<prompt> Human: So here is my situation this is a little long so bear with me. I 45Fam a college educated professional with a steady job at decent pay , I am divorced and have three children 8,8, 11 and my college age son living with me. My ex pays regular child support and helps out with incidentals sports, music lessons etc I live in Northeast in one of the most expensive counties in the region. I am stuck here. My ex would never leave this area and I have already relocated from a more expensive town . I am flat BROKE! I had to go the food pantry for groceries this month and I am on their holiday gift list. I do not have two nickels to rub together, I consider myself pretty frugal: buy most of my clothes at GW or thrift store, cut the cord for cable, dont eat out, etc. The biggest issue I see is that I lose two months salary over the summer bc I work for school system. My justification for this is that I work in the same system in which my children attend school, therefore I do not incur childcare expenses for all vacations , snow days, days off or early dismissals. I collect a small amount of unemployment over the summer and usually put away my tax refund, as well as money from a part time job to last me over the summer. I am at the top of my pay scale for my job, and my level of education so barring a career change , changing jobs would most likely not be an improvement, Although I continue to look just in case. Here is a list of my financesHousehold Finances total : 4,579.00 That includes everything from rent to credit card paymentsIncome without per diem work 5,060.00 which leaves a whopping total of 481 left over. I can scrape by but can not even put away an emergency fund. Luckily I have the support of my mom when there is a real emergency, but I can not continue to rely on her. Where do I go from here? I am taking whatever help social services can provide me but that is limited because my income is not at poverty level. I am happy to provide more details to anyone who can help. UPDATE: Thank you Reddit! I am so appreciative for everyones time and great ideas. There were a lot of great suggestions here and I have taken action on a few already. I have also come to the conclusion that some things are life style choices that I am not willing to change for good reason.This is what I have done so far today:1.Increased my hours at the SNF that I work per diem . I spoke with my boss today and have been promised an additional 10 hours per month . That will give me a total of 600.00 extra per month. I plan on using that 600.00 to pay down credit cards so that I can go into the summer with less credit card debt. 2.Canceled Hulu, and Sling and called a different internet provider. Set up to have service installed on Friday.Saved 40.00 by cancelling subscriptions. New provider with basic TV andinternet is costing 65.00 per month3.Submitted application to start driving for Uber, I figure if I can drive Friday nights during bar hours I can at least offset my car payment until I can do something with the lease. I still have 2 more years on the lease. 4. Spruced up my resume and will post to Monster and Indeed. I am a little unsure about this step but want to put feelers out. There are a few things I am not willing to change and for what I think is good reason. 1. I want to continue living in a decent, safe community with my children. I want my kids to have a backyard to play in and a bedroom to sleep in.I live in a town that has one of the best school systems and low crime rate. It is one of the more affordable towns in my region. I am not moving to an area where my childrens safety and my own and their education is negatively impacted. Unfortunately I live in CT. It is crazy expensive here and it sucks but here I must stay . I can not move away from my family, friends or emotional support system. 2. I need to have a vehicle of some sort.It is not reasonable financially or otherwise to not have one. Last year I had to drive my daughter to the hospital in the middle of the night. It took 30 mins, she had to have an appendectomy. I dont think I could wait for an Uber or a cab in that situation and with my luck I would have the in my account to pay for it at the time. I need to run the same errands as any mother does. Oh crap I am out of milk, Someone needs to go the dentist or doctor, I forgot my wallet at work. These things will and do occur no matter how organized and scripted life is. I do NOT need a 450 per month Kia. This is a big regret and will have to get out of this lease somehow. Thank you all again for the help. Kepp the suggestions comingAssistant: You would need to post a more detailed version of your budget in order to get help in cutting down on costs of certain items. Does that 4579 include your groceries? If it does and you are saving 481 a month then it isnt too bad. However, if I am reading what you wrote correctly are you bringing in 54K AFTER taxes?Human: That is correct. I am only paid 10 months out of the year . Assistant: Housing rent-2,000.00 Grocery-500.00 Car payment-450.00 Car Insurance-85.00 Garbage Removalno town service-40.00 Cell phone-77.00 TV subscriptions netflix,sling,etc-50.00 Internetcable-70.00 Electricity-170.00 Water-85.00 Gas 200.00 Entertainment-75.00 Credit Cards-340.00 Oil 212.00 Human: Off the bat - sell the car and get something significantly cheaper. Do you have any savings? Cut all other entertainment subscriptions except one ex: keep Netflix and get rid of Sling, Hulu, what not. CUT CABLE. Only keep internet. Does your adult son work? If not and he is in school - does he get student loans or scholarshipsgrant money? If so - he needs to contribute to the household. What is the Oil for?Assistant: cable IS internet only. I have no savings in order to buy a car so I am forced to lease so that I have reliable transportation. My son works and pays his own expenses, oil is home heating fuelHuman: Even if you are forced to lease, which you arent, you arent forced to lease a 450month car. You can lease for 200month or less. A 450month lease is a really expensive over the top car.Assistant: I lease a Kia SorrentoHuman: Can I turn the lease in? Is there a penalty for that  <response>: How long was your lease two years? How many months do you have left? 