[myself]

These things may have been said already, so my apologies if I'm repeating anyone.

1. Pack your lunch. Some folks pack 1-2 weeks of lunches ahead of time, and simply grab one out of the freezer.
2. Stop your current cable/satellite TV service. Go to the local library and borrow books and/or movies, but of course make sure to return them on time. Take a walk in the park, and enjoy what you do have already.
3. Track each and every expenditure. Personally my favorite is to use a credit card that has no balance, and will be paid in full every month. Then download the transactions into Quicken (they do have free versions available, I believe), or Excel (most banks export in either format.
4. Get out of that lease as soon as you can. Offer to give the car back early, and see what their response is.
5. Take a really good look at your tax situation. Since you're married, and guessing that you filed "married filing jointly" with the IRS, it seems that your wife is working for about $9.07/hr (or less, if you live in a taxable state). Based on her earnings of $28,200 and your income, that would cause close to half of her paycheck to disappear due to taxes. Here's how it breaks down:

• Federal tax bracket: 28% - if you're annual income is over $128,500/yr.
• $28,200 Income
• - $7,896 Federal tax
• - $1,692 Social Security
• - $ 465 Medicaid/Medicare
• - $ 0 State tax
• $18,147 Take home pay
• $18,147/2000 = $9.07/hr

Now, if you both were maxing out your 401K ($15,000/each), that would shield her paycheck from being taxed right now. Although it would also limit your income as well (if your budget depends upon her paycheck, this wouldn't be a good thing, but it may be a good thing).

Hopefully this information can/will be of good use to you.
Good luck with everything!