<prompt> Human: Im in a shitty situation currently. My wife works hourly and has been put on bed rest because of a pregnancy. She has short term disability insurance through Lincoln Financial Group. Its been a month and we are still waiting on paper work to be turned into them and waiting on approval. We are at the point now that bills are due and we cant pay them all. Which bill do I not pay? All Items are per month: Mortgage - 860 I called them and they told me to miss my payment and then call them after a 15 day grace period to tell them my situation and that I cant pay the month of December and theyll work with me on it. Credit Card - 200 Utilities Water, Waste, Electric - 190 Natural Gas - 60 Family Insurance Plan - 396 InternetNetflix - 70 Groceries and Household Items - 450Car Payment - 299.43 Fuel - 300 I drive two hour a day, 140 miles, because of our job situation so the only other option to not paying this is either me sleeping at the place I work, or maybe staying with a coworker. Yep, not sure what to do. At this rate, I probably dont need a lecture on not having an emergency fund, I know Ive needed one, but we unfortunately live paycheck to paycheck and neither me or my wife will get any raises anytime soon working in the education field. If anyone has any advice, Im all ears. We will be down with our current budget of her not having an income by 630 so thats why my initial reaction was to try something with our mortgage shrug. Edit: thanks for all the suggestions, I know my situation is crap. We typically arent this bad off with my wife and I working, but shes been out for over a month now and the delay is with Lincoln now. Ive learned a lot from this experience and will be changing our spending habits. For now, who knows what will happen. My parents might help us out and we will just pay them back with my wifes back pay.Assistant: You can miss the mortgagecredit card payment one month, just be sure to let them know in advance what is going on and get any fees waived. However, that isnt going to address the shortage in the future. You need to change your lifestyle to provide for your family. Here are my thoughts:Drop Netfilx. Only shop at Aldi or similar discount chain for groceries. Use beanseggs as a cheap source of protein instead of meat. Look up hypermiling to change your driving habits to possibly reduce the fuel costs. Consider if you could sell your car and get a cheaper used one without a payment.Stay with a coworker one night a week, or more, if possible. Call the health insurance company and see if there is a cheaper plan you can get on. Can you get anything through work?Turn your heat on low 55 at least, so pipes dont freeze and wear jacketslong underwearblankets to stay warm. Take shorter showers, hang dry clothes, unplug everything when not in use.Longer-term, you need to find a job closer to home that ideally offers health insurance. Commuting using a bike or public transit is ideal. That will free up 600-800month, plus provide some exercise. Use that money to pay off the credit card completely and then start saving an emergency fund.Human: Thanks for your input, and I agree with everything youre saying, but some options arent available. I can drop Netflix fine, or at least get rid of the disk service. My wife and son watch netflix throughout the day while shes stuck at home, and we dont have cable. The nearest Aldis is 35 minutes away from my house, so thats not the best option. We have Walmart and a Harps which is more expensive. Are there other options for markets or something? I hypermile the best I can. I drive highway with a speedlimit of 70 the entire way. Ill either go 70 or a little under. The car we bought was a Honda Fit and has been great on gas mileage and was all we could afford at the time. The used car market in my area has been either more expensive than new cars or have been cars we test drove and found problems with after taking them to mechanics. Ill consider the staying with a coworker thing. The health insurance plan that my wife has is through her company and she has a family plan with my son. There are no cheaper options through her business unfortunately. Not sure if she can get out of it and we find another private insurance, but it seems that market is starting to increase in price substantially. :- We try to save on our bills, we really need curtains over our windows to keep in the heat better but cant afford them currently, any other suggestions in this department? Long Term - Ive been looking to find a job where I live for the past 7 years. Ive applied for 40 jobs Im kind of in a specialty teaching position and have only had 8 interviews and one job offer and that was where I currently work. Its a rough market and Ive tried to find other areas of work, but nothing has seemed to pan out. Shit sucks. Thanks again for your help!  <response>: Do you have a friend or relative who also has Netflix and would be willing to share their login?Id check Craigslist for curtains. You may find them free.Is there a food pantry you could go to? 