Wesley’s last blog post – Jan Blencowe was going to offer a discount painting, but changed her mind.

I actually spend slightly more on laundry to drop it off at the laundromat and have them wash and fold it for me. I don’t have to pay any detergent and I’ve calculated that it costs maybe $10 more a month. It saves me time and I don’t have to hang out at the laundromat with a 6 year old – that’s worth more to me than the $10.

@Tumblemoose – Yeah, divorce is terrible financially. Mine isn’t final yet. I guess the lawyers figure they haven’t sucked all the marrow out of me yet. I can’t freelance fulltime until that is past me.

@Avani – I have reached the point where the really isn’t any more to cut so am looking into alternate ways to generate income. I could try to find a better paying full time job but that this one gives me a level of flexibility that I need for mu daughter that would be difficult to find somewhere else.

@Mike – It is SO hard to have those fears as you get older. It’s a lot different when you are 20 or 30. My mother’s health insurance benefits were recently cut by quite a bit and she is now very ill. We are already very afraid of the medical bills. It somehow seems wrong to work hard your entire like and to be a good person and to then have it all not really make a difference because you’ve grown older and now have health concerns.

Have you looked into freelance writing? You’re a wonderful writer :-)

@Natural – lol – My internet is through DSL not cable. Giving up the internet would be a last ditch money saving solution.

I am worried about money because my situation is so precarious at the same time that the economy is falling apart. My ex has also given me quite a few problems over custody so I worry that if I were to lose my job that I would also lose custody of my daughter.

Wesley’s last blog post – A really cool Firefox plugin…

am i worried about money. no i don’t worry over it. either it’s there or it’s not. if i need to make more money, i design a website or i can go back to doing some wedding photography.

wow you don’t have cable? i can get rid of tv, but not the internet.

As you know, I am a disabled retiree with no income to speak of, and my wife supports the family. She recently had all her overtime cut out, effectively losing what amounted to a part time job. We are scrambling now to find ways to even afford medication copays. We were already pretty frugal, and the cuts we’re having to make are affecting our quality of life significantly.

I’m continuing to look for things I might do to supplement our income, but most of them are long-term propositions. Short-term fixes are just not there outside of selling things on eBay and CraigsList.

I’m sure we’ll weather this crisis, like we’ve weathered so many other crises, but it seems that our options are narrowing as we grow older. I’m not scared yet, but let’s just say that I’m very, very concerned.

Mike Nichols’s last blog post – “What if I’m the ONE?” Intolerance of Uncertainty, Worry and Anxiety