Sorry to hear about your lay-off! I have sold on ebay for nearly 10 years, and it really depends on what you are selling when determining the right time to have it end. I used to have all of my items end on the weekend, but over the years I have found that that isn't always the best approach for every item.
For instance, I didn't have a lot of success with many of my baby and children's items (clothing/toys/etc) that ended on the weekend. I tried listing a few of those items to end during the week in the morning, and was blown away at the increased activity for those listings. Guess it was because that was when a lot of moms and dads had a little free time when the little ones were at school or napping--not a lot of free time on the weekends when you have kids!
Remember it may take some trial-and-error to find the ideal time for what you are selling. You may even want to sign up for one of the inexpensive research tools to determine what ending times saw the highest sales amounts. There's a lot out there, and most offer a free trial--TeraPeak even has a free search tool that shows some basic, but very valuable, information about recently closed listings.
Good luck with your listings!