What do you do when you can't seem to make it on your income

So how do you balance all the expenses with your income?

Just looking for a way to cut out costs.

Well combined my husband and I earn less than 2000 a month. But if he has a short check it sets up back. He's working overtime at his job but there is about 130 taken out a week for child support.(And that is a whole other situation all together...don't even wanna get into it)

We are both in college to get a degree so we can get better jobs. I will be driving to TTU this fall 3 days a week and he will be driving to RSCC in Crossville 2 days a week. We have signed up for as many internet classes as we can and tried to work our schedules so there are less days of travel. So because of this we have to have the internet. And unfortunately last semester I tried to do my tests using dial up and had zero luck.

We have no credit cards and both paychecks are direct deposited. He swears up and down because I'll be traveling to Cookeville 3 days a week I will need a cell phone. So we have those. I don't really want them but he says we have to have them cause of our traveling. I'd like to get rid of them but its an uphill battle talking him out of it.

I tried to grow a garden this year but so far all I've accomplished is some anger issues at squirrels digging up the seeds. We eat pasta, rice, and fries a lot of the time. These are foods that will fill us up and only require us to eat once a day if we have to go that route. I don't drink soda unless I'm at work and need to caffeine. And even then I try to bring small bottles of pop that I have pre-purchased.

Basically I've tried to cut out all the unnecessary bills. No cable television. We only watch movies. Do laundry about once a week and its usually 2 or 3 loads. I don't run the lights that much and I unplug them when not in use for long periods of time.

We have one bank payment of about 200 dollars that pays the loan on three vehicles. My GMC Jimmy gets about 20 to 25 mpg if I really baby it...which I do. His older model (70s) Dodge has sentimental value as his grandfather recently passed away and it's the only think he got..and he had to buy it. And he has a motorcycle which is his main form of transportation. This saves a lot of money in gas and allows him to travel the small distance between home and work.

I've tried to pinpoint where we are going wrong and to pre-plan when we will pay bills but some weeks it seems like there isn't enough to pay the bills I plan out.

Thus is LIFE in a small town.