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If you have no children, and your window of solvency is less than three months, and you're not very confident you'll have a reasonable job by then, I'm assuming desperation about survival. My advice (from experience, unfortunately) is to:
Take everything out of the bank and stash it someplace safe (well, leave in enough to keep it open), make one trip to a casino and play a slot machine once so you can say I lost it gambling. If someone asks you how much money you have say, "I'm broke." Practice it in the mirror until you believe it yourself. If you don't, you'll soon find yourself REALLY broke. Until you find work, you're going to need that money to survive. Don't make the mistake of only considering yourself broke if you literally have $0. If you have to ask for assistance of some sort (foodstamps), assume you're broke. Because, if you tell them, "Oh, I've still got this $1500 stashed away for a rainy day," they'll say, come back when you're broke, and you'll find that when that happens and you're car breaks down you won't be able to go back to ask for assistance BECAUSE YOU'RE TOO BROKE TO GET THERE.
Find a postal drop (preferably one that doesn't use box numbers but will allow you to have mail delivered to your name at that address) and change your mailing address on all correspondence to that address. If you have a credit card that doesn't have a high balance, hang on to it for dear life. A lot of simple errands, like renting a car when you fly to a city for a job interview, can only be accomplished with a credit card. Some places will let you use a debit/credit card, some won't. For example, Netflix won't give you a membership with a debit/credit card. You can do this without a credit card, but it's a lot easier with one. Don't assume that if you default on one card the other banks will stop your cards, because they won't. They make money on your account and they won't stop your card unless you don't pay the bill.
Buy a pay-as-you-go cell phone. Only give your new number to people that you trust and that might hire you. Put an answering machine on your home phone and start screening your calls (until you turn the thing off). If you don't have anything positive to report to a collector, don't talk to one. Remember, a collector is a person who regards you as a deadbeat, a cheat, and liar. It doesn't matter what you have to say to him, or what you do (even if you mail a certified check to him immediately), that individual is assuming you're a liar, and there isn't any reason for you to be polite to him or to play fair with him. If, by some miracle, some collector calls you on your new cell, keep repeating, "What, What. I can't hear you," throw the thing away and get a new one. When you are able to settle your debts without impoverishing yourself, you can contact your debtors and make arrangements (preferable through an attorney) for repayment. Until that time, there isn't anything to be gained by having contact with them. You don't get any points for being honest, for trying your hardest, for being a decent husband or wife, for having paid your debts honestly and consistently for twenty years, for going to church regularly, for having a conscience. When you owe them money and you can't pay, they regard you as a deadbeat, which means that they regard you as a liar and a thief. And from the way they'll talk to you you'll begin to believe it. Just don't talk to them. And, remember projection: they regard you as a liar because they know they're liars and they therefore naturally assume everyone is.
Don't be in a rush to go down and have the address on you driver's license changed. If you could only find a maildrop with a box number, ask a trustworthy friend if you can list his address as your residence when you have to renew your DL.
If you have car payments, and you don't owe too much, consider paying it off. If you owe too much on it, consider selling it and buying a good used car for cash. A good ten-year-old Japanese sedan with less than 100K miles. You'll need reliable transport to find work again but you don't want to be in a situation where someone can take your car away if money gets so tight you can't make a car payment.
Buy an used RV or car-trailer combination that you find you can live in for two years without going crazy (Check craigslist in your area). You can do this for less than $10K, and for as little as $5K if money is too tight), and start looking for decent RV parks in your area (if you intend to remain in the area) that have 1)good long-term rates, 2)nice management, and 3) decent laid-back tenants (hang around and talk to some of the residents. Do they have a communal area and activities. Are the long term residents elderly. Elderly people tend to be less threatening (then, for example, a bunch of folks with pickups, motorcycles, and tatoos)and often friendlier than middle age folks. This is important as RV parks all have a character of their own and trailers aren't soundproof. Also, since your husband is in IT, they could use his expertise. The down side is you can get invited to some pretty boring dinners, but they're trying to be nice).Free internet and cable is nice, too. and some RV parks provide it. Buy a large flat screen TV (that will fit!!) for the trailer to compensate for having to live in a tin box instead of a real house. Once you're out of the house and car payments and moved into the RV, your cost of living has dropped to under $1000 a month (and if you don't like the RV park, you can move your house!). This includes rent, utilities, car insurance, gas. You might find it liberating (or maybe humiliating, or maybe both). Food costs depend on your diet requirements.
Trade your computer gear for a laptop, if you don't already have one. Don't be afraid to get rid of everything -it's just stuff. Getting new stuff once your working again will be an adventure.
Sell the house and everything that won't fit in the trailer. The less stuff you have the more roomy the trailer will seem.
Giving up an identity as an invested, middle-class citizen is a bitter pill to swallow, but if you don't discover some new stream of income soon, they're going to take everything you own, ruin your credit, and you'll be left standing on the street (or living with the in-laws) with the consolation that you played by their rules. Woopee! This way you'll only have ruined credit. It may be your best option.
Remember, it typically takes six months to find a decent job. Being in IT has probably spoiled you in that regard. If you're in the Washington/Oregon area, it may take longer. If you don't find something in a year, I'd strongly consider returning to school and learning a trade like firefighter, plumber, whatever the local college has on offer that will but you in a new or optional profession in two years or less. It will at least give you something to do while you're unemployed (the idea of job hunting as a forty-hour a week occupation for an extended period of time is not only unrealistic it's sadistic).
In the long run, if your financial situation is desperate, this path is the most responsible to both you and the people you owe money to. You'll return to financial solvency and be able to settle your debts more quickly if you guard your physical and mental health by putting yourself first.
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(use Mr. Bill's voice)!!! Then I realized that there is no debtors prison in this country, I didn't really own a lot, and there really wasn't much they could do to me outside of threaten me and harass me. It's not illegal to to guard your privacy in this country - the rich all do it. Do you think that the really rich actually allow debtors, or even the state, know where they live or what their phone # is? They don't. For the most part they accomplish this by having a corporate address or a law firm through which contact is made. If you can't afford this you can take the steps I've outlined above to protect you privacy and peace of mind.
