High Noon: Tough Making Ends Meet

Kendramama: We are, for the first time, living in dread of overdraft charges as we wait anxiously for my husband’s paycheck every other week. I, for the first time in years, am among the ranks of the unemployed, and not just because of choice. It’s rather difficult to find a job that will fit around my relatives’ schedule- they’ll have to be caring for my son while I work (we certainly can’t afford childcare at this point), or one that meshes with my husband’s schedule nicely enough for him to care for the boy while I work. Graveyard? I’d jump on it, but them’s mighty slim pickin’s out there. Full post below .

Question: Elsewhere in the comments thread, BrentA describes working 2 jobs and being glad to take a $15K loss on a rental simply to get it off his hands. Are you holding more than one job in order to make ends meet?

We are, for the first time, living in dread of overdraft charges as we wait anxiously for my husband’s paycheck every other week. I, for the first time in years, am among the ranks of the unemployed, and not just because of choice.
It’s rather difficult to find a job that will fit around my relatives’ schedule- they’ll have to be caring for my son while I work (we certainly can’t afford childcare at this point), or one that meshes with my husband’s schedule nicely enough for him to care for the boy while I work. Graveyard? I’d jump on it, but them’s mighty slim pickin’s out there. I’m also within 5-15 days to receiving my award letter for financial aid to afford becoming a full-time student at NIC come this Spring Semester (for the uninformed: classes start December, preparations start asap once getting the actual check: registering for classes, book buying, etc). So that’s gonna be rather difficult to juggle a full OR part-time job around as well.
Meanwhile, day after day while I wait, I sit and scour the web and when I can get down there, the college’s database for legit scholarships and philanthropic grants; attempting to glean from the thousands of possibles out there- most of them thinly disguised Phoenix-type ads and the like- an actual grant towards my double major of Secondary Ed and Social Work. The real ones do exist. Just gotta find ‘em and win ‘em with a gloriously written essay stating why me, rather than the other needy thousands, deserve their dough.
Back to the original lead-in by Brent, we’ve also been forced for the first time EVER to apply for food stamps and medical assistance for our son. Rather humiliating. But I just don’t see how otherwise we will be able to even get him to his checkups, let alone if he gets truly ill. Our options have narrowed to the point where we’ve had to swallow our pride and ask for assistance. I’m hoping it will be a temporary thing- Tonydaddy’s benefits will kick in after six months at his new job- one he was forced to take at a HUGE pay cut, almost 40%- in fact, he was making more on unemployment from his OLD job than he is in wages from this new one- how ironic and sad is that?
We’re also cutting WAY back on driving, not to mention the fact that we’re temporarily (til next payday) doing so illegally, as our insurance lapsed due to non-payment of our last premium. One more thing to stress about.
So… I think the food stamps will help. I’ll still keep searching for the “perfect” job, and most likely settle for something far less than what I’d hoped for, but better than the nothing I’m making now. I’ll hunt and dig for scholarships, as FAFSA only covers so much, and maybe even be awarded a few. Maybe we’ll find a bank willing to overlook our nearly atrocious credit and issue a small loan so we won’t get TOO far behind and have to start disconnecting things this month and next. But somehow we’ll struggle our way through this, I’ll keep my eye on the eventual prize of an actual CAREER; hell, even an internship could be on the horizon as early as next year or the year after, and… hope and pray things get better.