possible. 

So let us guide you through the best ways of surviving the recession as well as you possibly can.

In a recession any savings you have are vital.  Try not to touch them, or spend them on frivilous things, you could well be needing them in the future to be toughing out problems or emergencies.  If you haven't got any savings then do everything you can do build some.

It is estimated that 85-90% of the UK's population has not worked out its budgeted income and expenditure in a meaningful way.  Break that statistic.  Sit down and honestly work out what your income and needed expenditure is.  Don;t forget to include some fun/socializing money in there, but be realistic – is that money you need to be spending

A good budget will lay out what you need to be spending and what you are spending, helping you to eliminate money drains that you don't need.

No matter how secure you think your job is, relying on one income stream is always a dangerous idea.  Can you partner go out to work? Can you get a 2ns job? Or do some moonlighting/contract work?

The more income streams you have, the less likely it is that you will be ruined by the loss of one of them (i.e. your job).  Look into doing some contract or freelance work.  Do you have any special skills you could use as a side business?  Anything from nail polishing to career coaching can really help with different revenue streams.

Whilst it is almost impossible to recession proof it, you can do a number of things to make it unlikely you will be asked to leave should your company look to lay people off.

• Do your job well.  Obvious really, but people who are very good at their job will be the last out the door.
• Make yourself indispensible to the boss.  Make sure that you are the go to man/woman for your boss.  If they rely on using you in projects or at crunch time they are very unlikely to ask you to leave.
• Make sure peple know what good a job you are doing.   Don't crow about it, that would be counter productive, but make sure that bosses and senior management are aware of targets exceeded, KPI's met etc.

Take these 4 tips and use them, you'll find getting through this recession far easier.