We're having some problems here too.
I've been employed "fulltime" for the last 5 years, but where I work fulltime employees are only guaranteed 28 hours a week (before breaks). We have too many fulltime staff, so it's always a fight for hours. I'm thankful that I'm in two departments so I usually get about 30-35 hours a week, during the summer it's easier because I pick up shifts from people that are going away on vacation, so I'll get 40, sometimes 44 hours (down to 40 after lunch breaks are taken out). My shifts vary between 4 and 8 hours, so some months, like last month, I'll only have 4-5 days off the entire month but I'll be low on hours because of the short shifts. I have a feeling this month is going to be the same.
My pet photography business has also taken a bit of a hit, even though I'm the cheapest in the city ($80 for about an hour and a half, I come to you - free travel within 1/2 hour of the city, $10 per half our outside of that area, DVD/CD of pictures), other are offering much less and start at $100 for 1/2 hour to an hour. I am lucky that I have one breeder that hires me for all of her litters and promotes my photography so much for me.
My boyfriend has been in and out of work since he moved in. It's starting to become a problem. Last year when we met he had a job, then a week later they let him go because their business had dropped. It took him a good 4 months to be able to find another job, then they treated him very badly there and he ended up walking out after about a month - they hadn't paid him once the entire time he was there and it took getting the labour board involved to get him paid. That was last September, he's done odd jobs here and there - setting up for festivals and events, setting up/tearing down garden centres, mowing lawns, shovelling driveways, walking dogs, fixing computers, but it's not enough. He was working for a temp agency back about two months ago. It took them two weeks to find him a job, they loved him at that company and were always raving about him to the temp agency, but then he asked if he could get off midnights (it was taking a toll on his health and our relationship). They said no problem, they would have something for him the next week and took him off of the midnights immediately. Well then the company that he had been working for said that he took one of their safety vests home and they haven't called him for another job since (that was almost a month ago). I know for a fact that he didn't have the vest because I picked him up and dropped him off every single day. He has now cut his hair (was growing it for cancer), so hopefully now that he has a "normal" hair cut it will be easier for him to get a job.
Our rent is too high and I swear our apartment is a health hazard, but we can't move because every other place is more expensive. We are lucky because our rent can only be raised a certain percentage each year, so we're still more than $100 cheaper than the rest of the building if we stay here. We've crunched all the numbers and we can afford a house on one income easily, we'd be much happier, but we can't get approved for a mortgage because of his job history right now. If we bought a house right now, we'd save over $300 a month! We have a bit of savings set aside for when we get a house, to do any repairs that need to be done and for a down payment, but if something doesn't happen soon we're going to have to tap into that and then we won't have any options.
We have cut back on our cellphones - took off the caller ID and voicemail that we both had, so that will save us $30 a month. We're considering getting rid of our satellite, that would save us about $40/month but then our bundle will go up because we get a discount on the three services, so we would only end up saving about $20/month and would probably end up going out a lot more - so the savings wouldn't actually be there. In October, when our contract is up with Bell, we're going to switch our home phone back to Vonage and go with a different company for our internet. I can't remember the name of it but my friend has it and gets DSL service for around $20 a month and it's much more reliable than Bell's.
Now that it's nice our we're walking more places so saving a bit on gas. I'm getting a bit of money each month from the two girls that I give a ride to work to once or twice a week, so that's about $30 extra.
I've applied to two places where I would be guaranteed 40 hours a week with most weekends off, and I'd be working with animals so it would be a plus to do something I love rather than retail. If I get it, I would still keep my current job, but cut back on the hours a lot and probably only work Friday night and Saturday morning, when I'm needed most.
I get incredibly frustrated that the owner of the store had the money to install a new pool and do a lot to her house this year, yet apparently hasn't been able to afford to give us raises for the past two years. As a result, even though I've been there for 5 years I'm only making 10 cents an hour more than people that were just hired. I have talked to my manager about this, she said that we're having our reviews soon so when that happens I can ask to see my pay grid and request a raise then. When I did this two years ago I was given a raise because I was on the very bottom of the paygrid for my section. I am also annoyed at work because so much work has been taken away from two of the departments (cash and beauty) and dumped on one of my departments (merchandising), yet we haven't received a raise or more hours with the increase in work, and the owner gets angry that we aren't getting everything completed. Moral is low there, everyone talks about everyone else behind their backs, nothing seems to get done about it. I've started ratting on my coworkers because I'm busting my butt working while they're taking bathroom breaks every 5 minutes to text on their phones, or they have their phones up at cash and are texting between customers. I have to set up a meeting with the owner to discuss all of this, but I don't think it will do any good. I am going to see if I can get HR for the company to come in and deal with things because everyone has had the same complaints for the past 4 years and nothing has been done about it.
Sorry for the little rant, but I'm incredibly frustrated at work, lol. We're getting ourselves back on a budget this month and we're going to stick to it. We'll have all of our bills up paid up to date by the end of June and hopefully have enough saved up to get a new (cheap) couch that we desperately need. Hopefully by August we'll be in a position where we can move to a townhouse or at least an apartment in a house so we have more space and a bit of a yard for the dogs.
Keep your chin up though. One day at a time! Sending lots of vibes your way! 
. It is a very difficult time financially for many and making matters worse is the gas prices. I try to make all of my trips in one outing. The pain at the pump just adds to the overall monthly expenses. I hope things turn around for all of the folks having financial difficulties.....
