Know anyone who wants to buy a house in the Detroit 'burbs?

I know... laugh's on me, right? No one wants to buy a house in the Detroit 'burbs!

We heard from our renters that they're not renewing their lease come June. The husband was just laid off from GM. They own a condo a couple towns away and will move back there once their tenants move out in October. In the meantime, they can't afford to stay and pay the rent on our place.

So what do we do? Do we let them leave? Or do we offer to lower the rent to what they can afford just to have someone living there and paying at least a portion of the mortgage?

We've been expecting this to happen. I mean, the guy worked for GM. What else could we expect? But still...

I frustrated enough by the renter issue, but here's what I'm more upset about...

The past six years have been financially debilitating for us. I won't go into the details, but basically we went from a six figure income to just over the poverty level amidst promises (from Scott's then employer) of a much higher level of pay. There's no need to say how stressful that was and the degree of debt we went into to stay afloat.

Things have recently been better financially. Yes, Scott's current employer still owes up $15K in back pay, but we've been keeping up with the bills. More than that, I've been able to pay them down quite a bit.

That's not to say we're almost debt-free, but we were getting there. We finally had enough extra to do fun things here and there or buy a new cd or a cute shirt or a pretty potted plant.

I don't want to say all such spending is gone again because it's not. I won't let it. I'm sick and tired of the guilt I feel whenever I spend money. Really, will that ever end?

So here's my solution in the meantime... I will work more hours.

Are you laughing? You should be! How on earth am I going to fit more hours into the day? I work as many hours as I possibly can and still haven't gotten more than an average of 11 or so. I guess the answer is just buckling down, getting up earlier and sitting down at the computer at 8am and working till 4pm, with only short breaks here and there. And definitely no hour long lunch.

After all, I still have kids to take care of, meals to make, a house to clean, errands to run. I guess that's all weekend stuff now. How do full time working moms do it? I just don't know. Any delicious advice?

And just because our Michigan is so beautiful (and because it's for sale), here's a photo of it...