<prompt> Human: Everything costs, right?Wife and I make about 135K combined, which should put us in pretty decent shape, all around. And yet, we live paycheck to paycheck, have no savings to speak of, and were facing a mortgage time bomb thats set to explode in four years.Were both gainfully employed and we have a preschool-aged son. The bad:An interest-only mortgage we picked up on bad advice I know, its our fault at the end of the day, right before the housing market went in the toilet. Were about 110K upside down, so refinancing is out of the question. D-Day: Feb 2016, when the IO term is up and adds about a grand to the monthly payment.My wife has about 20K in school loans, we have one car payment mine, and about 30K in credit card debt, which weve become much more disciplined about int he last few years. Ouch.I have a long commute, so it costs me almost 20 a day to get to work, with these gas prices. Daycare for the offspring is about 1K a month. Car payment, gas, daycare, insurance, etc... Costs me about 2K a month to go to work. Changing jobs in this market, in my field, is out of the question. I have no savings plan or 401K or anything of the sort at work. Wife has a 401K, but is putting in the minimum, and theres not much there.Were treading water for now, but were about one good illness or layoff away from blowing the whole house of cards down. I cant help but think theres some critical piece of information were missing that would make this all easier and get us on track. I feel like were running so hard just to stay in place, and theres no chance to get ahead.Any thoughts? Who can I talk to? Help me, Internet!  <response>: Big problems require big changes. Painful changes. Youre not going to get there by treading water any longer. Start the changes at the top of the budget heap.Suggestions: Mortgage - Youve been paying interest only for 6 years, the value of your home has dropped 110 and you have 0 equity in the home? Time to mitigate the pain. Rent out a spare room. No, it wont be a hobo, its probably some young professional who just needs a place to sleep. Sell the car you have payments on. Buy something with cash. It will suck. Do not spend more than 5k. Talk to your supervisor about telecommuting one day a week. Dont tell me itll never fly, sit down with him in his office and have the conversation. Worst case? You were right. Huzzah. Best case, you just saved yourself some cash. Recurring bills: insurance, cable, internet, cell phones, gym memberships... leave no stone untouched. Whens the last time you spoke to your insurance provider? Give them a call, go to a higher deductible plan to save on the rate. Make sure theyre information is accurate. Cancel the gym membership. Cancel the cable. Scale back the cell phone plans Republic Wireless Income - identify a source for additional income. Do some free-lance web design, writing, yard work, wood working. Sell some of those old EE-bonds grandma bought you 30 years ago. Make a case to your boss for a raise. Have the wife do the same. Make a plan. You have four years to find another 1kmonth of income or savings. Honestly, you should aim much higher. Set up regular check-up points with the wife budget monthly? to review progress. Dont be surprised when the four years are up, be expecting it and excited. 