Oh, for clarification... We wouldn't be down to no cars. We need to get rid of the two that we have to make payments on, and then get a beater car for like $1000 (which we will have to borrow, but that's better than being in debt for $21,000).

The only way for me to get an evening job would be for the shift to start at like 7pm, which I'm not altogether opposed to doing, but it seems too late for a waitressing job. That's 3/4 of the way through dinner rush right there.

If it doesn't look like my home-business is going to get me anywhere by the end of this month, I'm going to have to figure something else out, I know. And if the income potential is there, I'm not opposed to working late into the night if that's what I need to do. But DH is more against me working outside of the home than I am, at this point. That may change in the next couple months. We'll see. I'll keep you all posted, though.

__________________

Trust God. Whatever risk there is in doing so, the risk of not trusting in him is far greater. - Spurgeon

I don't understand why he is so opposed to you working outside the home, considering how much money you are short each month...I would think he'd be suggesting you go to work, but that's just me. I guess that's somewhere where this confuses me, why is he so dead set against you working outside the home???

I hear this alot too - from other ppl -

I know its a Masculine thing that goes back to the man wanting to support his wife.

My dad NEVER wanted his wife to work But he worked 7 days a week and Worked his butt off for yrs. to buy the auto buisness from his boss when he retired. Then they were set for life.

Does your DH know you need extra income yet still doesn't want you to work outside the house??
Also Those 1000.00 beater cars often need lots of money to fix up each month!!
Sometimes thats a Worse route to go - Buying An unreliable vehicle.

Can you maybe get rid of one car but keep one with payments?

I agree a lot of men do want their wives to remain at home with the children and become so set in that goal, sometimes they're not able to see anything else, even if it is a temporary job. Mine does it from time to time. That is when I step in and say, "It just isn't going to work." I'm more realistic than my husband in a lot of areas, money especially. He can work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and it still might not be enough.

Without seeing actual numbers on what you owe and what you make, etc, we're all going off the info you give us and what I'm seeing is someone who can't afford these cars! If you can live with one car payment then sell one as fast as you can! Maybe trade in both cars for 1 car. Look into re-financing maybe. If you extend the payment you'll be upsidedown on the other car in no time too, so I'd suggest this only as a temporary action to keep ther car until you can get rid of it!

If this is a temporary problem (lack of money) then can you sell something? Have a garage sale - more on ebay, etc. If this is an ongoing problem, a sale might get you through the month but at that point you have to look at one of two options! 1. you must find a way to cut out more costs! You may have done this already, but maybe there's more. If you can't cut more then you're only other option is to make more money! If that means you getting a job fine, if it means dh taking on a 3rd or 4th job, then so be it! I don't mean to sound harsh, and I hope you don't take it that way, but this is all I can come up with. Its a matter of cash inflow and outflow!

Definately check out WIC if you qualify and Angel Food to cut costs there if you don't already! Make sure you've cut all extra expenses, etc! I hope you can get past this and get something started so that you don't find yourself in this position again! Good luck!

__________________
Stay at home mom to my 3 boys... ages 5, 3 & 1!

I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

ITA on this one! But that is the way my husband is! He works side jobs (although the money really is not coming in like I'd expect) along with his FT job. My aunt (whose hubby owns his own business and works weekends) works from 9 pm-5 am- she is really busy where she works and I really would not mind working there myself- my DH flat out refused- and we could really use the money! I would not mind working from home- but I don't think I could handle watching a lot of kids at once (especially the way my youngest is!).

have you thought about selling somethings on craigslist? If there is one in your area it is for free- also you can advertise for watching a few kids or something (sometimes they have things posted on their about working from home).

::sigh:: Yes, I've managed to sell a couple things on craigslist here and there, but my whole house is furnished with hand-me-downs and yard-sale-finds as it is. We have nothing of value that we could possibly sell at this point. I've actually been trying to score a decent free couch on craigslist for the past several weeks, since all we have in the living room is one loveseat. We're really scraping the bottom now. I think the only thing left for us to cut would be our cell phones (we don't have a landline) and get Vonage through the internet, but that would save only about $30/month, and DH really does need his cell phone for his one side job. We need the high-speed internet for our home-businesses, so we can't really cut there.

Yeah I'm more realistic, I think, than DH when it comes to the actual numbers. But what can you do? We've gone over the budget together a million times with a fine-tooth comb. Oi.

The most promising plan, at the moment, is to sell the truck, and put whatever is left of the financed debt onto a CC, then do a balance transfer to a new CC with 0% interest. That would at least salvage our credit for a while longer, and hopefully we could wipe out that balance with our tax return in the spring. We'll see.

__________________

Trust God. Whatever risk there is in doing so, the risk of not trusting in him is far greater. - Spurgeon

Something kind of like this happened to us when we were first married. We were 19 and 21, so we really didn't know what we were doing. We wanted a baby right away, but for some reason never thought about health insurance, so we ended up paying 400 a month in doctor bills(I guess we had an expensive doctor). My husband was working about 30 hours a week for $9 an hour and I was working 30 hours for $6.50 an hour so we were doing all right with just getting by. We had to pay for a pickup my husband had taken a loan on when he was 18(before he met me). That was about $250 a month. Sometimes we had to borrow from his parents to pay it because that was due the very last day of the month, so it was the last bill paid.(Our auto insurance was $300 a month because of how new the truck was and he had been in two accidents--OUCH) We didn't buy ANY extras at all. No internet, no clothes, shoes, nothing. All food had to go on the credit card. I lost my job when I was 5 months pregnant, so no one would hire an obviously pregnant girl. We decided it was time to sell the truck. I had a beater car I had bought from his sister for $700 before we were married. Well, long story short we didn't sell the truck for 8 months(seemed like forever) all the while making payments. My daughter had to wear not just hand me downs, but MY hand me downs(from 1984!!!) We were able to pay off the credit cards with our tax refund and found out about Medicaid(I didn't realize it was available). It all turned out all right. But my husband drove my car onto a flooded road and it floated away.(It ran well before that, so I know that good cheap cars are out there) Now we have a 1992 blazer that my husband bought for $500 and spent a year and a half making drivable. And we have a 1995 saturn car that we bought from his other sister for $2400(we paid her $100/ month for 2 years, some months we weren't able to make the payment, but she understood). We are doing well now, but I always look back at that time and thank God that it was only that bad when it could have been a lot worse. You will get through this, I know it doesn't seem like it now, but it will get better I promise.

__________________
Debbie 3 years
Sadie 16 months

Well, okay...the car didn't actually float away, but we still had to junk it.

__________________
Debbie 3 years
Sadie 16 months

What a great story to look back on! I'm glad you survived and evidently learned.