Thanks guys, here is my budget.
I'm a rising PGY2 in internal medicine. I talked to residents in my program and there are opportunities to moonlight in-house at our program starting in PGY2 during elective months--we get 4 months. Many of the residents can make close to $1000 in one night so that would be extremely helpful so I just need to survive the next few months until I can start moonlighting.
Monthly net income:
+$2800 my residency check
+$1000 from spouse
Total net income: +$3800
Monthly expenses:
Rent for a 2 bedroom: $1600
Car payment: $500
Gas for car: $80
Car insurance: $80
Phone bill: $200
Cable/Internet bill: $120
Electricity/gas: $100
Food for 4: $1000
Total monthly expenses: -$3680
It was advertised that we would get $55,000 per year for our resident salary but the net is closer to $33,600 after taxes/social security/health insurance/dental insurance/life insurance--did not realize my yearly income would be so low so I completely mis-budgeted. I had to use my savings and this is not at all sustainable so I really need to find other sources of income and cut down on my expenses.
I'm going to start cutting down on the food--eating out and eating at cafeteria definitely is expensive. I have maxed out my credit cards and have been closehat e on bouncing my checking account so it's starting to freak me out since I don't have much wiggle room.
More questions:
1) You've left out the biggest piece of the problem: how much debt do you have (each credit card, student loans, etc) and what is the minimum payment you owe each month on each of them?
2) Is your wife aware of your financial situation? Are your children?)
3) How many vehicles do you own? What years and models?
4) How much longer do you have left on your contract for you phones?
5) How many hours does your spouse work?
6) Do you have any assets? Equity in a car? In a home? Savings accounts? Recreational vehicles such as an ATV? Jewelry other than the wedding rings?
7) What is your family's financial situation? Is there anyone who can either give you a loan or cosign one for you?
Advice based on what you've already posted:
Family: If you haven't already, you need to have a family meeting, explain the situation, explain clearly why this is a short term problem (no more than 2 years), and why you're going to need to drastically cut back. Everyone needs to see the budget you've made to deal with this crisis and the timeline you've set to dig yourself out of debt
Debt consolidation: You are likely going to need to find a way to shift your debt to a lower interest rate. If you have no assets this will probably involve family support, with you begging a relative to take out a home equity loan to replace your high interest debt. If this isn't an option you at the very least are going to need to start making minimum payments so you can get your credit score up to the point where you can qualify for a resident loan.
Expense reduction: This comes in subsections
1) Cable. Eliminate cable entirely and go to a $50/month internet package, buy a $9/month Netflix account, and use that for 100% of your television needs (I do this now, without a debt crisis). The correct crisis mode thing to do would be to actually eliminate the whole thing, but it is getting kind of hard to live without internet
2) Food: Ideally you want a $600/month food budget. That means carb heavy meals and cooking everything. You need to make it clear that eating out is a no go for the next two years. It sucks but its your biggest area for expense cutting. This is obviously going to lean heavily on your wife and, failing that, on a slow cooker.
3) Phones: For you and your wife I recommend switching to republic wireless phones. They run of the internet you're paying for when you're in range of wifi and on the Sprint network when you're not, and you can cut your phone bills to about $40/month ($20 each) with talk/text/data I do this now and it actually works better than my old cell phone did. The kids need to get prepaid cell phones for emergencies and a long talk about how you are in a financial crisis that will end in 2 years. This will represent an upfront expense of about $300 (100 for the cheapest model republic wireless phone, 50 for the voice only prepaid emergency cell phones. You can probably cover a lot of that by selling your 4 current phones.
Increasing Income:
1) Shortest of short term: start selling plasma. 2 hours/sell, and you get about $50. Do it once a week an you have the extra $200/month. Stop doing that as soon as you are allowed to moonlight
2) I agree with your plan to moonlight when it is legal
3) Your spouse: obviously your spouse is going to have the greatest opportunity to increase her income in the next 2 years. Its probably worth discussing a (emphasis on very temporary) second job
Long term planning
You need to be open to the idea that, if you're in this much of a financial hole, you're going to spend at least one year and probably two as a hospitalist after residency before moving on to fellowship (if that's what you desire). I imagine a big part of selling this to your family is selling them on the idea of a relatively close endpoint to the misery.