I have tripled my income at two different stages in my life. Both involved solutions you have basically said are off limits for discussion... if you care to open that back up, let me know. although most of the time, I'm not here anymore (I said my farewells a few months ago - but like Lemonman, am more than a bit addicted to MB.) Big hint - the solution involes sales!

Your headline just screamed of those Saturday and Sunday infomercial-bait/traps that want to sell you notebrokering education, forex investing, or real estate investing instruction... Big hint - the notebrokering, forex, and real estate stuff is either outright fraud stuff, or will require more resources than the average person hooked by the message. For example: There's no such thing as a safe no down payment real estate deal in a market that could drop by 20% (California already learned this in the 90s).

I have a college degree that I earned by being a secretary and that I borrowed to pay the rest - I moved away from home to live on campus and my parents cheered me on, but could give me no financial support.

I am teaching my son how to invest - I've been studying it for four years now, but focused on a viable means that he can do with his lawn-mowing money. He's 13. He knows that I expect him to earn his own college education via investing or work or scholarships or all three. He's also being prepared to volunteer for two years for his church once he graduates from high school.

I'm not a single mom - I have what you describe - a husband who doesn't physically abuse me; and now, no longer verbally abuses me. But he doesn't bring home a paycheck... and hasn't for over 10 years now.

If you open back up the possibility of learning how to do sales, there are two methods I can suggest you study that fit a "non-sales person" personality. I hate those "salesish" gimmicks - can see them a mile away, so these two methods have really matched my personality, but I have had to stretch to ask tough questions at tough times. The methods are "Sandler" and "Richardson". You can find Sandler's "Presidents Club" material on sale on e-bay. Richardson may also be there, but it's a bit harder to find.

There are truly only two or three ways to triple your income; and EVERY way involves sales of some kind. So if you shut that solution off, give it up.

I do feel it is the responsibility of the parents to contribute toward college. My kids have received large merit and need-based scholarships, and have also worked since they were 14 or so, and none of them has done anything frivolous like buying a car until they were adults. There still has been a gap, and for the most part it hasn't made much difference whether they were attending a private or public college - they just got better scholarships at the private ones.

It would be hard to find a house smaller than my 912 square foot, 1 bath ranch. It would be difficult to move out of state, since I would need a judge's permission, which could end up costing a lot in attorney fees.

Pariah, I did consider school media specialist. A beginning one earns almost the same as what I am earning, in my town, and it takes 9 years to reach the average teacher salary in the mid fifties (I happen to know this because the schools just sent home this info in hopes that the towns people would vote to not cut school funding at the upcoming town meeting). There are not a lot of jobs in that field at the moment where I live.

I don't think I could do sales - it is not just that I would hate it, it is that I would be awful at it.