<prompt> Human: Currently making about 55 - 60kyr in a sales job, but its not enough. my pay schedule is frustrating waiting for quarterly commissions and other incentives, im the only one working, and its never enough. i currently have lines of credit with three different cash advance places, i cant pay my rent this month, i just bounced the car note and the electric bill. we get a decent tax return every year that sort of allows us to get caught up, correct some mistakes and start over, but we always end up back here. this year we are in the worst shape weve ever been in, and I dont know if my creditors will wait for that tax return to come in. Ive been through some financial counseling, so i feel like i know what i should be doing, but it always comes back to not making enough money. circumstances in our life dont allow me to get a traditional 2nd job, so i usually have to get creative delivery driver, waiting tables, etc, but most of the time it doesnt work out. im just looking for some common sense advice and someone to tell me what i need to be doing. EDIT: I want to thank everyone for the responses. A lot of whats being said is confirmation of things ive known for a while. As far as cheaper rent, thats not really an option. Were about forty minutes outside Nashville, and the market here is in a pretty ridiculous bubble right now. we live in a 3 bedroom house, and we actually looked into a few 2 bedroom apartments and they werent enough of a cost savings for us to make that work. we happened into the house where we are now, and we actually got a really good deal. similar places are going for a couple hundred more per month all over town. Ive agreed to look for a second job, one with more stable hours and a steadier pay rate that we can count on. my wife is going to start looking for other ways she can contribute, and were both going to get more serious about side businesses that weve had on the back-burner for a while. ive been dragging my feet on doing freelance design work, because i cant afford the software that i need to be considered a professional, but honestly I might just have to ask some designer friends if I can use theirs for now. As far as our car, thats one of my biggest regrets. when we got it, our last van had just died after a long, expensive illness. i had gotten a decent commission check that i used as a down payment, and i had also gotten a pay bump that i used to justify the new monthly expense. hindsight being 2020, i should have just taken my check and paid cash for a van, but our last paid-for van cost us 3000 in repairs in six months, so we felt like we deserved something nicer. i know. you dont have to say anything. i kick myself almost daily for that decision. im going to start calling around about phones and internet and get my rates down. im going to look for a part time gig after work today, and my wife is going through the house now to see what we can sell. i should mention that ive been trying to get into another department at work that would give me at least a 10kyr bump, but this will be the fifth time Ive tried for a promotion this year. ive been turned down four times in less than a year, so if i dont get this position, im probably going to start looking somewhere else. its scary, because even though the pay isnt where i need it to be, the benefits are great for our family. I just wanted to say thanks again. Im working on it, and Ill keep you posted as things develop. Assistant: Im sorry youre going through this, and I can imagine the stress of the situation. A friend of mine once told me, theres no shame in tough times. I loved the expression because I was going through a tough time when I heard it, and it reminded me that everybody at some point or another looks toward their future with dread and uncertainty - theres no shame in feeling that way. You say youre a husband, is there a reason why your wife isnt working? Thats absolutely where I would start. If your wife homeschools or cares for your kids, then its time to take advantage of your tax dollars and send them to public school, or find a cheap form of daycare. If your wife doesnt have a reason not to work, then she has no excuse for not working. Maybe shes not aware of how dire your situation is, in which case its time you let her know. Human: thanks for the kind words. my wife doesnt work for a handful of reasons, the biggest one is caring for and homeschooling the kids. they are all under 10, the youngest being 3. our oldest are triplets. this is what ultimately led to my wife leaving the workforce to begin with, as daycare was going to be more than her take-home at the time, so it made sense. a few years later i got a raise, and had another child, and then another raise, and then another child. over the past couple of years, though, my company has restructured our compensation plan a few times, so what looks like a raise on paper is now actually me bringing home less money. throughout this, weve typically only had one vehicle to keep costs down, so it makes it hard to coordinate a schedule that would include us working different jobs. to help out in the past she has had times where she contributed by watching other peoples children. its never been a lot of extra money, but enough to cover a couple of bills. it was honestly a lot of stress for her. she is a miracle worker when it comes to children, she potty-trained two of the kids she watched in two weeks. but since she was always watching the children of people we knew or were friends with, it seems like they were always trying to push the envelope a little. its like they knew they could do stuff with us that they couldnt do with a traditional daycare and get away with it, and my wife hated feeling like she was being taken advantage of. we agreed to let her take a break, and if i had to id wait tables at night or something. then, last school year, my son was assaulted by another student, and that made us decide to try homeschooling. this wasnt the first incident that we had within the public school system, and we knew it wouldnt be the last, so the decision was made to try homeschooling for one year. the kids are doing great with it, so its hard for me to say that its not worth it. so, while she doesnt work outside the home, she does contribute a great deal. she has tried her hand at direct sales opportunities and things like that, but those never work out the way they promise to. sorry for the wall of rambling text.  <response>: She can be an UberLyft driver when you get home or especially weekend night. Not sure where you live but if there is a decent sized city around you could easily make a couple hundred a weekend 