My husband and I are living beyond our means, but our rent is among the lowest in our city and we never buy anything we cant pay for in cash. Half of my husband's paycheck goes to pay child support for his two daughters yet we are considered to have a middle class income. The courts just denied my husband's request to waive the fee it will cost to have his custody re-instated. The ex-wife has done a super job of alienating us from the girls and we just want them back in our lives. She has even gone so far as to keep their baby brother a secret from them, he is now 16 months old and they do not even know he exists. The courts denied the fee waiver ($300+) since our household income exceeds their limits. How laughable! We have two other children in our home to support and they only consider gross income and not take home pay in their guidelines. Currently, our bills exceed our income by about 200-300 dollars a month and this doesnt include birthdays and holidays when I have to get REALLY creative. I sold some of my baby's old clothes yesterday and made $50. This will go towards our (late) rent payment and we are still $300 shy of that goal. What the heck is going on here? I cant get help from any government agency, and not only that but the child support tax laws need to be changed! The imbalance is a catastrophe for non-custodial parents. No tax write offs, then the recipient of the child support never has to claim the money as income?!?!? Come on!

My dream is to be able to work from home with my children and instead I am considering taking on a 3rd job to make ends meet. I am so tired of living day to day and placating myself with the fact that we are alive and fed and have a roof over our heads for TODAY. I cant think about the future or I get so sad. My husband is currently going to school part time to try and make a better life for us. We spent a fortune in books and tuition for this because, again, we do not qualify for any assistance. This has put us even further behind not to mention the raising price of gasoline and electricity. All of our bills are 2 months behind and buying new clothes or shoes for my kids (never for myself!) would feel like a real luxury to us. To top it all off, my ex husband only pays a fraction of what he owes in child support each month and gets away with it working under the table jobs with friends and family. I can only count on the government to report to me each month the dismal truth, which is they cant do a damn thing to help. Big surprise! Maybe I should pop out a few more kids and acquire a crack habit. Will they help me then?

I love to crochet and I make beautiful hats for adults and children. I also love to make baby blankets and purses from recycled materials. If I could craft for a living it would be a dream come true. Unfortunately, I am not too great of a salesperson as my real estate career has shown me.

I'm really looking for some emotional relief and writing this out has been quite theraputic. Any advice or help is very welcome. And if you or someone you know would like to have a beautiful, handmade crochet item let me know!