Dilemma

I feel like I have reached a cross road of sorts in my life, and I don't know which way to turn. Each direction has pros, cons, and complicating factors.

The basic gist of the matter is that we need to have more money coming into our household. I've always read that, when money gets tight, you either need to make more or cut expenses. While there are a few things we can cut (namely eating out and cable, maybe cell phones, if we got a land line), those things just aren't going to add up to over more than a hundred or so dollars every month.

If the economy wouldn't have been so bad in 2009, we wouldn't be having this problem. Ugh.

And don't get me wrong, we get by just fine. But that's just it: we're getting by. We have enough money to have a bit of fun, but we aren't making any headway on paying off debt. You know, that debt that we ran up in our VERY early 20s thinking we had forever to pay it off, no big deal. Live and learn.

So I've decided I have to do something about this situation. Jake is salaried. Short of getting a second job, there isn't really anything he can do about it. And I'd never ask him to get a second job; he already works 50-60 hours a week as it is.

The way I see it, I've got two options.

Option 1 includes going back to work full time. In order to make more than I make now working part time, I will need to go back to teaching. This means putting 2 kids in child care or hiring a nanny. The biggest complicating factor is Finn. If I was an established teacher, needing a maternity leave in September wouldn't be that big of a deal. Hiring a new teacher that will need to take leave after working for 6 weeks isn't all that alluring, I imagine. Another complication I'm running into is that they keep listing the social studies positions with coaching attachments for the district where I live. And finally, I, apparently, live in one of the areas of the state with the fewest school districts. That means that I've found 2 openings (the aforementioned ones with coaching attachments) within an hour of me in any direction.

Option 2 means trying to recruit 2-3 children for me to care for while their parents work. The biggest benefits to this are twofold: Spencer won't have to go to kindergarten (we really prefer to home school) and Finn and Jack can stay home with me as well. Complicating factor? Finn, again. I'd need at least 6 weeks off following his birth and I imagine that parents would have a hard time finding alternate care for their kids for that amount of time.

I guess there is a 3rd option, which would be working at night. But I've been looking for a job like that for months to no avail. Once again, let me thank the big city of Mountain Home for being so awesome (heavy sarcasm, there).

I just don't know what to do and it is super frustrating.