Sorry to hear of your predicament jsf. So, here’s the deal. I was faced with some tough times at one point in my life. The difference was I only had one mouth to feed where you have several. Now this may or not may work for you, but what I did was start around my neighborhood knocking on doors and asking them if they needed any yard work done, painting or clean-up, whatever. This was back in the mid 1980’s so I said ten bucks an hour, whatever the job. If there were materials needed, they paid for it.
I was between jobs and thought I would only have to do it a couple of weeks. Turned out to be six months, and because of word of mouth, I got so busy I hired a guy to help. Six months later, my job came through and I stopped, much to my neighbor’s chagrin.
Keep track of what you make and report it though. People always need help with this kind of stuff. It’s a dose of humility at first, but all of a sudden, you’re the neighborhood hero.