Maxing out credit cards. Borrowing money from relatives. Searching for interest-free loans.

Federal workers and their families are doing whatever they can to save a few dollars and eke by as the partial government shutdown continues with no imminent end in sight. Many are fearful weeks will go by without another payday, forcing them to take on debt or find side jobs in order to cover housing and food costs.

Were going to have to trim some fat and see how long we last, said Scott Reyna, a former air traffic controller whose wife works for the Transportation Security Administration . She isnt being paid during the shutdown, even though she continues to work.

Im still getting my pension, so well be living on that and credit cards until theyre maxed out, Reyna said. After that, I have no idea.

For Kathryn Smith, the shutdown has meant forgoing her medication for lupus in order to pay the bills and buy food.

My husband is a disabled vet. I have lupus. Im disabled, said Smith, whose husband is a furloughed federal worker. I cant get my medications right now, because, what are we going to do? Make sure you have your groceries or make sure you have your medication. Its going to put me in a flare, and we know, but what can we do?

She and her husband had some savings, but they exhausted a chunk of that money recently when they had to pay veterinary bills after an unexpected emergency with their dog.

Do you know how embarrassing it is to go to your kid and say, Hey, I have to borrow the house payment? Smith said. We had to go to our son. Hes being supportive as much as he can, but he has an infant in his house. We shouldnt be borrowing money from our kids.

The government shutdown that began Dec. 22 has left 380,000 federal workers furloughed and another 420,000 working without pay. (Roughly three-quarters of government functions have already been funded by Congress and are not affected by the impasse.) President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders have made little headway in recent days as Trump continues to demand more than $5 billion for a wall or perhaps a steel barrier of some kind along the southern border.

Meanwhile, federal employees and contractors are reckoning with the possibility that the shutdown will drag on for months, leaving them no steady income to pay mounting bills. Federal workers have received back pay after previous shutdowns, but only retroactively through an act of Congress after the government has reopened.