Stop going to the ATM machine, start tracking your cash.  Dollars to doughnuts it is in stuff like lattes or magazines.

The mortgage was supposed to be the same as rent but the house is eating us up alive.  How can we make it work?

Whoever said owning a house was supposed to be easy?  If you have a mortgage you have a weight around your neck for about the first five years.

First thing to know:  you are not alone. 

Second thing to know:  you have to increase your income.  Houses are like newborns.  All they do is eat (your money) and cough up (expensive stuff like termites, or a leaky roof).  Sometimes I believe they are inhabited by bad elves, but that is for the really bad nightmares, like sewage backup in your nice new basement family room.

Third thing to know:  it is worth it.  Go get another job or rent your basement.  The inheritance will never come in on time!

My husband has started smoking expensive Cuban cigars.  I can’t get him to stop and our savings are going up in smoke!

Okay, sounds like you have a marriage problem here.  Not my field.  I will have a go at the problem, but don’t rule out professional counseling.

If he won’t quit, fair is fair.  Tell him to get a second job and earn what he blows up in smoke every week.  If he won’t, he is a rotten potato.  If he will, you have a winner!  Chances are, after a few weeks, the cigars will go.  Second jobs are hard work, really hard work.  Filthy habit (don’t shoot the messenger; all smoking is bad for you)!