<prompt> Human: I was a normal, middle class guy, wife, two kids, dog, house mortgage, van loan. Everything was going great, we could easily handle the payments, and were getting a lot of upgrades done to the house as well which we had put on credit.Then, my wife got sick, spent six weeks in the hospital and has now been home for three.Life kinda changed a bit... Luckily, Im in Canada, so I didnt rack up a fortune in hospital bills. But, we lost the 1500 month she was earning, plus Ive needed to put my youngest in daycare 600 month, so Im looking at an unplanned net change of 2100 month to our income. After crunching the numbers, I found that I can barely afford to keep the house. I looked at the expenses, and cut hard.Last month saved about 600 off the normal credit card bill, mainly by being a lot more careful on food expenses. That should be sustainable. Next year the daycare expenses should drop, as my youngest will be in kindergarten for half days. The following year the van is paid off 500 month. Selling it and getting a less expensive vehicle isnt really an option for me right now. The van is worth approx the value of the loan on it, and its at a 3 rate. We sold off our second vehicle about 6 years ago, when we decided that it was a luxury we didnt need.Ive managed to rebuild a 1000 emergency reserve blew through the old one while my wife was in the hospital, and hope by the end of December to have it at 2000.But boy, it is amazing how fast you can change from knowing you have everything under control to wondering if you are going to lose everything.Work screwed up my pay while this was happening changed bank accounts, the messed up the account number to deposit my pay into, and all the sudden I had to worry about how to pay all my bills, just because my pay came 2 days late...Ill be reading this sub to continue getting suggestions on how to better deal with my fragile situation.  <response>: Good luck! Best wishes to your wife, too. 