What to do? Hubby and I are struggling financially! We are self employed and living in a dead end town, work is extremely hard to come by. We have about $45000 in debt, at this point we have no idea where the next paycheck will come from. We have 3 children ( 1 I have to my ex) and currently rent. I defer all ftb payments until we do our tax at the eofy. We want to move for work, but can't due to court orders. I feel like I am failing my entire family!! We are looking at hubby working away but so far haven't had any luck in finding work that allows him to come home (FIFO/DIDO) (all full time which would mean hubby moving on his own) I'm dreading the thought as our youngest 2 are going to miss their dad so much and he is going to miss out on so much. I don't want my family to be separated.... Has anyone else been in similar situation? What did you do? We can't afford to go back to court but we can't afford to stay here either.
Is there really light at the end of the tunnel?
Is there really light at the end of the tunnel?
Posted in:
Relationships & Marriage, Parenthood Guilt, Money
7 Replies
This sounds like a tough position. Find out if your husband is entitled to newstart payments. You may qualify if you are prepared to present a profit and loss that shows how little your earnings are. Also are you getting rent assistance? It really sounds like the business is not wort running though. I'd be getting financial counselling, they will be able to help you get through this tough time.
Thanks for your response. Unfortunately my hubby refuses to go to centrelink. We have been running the business about 5 years but have really hit a wall in the last 12 months. We don't have any other job opportunities where we live. As for rent assistance it's defeated along with ftb.
Oh honey, honestly, if your hubby refuses to go you may have some tough choices ahead. Do whatever YOU have to do to look after you and the kids. The kids don't care where the food comes from they care that they are fed. Good luck
Me and hubby have owned our business for 7 years and the first 3 yrs of that where he'll we were living off toasted tomato and cheese sandwiches. It's very tough on ur family life and the stress of everything is horrible. People just think ur self employed ur must be raking in the money but in actual fact our staff get paid more than us. I haveno answers for u but just know a lot of self employed ppl are doing it tough
I believe there is a light, because time changes everything. Time will either change your business performance & income or you will find another way. Is there any other needs the small town has that you could fill? Childminding, roof fixing, haybales, home-cooked meals, etc maybe research other similar towns to get ideas. If your husband got a job in the mines & you had 2 houses, do court orders stop your family 'visiting' him at his house quite often. That might be an option. What about him getting a mature age apprenticeship? It might be an option, its not that badly paid & incentivised for employers.
If hubby is finding work out of town he could look in places you'd all like to live, then when he gets work he could go & set up home, you could go & visit him for a few months & eventually you'd probably be doing better financially & feel strong enough to go to court to get the court orders changed.
Good luck theres nothing worse than being unstable. Yes, it will change because when it comes to money its just not possible for it to stay the same forever!
There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Last year my partner lost his job got odd jobs here and there we had a heap if debt no food couldn't pay out rent and he refused to go to centrelink.
I know this will be hard to do but we ended up selling everything we owned (minus our cars) and moving towns 9 months later my partner has a good reliable job and with budgeting have nearly completely caught up and nearly debt free... If it doesn't work now get out and start a fresh it's hard to do but was the only thing that saved us!
I don't have any answers for you as I haven't been in this position but I know what it is like to be juggling money and have a very limited money to pay for things. I guess I just want to say to you that there is light at the end of the tunnel and I'm sure it will work out for you. Sometimes the road gets tough but there is always a reason why it is tough, and you will come out the other side a lot stronger. Take things in small steps, instead of focusing on the big picture focus on the small things, small things lead to big things so chip away at the issues, work though them a few things at a time and I'm sure you will get there. Good luck :) Head up even when life is hard Hun :)