Anita, It’s been both really.
We were never homeless or hungry, but it was way too close for comfort.

It was the early 90’s. My wife was still trying to finish school, we had twin toddlers and I was hardly making any money when I was working. There were frequent layoffs and we literally were raiding the kids piggy bank for gas money. A $50 car repair may as well be $5000, I just didn’t have it.

Since these were pre-internet days, finding a job consisted of you looking for ads in the paper then actually driving to a place to apply (we live in a mostly rural area, no public transportation). Needless to say it was very difficult.

There were also a few times when I was totally blindsided by a job loss.
Seriously, no clue, no warnings, you came to work one day and were told you no longer had a job. During the last crash I ended up selling a lot of things, including my car (that only had 1 more year of payments left) just to stay afloat. I damm near broke out in tears right in front of everyone as I handed the dealer my keys.

This is another factor in my desire for self employment, a lack of trust in employers. Things are better now, but I will never forget those times and feel like it could happen again at any time.