how do I come up with a efficent budget for the time being?

First off, even if your wife has no disability insurance, she can still file for unemployment if shes’ unemployed (assuming you live in teh US).

For most people, budgeting is a fruitless exercise, because the big expenses such as housing and transportation almost always have prior commitments.

If I were in your situation, I would do the following:

• Make sure you’re taking advantage of all government programs designed to help people in your situation. Is your mom too young for social security yet too old to work? I don’t understand why she has no income.

• It may be necessary to move into cheaper and smaller housing. This will cut both your rent/mortgage, and also your utilities

• If you have both wired phone service and cell phone, get rid of one. If you keep the cell phone but get rid of the wired phone service, maybe that satisfies your needs?

• Look for a better paying job

• Make the teenagers get jobs to pay for their own cell phones, clothing etc.

• Eat less expensive meals. In many cultures, people basically live on rice and beans. Those are amazingly inexpensive.

• Don’t buy new cloths. That’s another big expense for a lot of people. Just stay away from malls altogether. If you look for it, you can find brand name clothing that looks like it’s never been worn before for pennies on the dollar at thrift stores and garage sales.

• Do you have multiple cars? Get rid of all but a reliable cheap, efficicnt one.

• Tell your dad you’re struggling just to eat right now

• Get rid of frills like cable TV, internet service, etc. These often add up to thousands a year.

• Pay your credit cards off on time every month. Don’t carry a balance - it’ll eat you alive.

Yea, you’re teenagers getting jobs will take a huge amount of pressure off, I didn’t realize how much money I was taking off my parents until I got a job and started paying for everything myself.

I don’t usually give links to people as a response, but when I was having financial trouble, I found this webpage and by following the system they’ve set in place, I managed to get all my finances in order. Maybe it can do the same for you. You have to be willing to stick to the budget, though - that’s the only rule. If you can do that, you can get your finances back on track.

http://www.simplesavings.com.au/downloads/billpayment/