Looking a gift horse in the mouth...

As those closest to me know, my in-laws are overly generous, to put it mildly.  My husband, our kitties and doggies currently live in a house purchased for us.  I don't know why they decided to do this. But would you really question it if someone offered that to you?  I think not! They did the same for my husband's brother.  Things like this, as I have come to know, are the way that my father in-law shows his love.  I believe that this is one of the only ways he knows how.  Which is wonderful, of course, and I am grateful beyond words, but...I have one question.

Why would you give someone a house in which the occupants have no hopes of  being able to take over the financial responsibilities for?  I'm talking about the mortage, the property taxes, the house-sized utility bills, and Im sure there are other house related expenses that I dont even know about like maintenance and repairs. We have, so far, only been resonsible for one of the utilities; cable/internet.  Must be nice, right?  Not especially. We have now been handed the electric/gas bill.  These two bills alone will take up half of our current income. Yes, seriously-half. And get  this:  We make TOO MUCH for food stamps! Maybe I should just pop out 5 kids real quick and THEN we would get some help.  The "system" is so retarded, yes I said retarded!

The internet is necessary for me to attend school, and we currently have the most basic package we could get.  So unfortunately, this bill is pretty fixed.  I have haggled over and over again with the cable company, threatening to go to the competition, and they cannot make it any lower.

I am in the home-stretch of my schooling and am taking an extra class next term to finish faster.  After that term, I will begin my (unpaid) externship as part of my degree program.  Then it's entry level city.  So there's no holy grail at the end of school, like some people may have been thinking. With hard work and a promotion or two within a few year's time, I'll be lucky to make over $35K/year.  So, it WILL get better but not by leaps and bounds.

However, taking another class in addition to the others I would already take, means I cannot work...at all. You may be thinking, "BS! I know people that go to school full time AND work full time AND have 4 kids." Then I reply, "Shove it!" because I was working 30-35 per week over the summer, had to repeat a single class twice, and nearly flunked out of school.  If I had not passed that last class on the third try, they would have kicked me out altogether. I am already over $25K in the hole with student loans, so I absolutely refuse to quit.  Even though the "easy" option right now would be to quit school and get some dead-end full time job to make ends meet, I won't go that route because I don't want to be spinning my financial wheels until I just fall apart, yanno?

I have to now figure out how to feed 2 adults and 4 animals, clothe the both of us, have all the needed supplies in the kitchen and bathrooms, keep the cars filled with gas, and pay for school. Yes I get financial aid for school, but I still have a monthly payment.

To someone not in my situation, I can easily understand how this rant appears to be whining.  And I am well aware that someone always has it worse than me.  It just seems that as hard as we try to do the right thing, make good choices, and get ahead, that nothing ever comes of it.  What's all the effort for if we cannot get the things we need on our own?

Can anyone else relate to this? Or is this just a "Welcome to life!" moment that I am stressing over, and many other people have these same issues?

I guess the lesson I'm learning from all this is that even gifts cost money.  Just thinking out loud here because I am confused about what to do next.