<prompt> Human: So my wife was a cop. We benefited from tons of overtime and were really working to get our debt paid down. She started a new job because her knee was acting up and she grew tired of never seeing the family. Her new job pays what her old job did minus the 1000 per month in OT she was bringing home. We never made our budget based on overtime so we are okay there. She went to work for the state. I work for the state as well and we are paid once a month. No big deal, we are pretty good at budgeting for it. But, because she started int he middle of the month, her salary is half of what it normally is. So, we are staring at a bank account that is much smaller than it normally is and 31 days until the next check. Any advice for us on how to make it? We have cut all of our debt payment to minimum payments for the month. We have eliminated our allowances for the month. We have trimmed our discretionary spending. I am looking at this bank account and thinking we wont make it. Our savings is tiny since we were focusing on the debt. That was stupid of us but I have to work with what I have. EDIT: Just a couple of minutes ago, my father-in-law offered to put me to work part-time in the evenings and on Saturdays at his store for some extra income. This will help even after this month as I will be keeping that job as long as he will have me. So, it would seem part of this issue is solved. We will focus on the emergency fund so this does not become an issue in the future. Thanks, however, for all of the advice. Assistant: Did she go directly from the police force to the state? If yes, then you should have the final police paycheck to offset the diffference; if not, the she just had an unpaid vacation.Human: She was on light duty with her last job so her pay was cut. Then there was a two week gap because when she put in her two week notice, they let her go due to the sensitivity of her position and being on light duty, she was worthless to them. We rolled her retirement and her vacation leave was all but used up because of appointments we are still waiting for workers comp to reimburse. That money may be here this month, may be here next month. From what I can budget, we will have a small, very small, surplus in the budget. I have to register my truck and we live in a state with no income tax, so they get you with registration. That is easy to work around because I will park it for the month and walk to work. We are doing what we need to, I think, as we saw this coming. I am just worried I overlooked something. I am the one freaking out. I guess if there really is something, we have our savings and then a credit card with no balance we save for emergencies.  <response>: She was on light duty with her last job so her pay was cut. Then there was a two week gap because when she put in her two week notice, they let her go due to the sensitivity of her position and being on light duty, she was worthless to them.When I had this exact same thing happen to me except a private employer, I was able to get unemployment for those two weeks. 