<prompt> Human: Edit: Thanks for the replies, and I have read and considered all of them.Im going to have a really tough talk with the fiancee about some things. Clearly some issues stem from relationship issuespriories and how we resolve conflict over money. Good suggestions about cell phone providers! Im stuck in a 2 year contract with Sprint so Ive got to wait a few months. I double checked and its more like 80 per line. But still thats alot of money.Im open to selling the house, and thats seeming like the most logical route. Question: I am not understanding why people are suggesting I move to an apartment though? That means the entire selling price less 250k is taxed as capital gains. Thats a big tax hit to take. And I dont see how it would be cheaper. The landlord has to make a profit somehow or he wouldnt be doing it. I am open to discussing this further, but I just am not understanding how renting for 1,000-1,500 and losing a chunk of the nest egg to taxes is better than just buying a smaller house? I agree the pet expense is high. I am going to think hard on this to come up with a solution that is ethical and humane. Its not as simple as putting them by the curb with a free sign. Its not an old sofa.Please STOP with the personal criticisms and the excessive downvoting. Please dont assume. Implying that Im endangering a child, hoarding animals, or being just plain stupid isnt really helpful. Nobody is smoking near the child. The childs needs are all met. The pets needs are all met, and its not hoarding if I got them before I hit the financial crisis. I wasnt always this poor. In the bigger scheme of things, this crisis is short term and Im going to have it fixed within a year, no matter what. Thanks again for the ideas and helpful suggestions. ---Im scared were going to lose our home. Or have to sell it because we cant afford to pay property taxes. Im a long time fan of this sub, but today Im using a throwaway because Im sharing financial information. Please help us save our home!Situation:I am engaged, and we have a 1 year old. He works 50-60 hours a week. Im still stay at home because daycare is outrageously expensive local jobs dont pay enough to offset childcare costs. I have 2 college degrees once of which is in Nursing R.N.. But I dont care what the news says, the economy SUCKS at least in my part of the country. Only places hiring are things like Walmart cashier or fast food.The good news: House has no mortgage! All our cars are paid for - no loans. My student loans are paid off. And I try to live frugally. Only one credit card carries a balance about 10,000 because of the months where necessities such as car repairs happened and we just didnt have the money; interest rate 12. I do have excellent credit of close to 800, so refinancing the debt should be an option. Income: fiancee is paid 15.60hour, does 50-60 hours per weeks, brings home after taxes maybe 700. Hes got excellent driving record and 10 years experience with a CDL Class B license, but the truth is companies just arent paying much in my area and taxes are that high. So lets say its an average after taxes of 600week 31,200year Assets:House: 450,000 I own no liensVehicles: my Toyota econobox 5k, my Chevy pickup 6k, his Chevy suv 5k we are working on selling his SUVExpenses:- Property taxes for the house 3,900year- Homeowners insurance 1,700year- Auto insurance 2,400year between his policy and mine. Insurance company wont let us combine things until married. We both have excellent driving records.- Food 300-400month ??- Utilities: Power 200-250month, Heat hotwater 300month average, Water sewer well is free, Trash I take to landfill myself for 6visit ... monthly total about 500-550 Heat: I turn thermostat back to 58-62F in winter and installed programmable thermostats but house is 2700 sq ft - Phone: no house phone. Cell phones 200 total.- Internet: 45 cheapest plan- TV: no satellite or cable. Netflix 8month- Minimal maintenance on house cars: 2,000year estimate- Pets expenses- cats, dog, 4 horses: food, shots, medical, etc: 3,500year. The horses arent very marketable so theyd be hard to sell and it would devastate me to have them put down because of budget. This is the last thing Ill give up. Id rather subsist on ramen noodles!- Household items, clothes shoes thrift store or walmart, and other essentials: estimate 1,000year- Interest payments on the stupid credit card. Currently about 100 each payment is interest and another 100-150 additional makes up minimum payment of 250month- Gas for him to get to work and me to run minimal errands: 100-150month- Savings and retirement: we have nothing left to put in these accounts !!!- Childs expenses: clothes, formula, etc - currently my mother buys most of what baby needs. But this isnt a way to live!? estimate at 1000year plus we want to put away for her for emergency or education, but we cant. So right now is 0- Health insurance: currently enrolled in Medicaid free but we may lose that now that hes working so many hours. To buy health insurance through his employer, his contribution is 525.00 a month plus co-pays. Im budgeting 0 but dont know what will happen if we lose Medicaid eligibility.Luxury expenses:- dining out: no restaurants but we have been doing Chinese Take out 2-3x a month 100month. Its my only indulgence.- cigarettes: I dont smoke. Hes at close to 2 packs a day, he says due to work stress. 300-350month- he sometimes grabs lunch at convenience store because hes driving 12 hour days. I wouldnt do this, but I cant control what he does. Lets say 1-2x a week 10 visit 100month- we stopped going to movies, stopped taking trips, dont go to shows, etc. No vacations. No nothing. I dont buy jewelry, dont shop the mall, dont eat fast food, dont buy things for fun. I buy my clothes used. Furniture is older and bought secondhand. I stopped going out with friends. This is getting depressing.- I do all our own lawn care, dog grooming,cleaning, housepainting, etc. I try to fix as much as I can myself. No manicures. No spa days. Right now I have shaggy hair because Id rather not spend the 25 right now. No nothing we dont absolutely need.- no money to open pool so I will leave it covered again this summerBottom line:Take home pay 31,200year projected tax refund 5k-6k about 36,200 Expenses at least 37k which doesnt pay down credit cardAnd as soon as we start getting ahead something big unexpected happens. For example water heater died and its special order so it was 2,000 installed. We have nothing in savings. We have no retirement. The tractor we depend on for snow removal for our long driveway mowing for big lawn is broken 4000 repair or 20,000 to replace. The Toyota failed emission this month and will need 800 to 1000 in repairs to pass. The pickup has a power steering leak that ought to be fixed. Houseyard would benefit from a lot of fix up that isnt a necessity and not included in my estimates, but it looks crappy. PLEASE HELP!Is selling this house to buy a less expensive house or move to area with lower expenses smart? Were willing to leave this part of the state. Friends say that NorthSouth Carolina offer much better cost of living while still offering jobs near the cities. To move I estimate 30,000 in expenses sales commission, closing costs on new house, truck rentalIf I put this house on market, is it worth it to put into making this house look nice? And if so, how much? House is 20 years old. Right now its a bit shabby due to lack of for renovation. Most buyers want pretty move-in ready houses. But where will I get the 5 or 10k Id expect it would cost to fix up issues I cant fixrepaintclean myself? But that puts me more in debt until this house sells, which may take 6-12 months. Guesstimate is that its worth 425-450k as is, and closer to 500k if its in excellent cosmetic condition. Is it worth it to go to my credit union for a personal loan to pay off credit card, even know were still hemorrhaging money and likely will keep using the credit card? Hes is watching the help wanted ads for something better. But weve found that the good paying jobs are the ones nobody quits. I browse ads to see if I can find something part time that would pay more than what childcare costs. There isnt much, considering my schedule somewhat limited because of baby and his long hours. I have a Registered Nurse license but nobody wants to hire someone who cant work any shift they assign or work 10-12 hour shifts.tl;dr: Family of 3. No debt except 10k on credit card. Income estimated at 36k. Barebones expenses at least 37kyear with no left for savings or retirement. Plus facing some big expenses we ought to take care of. Assistant: Pets: 3500 per year.Cigarettes: 4200 per year assuming 350 per monthThats 7700 per year, which is about 25 of your annual take-home of 31200.Stop smoking and get rid of the horses. Your money problems are solved, and your husband wont die of cancer. Fix your tax withholding and your income will increase by several hundred dollars per month, and youll get a much smaller refund.The problem is that you have already said you wont get rid of the horses, even though everyone, including you, knows that someone making the kind of money you do should not own even one horse, much less four of them. You know what the problem is and refuse to solve it, so I dont see how you can be helped.Human: But its not that simple. He will not stop smoking. And if youve ever known someone with an addiction, youll understand its not as simple as saying oh just quit. I dont agree with it. But I cannot control his behavior. The only thing I can do is to break up with him. Is that what youre suggesting?Yes the pets are a luxury. But that figure also includes the family dog and the 3 cats. None of them are what you would call valuable. I guess if I had them all put to sleep, it would remove them from the expense column. But youve got to understand that these arent objects to me. Theyre a part of the family. I had them long before I had the baby or the fiancee. Its the only thing keeping me sane in a world where I cant leave the house much because I fret about the cost of gas or doing anything. Theyre my therapy and the only thing keeping me sane when dealing with 12 hours alone with a crying baby. I would never forgive myself if I had them killed because I couldnt cut the fat out of my grocery or other bills well enough. Assistant: Who says you have to have them euthanized? Many pet shelters are no-kill and plenty of people adopt rehomed pets rather than buying expensive pure bred animals. I think getting rid of the horses by giving them away would be the first thing to do.An RN with a BSN typically makes 50-70k and there is no way in hell a daycare costs more than 15-20k per year. Theres something missing in this story. You need to be working at least part time.You dont need to leave your fiance but you can have a serious discussion, showing him the numbers. Youre drowning and his actions are directly affecting that.Human: Please trust me when I say theyre not marketable. Ive volunteered for my areas horse Rescue org for years. One of my jobs is to return peoples phone calls and tell them theres a waiting list for owner surrenders at our local Rescue program. All the rescues are full for voluntary owner surrenders. If Animal Control calls with a seizure of neglected animals, thats different. But most no-kill programs just dont have the resources to take animals for non emergency reasons. As far as dogcats: Nobody adopts a 14 year old dog who is half blind and is starting to have accidents in the house. The cats are healthy adults but there are so many cats in my county that even kittens are sometimes put down. When the SPCA had the animal control contract for this area theyd euthanize once a week, killing so many dogs and cat it was filling 55 gallon drums. They had to operate their own incinerator, they killed in such quantity. Over the years Ive spent a lot of time with activism trying to get more spayneuter and more owner education, but there are just so many pets that are homeless right now. The one shelter tried to go no-kill and then they got in trouble for warehousing animals with crates stacked on crates on other crates, row after row of animals locked up. Yes a RN can make 50-70k but I dont have a BSN. I have a RN license with ASN degree associates. Id happily go study for a BSN or Masters, but it all comes back to how to pay for it. Lots of employers want BSNs. They want experience, which I dont yet have. Long term care nursing homes seem to be most likely to hire the least desirable nursing job seekers, but their pay is dismal - far from 50k. But Ill keep it on the list as an option if all else fails. I just dont know how any family can make it without two full time incomes. My grandparents could. I wonder what happened between then and now which made it impossible for most people not to be at home to raise their own children? I agree its a serious matter. Ive had the talk a few times with him. Ive made up spreadsheets which I printed and tried to show him. I tried to get him to look at the Mint.com page. He doesnt say much. I have asked him could he at least try to get the cigarettes by the carton just over the state line cheaper but he wont do it. Im so tired of stressing over money plus a baby crying at me 12 hours a day and a touch of post-partum depression. I can only fight so much.  <response>: One full time income at 15hr is plenty to get by on. Just not while living in a half million dollar house with a pool and four horses. 