Struggling with finances... Don't know what to do anymore

[Anonymous]

OP here. My DH is phone-interviewing (not even a real interview, ugh) for a job in Maine next week. The pay is 75K there. GOD i hope something works out soon. Thank you all for your responses, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Our parents live in a part of the country where 65K jobs are unheard of, so moving closer to them would be even worse for our finances.

Do you have supportive family? See if you can move back in with one of your parents as a temporary measure. Live there, hopefully family can help with the kids, and get whatever kind of work you can.

Have your husband rent a room in someone's house for $400/month and stay here. Work his job and work a second job.

Everyone just save as much money as you can for 2 years and get yourself as much out of debt as possible.

I don't see any other option. You owe a LOT of money and none of it is subject to bankruptcy.

I'm 19:35 and I think this is really sound advice. No matter what you do, it is going to be hard. Really hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP. Actually I've been thinking about doing that! How do you do that? Do the kids just stay in your living room? We live in a townhouse so there's not a lot of space... How much do you charge per week to watch other people's kids? Do you just advertise on Craigslist?

You let people who already know you and trust you (because you spend a lot of time around them with their kids) know that you are agreeable to doing some childcare.

If you plan to be an in home child care provider, there is a formal process regulated by the county. Contact their office and find out how to become licensed.

Yes, if you are caring for your own children in your living room, you would care for additional children in the living room, also kitchen, basement, wherever your children are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again. I tried to get a night job at the grocery store but the manager lady laughed at me when she saw that I went to law school. I interviewed for a $45,000 job at Georgetown last week but the manager said it would take "two to three weeks" to get back to me. I nearly freaked out and cried, "I can't WAIT another two to three weeks, my bills are due NOW."

I think you do need to leave the law school off your resume for these types of jobs.

Can you just say you were an at home mom for those years?

[Anonymous]

Could you do an alternative teacher's certification? Substitute teach? I don't know where you live, but I've known a few people who have done both. How old are your kids? If they aren't in school yet, could you do a babysitting trade with someone in your neighborhood?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again. I tried to get a night job at the grocery store but the manager lady laughed at me when she saw that I went to law school. I interviewed for a $45,000 job at Georgetown last week but the manager said it would take "two to three weeks" to get back to me. I nearly freaked out and cried, "I can't WAIT another two to three weeks, my bills are due NOW."

I think you do need to leave the law school off your resume for these types of jobs.

Can you just say you were an at home mom for those years?

You don't use a resume for this, you fill out a job application and you don't tell them you went to law school...

[Anonymous]

Loudoun county is hiring a lot of teachers this fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Our parents live in a part of the country where 65K jobs are unheard of, so moving closer to them would be even worse for our finances.

Do you have supportive family? See if you can move back in with one of your parents as a temporary measure. Live there, hopefully family can help with the kids, and get whatever kind of work you can.

Have your husband rent a room in someone's house for $400/month and stay here. Work his job and work a second job.

Everyone just save as much money as you can for 2 years and get yourself as much out of debt as possible.

I don't see any other option. You owe a LOT of money and none of it is subject to bankruptcy.

I'm 19:35 and I think this is really sound advice. No matter what you do, it is going to be hard. Really hard.

This. Have you passed the bar?

[Anonymous]

OP here. I don't have teacher certification. The only job experience I have (other than law) is two years of being a financial aid counselor at a university.

[Anonymous]

Try to get in with the federal gvt. May agencies have student loan repayment programs.

[Anonymous]

you could be a surrogate.

[Anonymous]

OP here -- I am going to go start dinner now. Thank you for all your responses. It's funny... I read about how mean-spirited this board is supposed to be, but you all have been very kind and offered me a lot of good advice. I'll think about my options the next few days and try to figure out a plan to get through this. Thank you again!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:you could be a surrogate.

I'm thinking this was a joke but you could be an egg donor- think it pays around 8-9000. It's no picnic though- you have to take lots of hormones so that your body will produce lots of eggs like women who do ivf. You would be a good candidate though- in your 20s and law school grad.

[Anonymous]

I might sound crazy and I don't know where you live, but I was in the Gymboree in Pentagon City mall last week and it was a DISASTER -- the manager told me they only had 4 employees and said if I knew anyone to send them her way. So, you could try there! No idea pay, etc, but it was obvious from how messy that place was that she did need to hire more help.

GOOD LUCK!!!

[Anonymous]

OP.....I have a day job as well as two passive income websites.....the first one makes around $10,000 a year and the other one is making around $5,000 a year. This could be a great way for you to slowly pay off debt over time. Once you put the hard work in to developing a website, you continue to earn money, with much less work over time. There are minimal costs to starting these websites ($299 a year) and have been a great way for me to save up money.....I got into it because my day job somewhat bores me and I love knowing that I have these websites if things ever went south at my day job. If you're interested, I could share more info with you....let me know The company that I use to develop the websites is called sitesell.com