<prompt> Human: Ill level with you all: Weve weathered some rough years and need real advice to help us dig out of our debt, change our habits and get some financial stability. Ive been following this group for a while but after looking into debt consolidation and bankruptcy and realizing how devastating it would be on our already bad credit, weve decided to finally bite the bullet and ask you all for help. Background: My family spent a few years homeless following one huge and several small layoffs for both my wife and myself in a very short period of time. We lost our home, our vehicles, everything material and moved 6 times in just a couple years always sleeping on couches or sharing one bed with our four kids... whatever it took in pursuit of stability and jobs that always ended up falling through. Three years ago a local program helped pay the deposit on an apartment and provided interview clothes and within days I landed a reliable job working for our county and weve been in that apartment and Ive been working at that job ever since. Im even expecting a raise in November. My wife recently went back to work part time to help us catch up on payments. Unfortunately she cant work full time because we have to rely on family members for childcare for our four children.Two of our children overcame some pretty serious medical conditions during these past few years of stability, requiring us to live at hospitals for long periods of time. Having only recently started working and barely moving into an actual apartment at the time, we relied heavily on credit cards to stay afloat during those periods, even taking out several cards and maxing them out to cover living expenses, groceries and even our own costs while staying with our children at the hospitals. I know, I know: Its bad. And just when we were finally financially recovering from the first childs medical situation, our youngest ended up in the hospital recently and we dug ourselves back into credit card debt all over again. We want to have an emergency fund. We want to have savings. We want to have financial stability and maybe even eventually buy a house. So were asking for your help. Any guidance and suggestions is deeply appreciated.So far, weve downsized as much as we can at the moment. We live in northern California and our family of 6 lives in a tiny 800 square foot 2 bedroom1 bath apartment. Our internetcell phone bill is the minimal speed and data plan needed for my wifes job, which requires her to work from home fairly often. Basic cable comes with the apartment for free. We are also responsible for maintaining a storage unit until a family dispute has been resolved and the contents can be distributed, most likely in a couple months. We have one vehicle that we bought used about a year ago and have never been late paying on. It has 4,500 remaining to pay it off and is really only used to take the kids to school and get groceries since we walk to work. We get an excellent rate on car and renters insurance through my work, which is deducted from my paycheck with my other benefits and therefore not reflected in the following breakdown. And yes, we know the payday loans are bad but they are another product of our daughters recent hospital situation but we are forced to renew it for the smallest possible amount each month until we can pay them off in full. We regret ever taking them out but are stuck until we can inch them down to an amount we can afford to payoff in full. At the time, it was the only way to pay rent while sleeping on folding chairs in a hospital several hours away from our home and our other children while our baby was fighting for her life. Here is the complete breakdown:Income: 1,075 and 400 so 1,475 total bi-weekly which will go up to 1,675 in NovemberExpenses: 880 Rent 600 Food 150 per week for a family of 6 450 Credit card payments 11,000 spread over 13 cards 225 Car payment 4,500 remaining balance 150 Electricity 250 Other necessities Diapers, wipes, toiletries, school needs, medical copays, gas 100 Propane 100 PhoneInternet 90 Storage unit 88 monthly fees for rolling payday loanLike I said, we understand the credit cards are the biggest problem but we need advice on the best way to tackle them and start a savings so we can build an emergency fund and never have to rely on cards and payday loans again. My wife does all kinds of odd jobs from home when she can independant writer, mystery shopper, making things to sell, you name it to bring in bits of extra money when possible while avoiding us from having to pay for childcare for her to work full time. We did the math and she would be actually making significantly LESS than she does now if she worked full time and we paid for childcare. Ive also been submitting applications for higher paying positions, so fingers crossed one of those comes through. In the meantime I need advice on how to tackle our situation. Ive read all the guides and links in this group but were so overwhelmed Im not sure where to start. Any help is appreciated. THANK YOU.Edit: FormattingEDIT: A lot of people are asking why we dont qualify for more benefits or assistance programs and I realized I wasnt very clear: The income amount I provided is our NET income. Our gross income is much higher but 72 of our income goes to benefits and taxes. Yes, I know its a lot but the net pay is still better than Ive found anywhere else so far. Our health insurance alone just for my wife and I is 750 each pay period bi-weekly for the minimal required coverage per ACA Regulations. The kids still qualify for medi-cal but wont once my scheduled raise goes through in November. Our younger two will also lose WIC in November. We dont qualify for SNAP or any other programs.Assistant: 1. Do you think your family members would allow your wife to run day care from their home? If so she can split the money with them. 2. You and your wife need to work on upgrading your skills and tailor it to current job market. Youve been doing the same job for 3 years, your pay is not going to increase by much without a substantial investment in time on your part towards upgrading your skills. 3. Food: what do your meals look like? Look into IndianMexican cooking. Dry rice and beans are cheap and can help cut cost. Adults in the family can look into romad, eating one meal a day is a lifestyle. Which is a healthy lifestyle and will save some money. Wouldnt recommend it for the kids. 4. Toiletries: Toilet paper--look into washing with water like JapaneseIndians do. Its friendly to environment, pipes, butt and your pocket. Paper towels--do not buy use ragswash cloths. Sanitary napkinstampons -- diva cups. Human: Do you think your family members would allow your wife to run day care from their home? If so she can split the money with them.Our family in this area include a paralyzed aunt and her caretaker in an assisted living shared housing situation and a grandparent who lives alone in an off-the-grid cabin 2 hours out of town up an ungraded road who sleeps on our couch to provide childcare for us 3 days a week. Neither situation would work for daycare. You and your wife need to work on upgrading your skills and tailor it to current job market. Youve been doing the same job for 3 years, your pay is not going to increase by much without a substantial investment in time on your part towards upgrading your skills.I have been taking night classes at the local community college for exactly this reason but had to take this semester off when my daughter was hospitalized at a childrens hospital far from where we live. My evening classes are the only reason I qualified for my current job. Previously I only had my high school diploma. Next semester Ill be back in class again. Food: what do your meals look like? Look into IndianMexican cooking. Dry rice and beans are cheap and can help cut cost.Lots of beans. Lots of rice. She sold all the small appliances in our kitchen so she could get a used Instant Pot and uses it for hard boiled eggs, rice and beans ALL THE TIME. It cuts back on our utilities costs because its WAY more efficient than the old stoveoven unit in our apartment too. My wife budgets groceries down to the last cent so we only go shopping twice a month, first at the local dollar store then at the discount grocer. She actually inputs each receipt to keep track of the prices of items and plans her shopping lists around those prices and whatever is in the sale ads. We cook all dinners, use the leftovers for lunches and eat oatmeal for breakfast. Our children have a few dietary restrictions but we manage. Adults in the family can look into romad, eating one meal a day is a lifestyle. Which is a healthy lifestyle and will save some money. Wouldnt recommend it for the kids.My wife and I will look into it. Were willing to try anything. Toiletries: Toilet paper--look into washing with water like JapaneseIndians do. Its friendly to environment, pipes, butt and your pocket.We have a bidet attachment on our toilet! My wife offered to write a professional review in exchange for it and the company sent it to her for free... which was weird at first but weve embraced it. lol! But we still need toilet paper because the kids were struggling with it at school after potty training with a bidet. We discovered that kids actually need TP at home to get proper wiping training. Sorry for the TMI. Paper towels--do not buy use ragswash cloths.We dont use paper towels. I cant remember a time when weve ever bought any actually. Sanitary napkinstampons -- diva cups.Another thing my wife has... and got for free for writing about it. Clearly shell write about anything if it gets us something we can use to cut costs! lol!  <response>: If your wife has had success with writing reviews to get free stuff, is that a hobby that she could turn into a more monitized contribution to the household, mommy blogger style? Amazon referral links for reviews, recipes for how she stretches the food budget for six, etc. Basically marketing the stuff she already does, getting a following, and using it to get more free stuff whenever you have a need like if your instant pot breaks, using blogging about it as a way to get a new one, etc. Not sure where in NorCal you live but I know that up in some of the mountainous areas you referred to that in a comment someplace a lot of the traditional suggestions like just getting a side gig arent as feasible. Im not even as far north as Im assuming you are and some of the stuff mentioned would be difficult even here. 