I went and double checked centrelink and we're not entitled to anything extra which is what I thought . We have done a lot of the things that have been suggested. We don't have a home phone, just mobiles and internet is pretty cheap on the plan we have and the family we call the most are on our provider . We try and limit our spending, and I do lots of our cooking at home. I think our biggest trouble has been that when we had the money we didn't think about it and now we don't and are struggling to adjust. *sigh* will definatley be sitting down with DH tomorrow night to look at a decent budget and committing to keeping to it.

Strawberry, the pay does get better eventually. Fortunately for us, DH and I weren't married when he was on crappy trainee wages and I was still working full time. Also, I know DHA aren't always the greatest, but our rent is so much cheaper living in a DHA house than if we had to rent privately.

Peanutter, we're living in Yallambie . So far I'm actually really enjoying Melbourne. Where are you?

Thankyou so much guys for your suggestions and letting me get this off my chest Big