Those of you who saw my "Briefly" thread are probably aware that I lost my job a little over a month ago. I have done everything in my power to get another teaching job, so I'm nervously playing a waiting game at this point. Being a math teacher typically means a guaranteed hiring -somewhere-, but I have yet to hear from anyone. This is nerve-wracking and concerning. I've told my husband that perhaps God is lining things up for me to be a stay-at-home mom. It's something I've kind of wanted and would be overjoyed to have.

However, I'm also supposed to have a baby around Sept 15.  IF I don't get hired by a school system in the next four weeks, my insurance gets cut off midnight August 31. Due to the great insurance provided to teachers,  I only had to pay $20 of Joel's $18,000 bill. (And of course, this was with no complications whatsoever)

I'm afraid (for financial reasons only) of not getting hired by a school system in the next four weeks. We do have an option to extend my insurance, but I would have to fork over $1200 by Aug 1. Quite frankly, my husband and I can't afford our bills as is and often end up with a negative account or something like $30 spare.

In lieu of the choices though... paying off $18000 over the course of 2 decades or miraculously coming up with $1200 in a month... the latter is preferable.

 I've never been a creative sort , unfortunately, which is why I'm asking for advice. Our relatives can't lend us anything, and our credit is too bad to get any kind of loan, as far as I'm aware. My husband has been looking for a second job, but the one he currently has is already nearly too much for him.  And of course, I'm 7.5 months pregnant.

I need ideas for quick money. We have very little of value to sell. No car, no laptop. Maybe a rug, and (I doubt I could convince my husband) a tv.  My 3ds and games were stolen last year, of course. I could sell my bike.  But.... I'm looking around and simply doubt there is enough here to raise the money.

That option aside, the only thing I can think of is making a craigslist ad to offer to do odd jobs? I know I'm limited in what I can/should do. And I'd have to get someone to watch Joel and pay then for their time. But I simply cannot think of anything else that would work quick enough.

Thank you for any realistic ideas you can throw my way!  Love you!

I've been around the boards long enough to know you aren't going to get much in the way of high-value answers. There are several reasons for this.

1. A majority, and I mean a massive majority, of active board posters have not yet had the opportunity to experience real responsibility. They may have had a part-time job here or there but I'd bet 90% or more people who frequent Vizzed.com have their bills paid by their parents, regardless of age. Money is not, nor has it ever been, a serious consideration for them. They can't appreciate the very real problem you're facing.

2. It seems to me there was a post a while back about how people wanted to be in elementary school again because it means they were free from becoming adults. They have tasted or are anticipating getting some responsibility and their tucking tail and running. Cowards.

I enjoy the challenge of figuring out how to afford all the bills I have. I like the challenge. Let's look at this from an adult perspective.

I think it is interesting to see you start off with "appropriate," so I'm guessing you're excluding prostitution. Are you doing the same to being online as a webcam girl? They make a ton of money, they build up clientele, and the earning potential is going to crush part time and odd jobs you may find in the area.

If that's not something you think is interesting, and I'm guessing the comment made about God setting you up means it isn't (though I think the Bible is hazy on the subject of prostitues... wasn't Mary one for a while?), that means you're limited.

What is your house situation? Are you renting or paying a mortgage? Can you sell or move to get somewhere cheaper?

What is the family situation. Do you have family who can help and give you money or at least let you crash at their place to save the living expenses?

What's your husband doing? Is he blasting away with two jobs and doing 80 hours a week with intent to learn all he can so he can get more opportunities and higher wages coming his way? He should be eliminating all entertainment and working to develop his skills and earn straight cash.

Do you budget? There's an Excel spreadsheet that outlines everything I pay for. It tells me what I can afford and what I can't afford and what I need to do to have a positive balance in the bank.

I can't tell you what to do because I don't know your current situation. I can encourage you to look at what money goes out, what money comes in, what you *need* vs. what you would like to have, and start tightening the belt. Two kids is significantly more expensive than 2x the cost of the first kid. I have two kids. I know.

Good luck.

To be frank, I wouldn't expect any miracle answers from this thread. I'm making about 800-1000 a month working part-time, and I'm one of the lucky ones here. A lot of people who come here either don't have jobs, don't want jobs, or work even less than I do (I work part-time because I'm a full time student).

Further, $1,200 a month is a lot of money that you are talking about. Outside of finding a different full-time job than "teacher", I'm not sure what I could recommend that is legal and realistic.

Don't worry about my expectations when it comes to this thread! I'm aware most users here are too young to understand or be able to help, so it was the words of older, more experienced users I was looking for (though who knows... kids can come up with great stuff, too!). I didn't set this thread up with expectations, but because it couldn't hurt.

Ghostbear1111 : I think I answered half of your questions in my first post? But just in case: I used "appropriate" in the title because I knew someone would make suggestions like you (playfully?) did. LOL. No, I'm not okay with prostitution or putting on any kind of show. Haha.

My husband is looking for a second job at the moment, but he's the.... one in control when it comes to our finances. There's very little I can do in getting him to be a frugal person, and that's all I'm willing to say on the matter publicly.

We have no relatives that we can / will borrow from, and we rent an apartment. We just signed a new lease 2 months ago, and ending that would only accrue more fees. Budgeting is a wonderful idea and I agree it's important. However, I'll point out my prior paragraph, and also emphasize that we have four weeks to come up with the money (assuming I don't get hired, which is looking like a very real possibility). The nice thing, however, is that we'd only have to pay for one month to get that hospital bill covered.

legacyme3 : Yes, I'm afraid there's nothing legal or realistic, but I figured it couldn't hurt to see if anyone is brighter than I am. I do plan on applying for some non-teacher jobs, but I don't know that 4 (or likely less) weeks at any job will cover it. Especially considering that most people won't want to hire a woman who could be absent for an extended period at any time.

Singelli :

It's a no-no idea, but have you considered crowd-funding? I read stories all the time about people getting money through things like gofundme, etc. If someone can get a million dollars for tacos, I'm sure you could get 1200 for the first month at the least.

For the time being, don't worry about what you'll do 7-8 months from now, put your every focus on how you will get through this month and make the first payment.

Your best bet for finding work would be an online secretary of sorts, something that someone can cover for you for in the absolute worst case scenario.

I would try GoFundMe, or maybe Kickstarter? Someone did a campaign to buy potato salad, and got a million dollars. That was probably the most stupid, and most depressing thing I read that day (I wanted that sweet cash too...) Surely you could get some money off of that. Otherwise, doing oddjobs on Craigslist sounds like a viable thing.

Oh, hey, have you ever considered weapon laundering? I've easily made about-- Wait wait no, legal. It has to be legal...

Maybe you need to get another job outside of teaching? It seems that they keep screwing you over... :T

I can only think of two (unlikely) things:

1. Gambling (of some sort). It seems unlikely that walking into the casino would work or that you would just somehow win the lottery, but some small bets might(?). I really don't see any gambling realistically working unless you're betting big on your own skill (and it actually pays off).

2. Good trading. Make some (a lot) of trades that gets you something more valuable to eventually sell. Don't see this one working though.

Is there anything in particular that you are good at doing? That may help if "sold" right.

A combination of a lot of the things in this thread could go a long way for you. Crowd funding could potentially put you in a comfortable place pretty quick, but maybe something you could think about is freelance web design. I don't know what you knowledge of basic website coding is, but if you're a math teacher, I'm sure you could pick it up really fast, and it's free to learn. w3schools is a good place to start. The only think you'd have to do is maybe find a friend or family member's computer to borrow as a work computer, and even if you don't have Internet, you can use public WiFi at a fast food restaurant. Your options are slim and they're all long shots, but even stay at home moms can make pretty decent cash on occasion. Heck... If you're really good at what you do, maybe you should consider being a private tutor for a couple of rich kids while doing everything mentioned above, and use Craigslist as free advertising.