home business write offs help please

[fishnut9]

so my wife runs her own dayhome out of our house. Its tax time and I added up her yearly income and did the math. We owe six thousand to the gov. We don't have the money because we came upon some hard times and had to spend our paychecks on other things. Now I was just wondering how much stuff I can write off and how much has it lessened what you owe. we spend three hundred dollars a month for groceries and equipment for her job. Even to small business owners in the past how much has your write offs saved you.