Just wanted to stop in to thank everyone who helped here, again. Monday just arrived in my game and my household was up to 32K in funds. I used a combination of most of the ideas given, with painting (not the club idea though, although it was awesomely creative!), gardening, asking for loans and collections probably being responsible for the bulk of the non-salary funds garnered.
It helped there was a holiday in the week, so my sims collected full salaries for the day off, while still getting to spend active-time doing things to earn other money. Funnily enough, the one thing I was doing before asking for advice was almost no help at all...Abel only finished hacking one database and never did finish the app (yet)....
Bills were only 16k, thanks to the newly acquired Frugal trait, and Miko now has enough aspiration that I can get it for her as well, so the family is in the green with room to spare and the worry for their ability to keep the power on has passed.
So, again, from the bottom of the hearts of the Winters' and their 4 children, thank you so much for your tips and ideas!