Hellobee Boards

@locavore_mama: I was hoping you could kick BIL out or have him step it up to help you out!

baby consignment stores?
adult consignment stores?

or make BIL pay you rent or at the very least, groceries?
after you kick BIL, get another paying roomie?

Rent out a room, change investment strategies, stop long term savings, defer loan payments, part time work, barter for services.

@locavore_mama: same here re: the clothes. ah well! Kicking BIL out sounds like the best option so far!

@locavore_mama: Maybe try to find a bee who is interested in sharing your Amazon Prime? We share with my parents and it's super easy. We also share our Netflix subscription with my husband's best friend. He pays us in dog sitting, but still, haha!

@locavore_mama: How is MIL? Are you actively trying to job hunt, or is MIL taking priority right now?

I think you mentioned the GI bill stuff before, so I don't know if that's an option. DH took online classes at the community college and borrowed his books from Chegg.com and we lived on his living stipend and pocketed the book money for like 6 months when he was unemployed and I was waiting on my Bar Exam results. He still has 8 months left on the GI bill and has floated it as an option for me to do since I can as a spouse while I'm on maternity leave to make up some of our income loss.

I don't know if this is something you can do, but putting feelers out in your community might help too - just letting folks know you have availability to do a little work here and there. There's lots of moms out there who need help with some babysitting or after-school pick-ups and are more likely to hire a mom or mom-to-be in need than a high school kid. I got tapped into that kind of network once when I was out of work and I got so many word of mouth referrals for little jobs. Babysitting turned into petsitting, which turned into watering plants and collecting mail for neighbors while on vacation, housesitting, etc. I also used a neighborhood listserv to get random jobs, like baking someone a homemade birthday cake they didn't have time to make, or dropping off some scones for a tea, or sitting with an elderly person for an afternoon.

Maybe you have a skill you can help with like teaching piano or guitar to someone's kid, helping with typing or homework, or teaching someone to knit or sew or bake. I know a mom who started paying a high school kid $15 an hour to teach her son guitar knowing the high school kid wasn't going to be a "real" guitar teacher. She did it to help the kid out and to get her son off video games a few hours a week!

Dog walking might be another thing you could do a few times a week, just to get some fresh air.

Sorry if this is obvious, but have DH ask for a raise if it has been awhile. My DH got a nice one while I was pregnant and it helped alot. His boss knew we were expecting and I think that made him more generous.

I don't know too much about your situation but so sorry to hear about your job. We are really struggling right now on one income and a new house.
If you haven't already then I would start with a budget. What are your fixed expenses and estimates for regular recurring expenses such as gas and groceries? Do you have any irregular expenses such as quarterly water bill or something? If so try to accrue for them as well so you don't have a bad surprise when it comes due. Is there anyway you can lower some bills - for example hanging laundry to dry or using the dryer only during non-peak hours? Without your income do you qualify for assistance on your utilities? Can you receive discounts if you pay bills early? Can you replace just one cable box with an antenna? What about your DH's tax withholding? You may be able to reduce it so he receives more in his paycheck.
For us I try to figure out how much we have to spend on groceries and other necessities as well as any left over discretionary spending and take cash out of the ATM. Once that runs out we're done spending (except for.emergencies).
I don't know if any of these suggestions are helpful but at least know you are not alone with this struggle.

Omg your BIL... Surely he would feel a need to contribute since he's been living on your good graces for so long now without contributing??? Cutting the cable... We are thinking if doing this since there is so much available on Netflix... Or at least negotiate your rate down? Can you decrease number of days that M is going to day care for time being?

@locavore_mama: BTW, it was when I lost my job that my BIL quit his job and moved in.. That did not end well...

@locavore_mama: I am assuming you have a log of actual spend from the months prior? Where do you feel you can cut items?

I know it's hard to cut things like a daily latte when you don't have them to begin with. I feel like you probably already explored options like solar panels for your house...but what about things like the pool, is there a way to cut there?

Get a Leaf (electric car). I think there is still a tax benefit / credit ($5000?) if you buy your first electric car, or that's what I was told by DH. We sold our old VW (with tons of problems) and are leasing a leaf for 2 years (= owning our first electric car = eligible for the $5000 tax credit). Charging the battery every night only cost $1 a night compared to adding gas every week. With the $5000 credit DH kept saying we are literally driving the car for free. I haven't looked at the actual numbers yet (and haven't done our taxes) but something to look into

ETA: Wait, I think this is a state-specific thing though....

@locavore_mama: I know you said that you don't want to change your cell phone plans but I would still call your carrier! I had been told in the past that our phones were grandfathered into a better data plan than I could get now.

However we just called and were able to get unlimited talk & text plus 2 GB for $50/month cheaper than our current bill! They told us that we were using on average 1 GB of data between the 2 phones, so even though we thought we had a good deal with unlimited we weren't using very much data anyway.

Also call your auto/home or rental insurance companies. We just switched to using an agent who shopped around for the best policy (at no cost to us) and so far we're saving another $25/month for just auto. We're still waiting on the home owners quotes.

We also just cancelled Netflix, it's only $7.99 but it helps! We are able to watch shows on hulu.com for free and borrow videos from the library. We already have a Roku and watch the pbs and pbs kids channels for free, my husband watches history channel shows for free also using the Roku.

One thing I just started trying is selling items at a consignment store, they accept baby and maternity clothes as well as toys and books. Once the items sell you can cash out or keep the money in your account to buy items.