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First off, you are going to make it. You have realized that you need to take control of your money, rather than letting it control you. I think you will benefit a lot from the Dave Ramsey book. You have realized that you need to be intentional about your spending. Rather than just accepting what things cost, you need to question your spending.

For instance, _why_ is your Sprint bill over $100? Are you looking at the item by item charges on the bill? Maybe you are being billed for services you don't need or never signed up for. This happens all the time and most people just pay the bill without looking at it, so the companies continue to get away with it.

Do you need to have a landline phone? Maybe you can eliminate it since both you and your husband have cell phone service. Either that or reduce your cable package. The bundles can be good deals but $200 is absolutely ridiculous for your situation. As disneysteve said, the easiest thing to do is call your cable company and ask if they have any specials, oftentimes they can give you the same deal as someone who is signing up for the first time. Even better, consider eliminating the bundle and just signing up for what you really need (maybe just rabbit ears and dialup internet or slow DSL?).

It sounds like you will be shopping more intentionally as well. Look for sale items rather than the brand you "always buy". Lose the brand loyalty. Also pay careful attention to the unit pricing which is displayed on every item in the grocery store. Oftentimes a name brand that is on sale is only slightly cheaper than normal and it would pay to stick with a store brand. Sometimes it is cheaper to buy a smaller box of an on-sale item than the bigger bulk package. I know it is embarrassing to do this, but when you are checking out, put your necessities on the belt first, and finish with your "wants". Watch the total on the register and if it goes over what you have budgeted, ask the cashier to restock the items you can't afford.

FSAs work like this: money is deducted from your paycheck pre-tax. For example, if you ask for $100 to go into the FSA, your gross pay will go down by $100. However, your tax withholdings are a percentage of your gross pay, so they will also go down a bit. The result is that putting $100 in your FSA will only reduce your take home pay by $75-80. So you are saving $20 right there. The $100 gets put into a holding account, either for medical expenses or dependent care. When you pay out for one of these things, you can fill out a reimbursement form, fax it to the FSA company, and they will cut you a check to pay back your costs. It seems complicated but you can save a lot of money on your child care. You can put up to $5000 per year in your dependent care FSA, which will reduce your take home pay by only $4000 or so but pay for $5000 in care, saving you $1000 a year. Since you are planning on childcare expenses of ~$900 a month, you should put the max in once you have stable employment.

If you can learn to really be intentional about your spending, you will be able to pay off your restitution quickly, save some emergency cash, and be ready for the time when the bankruptcy is paid off. Then since you have established a pattern of saving, you can really start to sock away a lot of money when your debts start to be paid off. Good luck.

Dave