Real Housewife of Orange County Lauri Waring is demanding more cash from her ex husband -- and it's probably because she claims to only make 400 bucks a month.

In legal papers filed in Orange County Superior Court, Waring claims she has over $12,000 in expenses per month, and the money she's already getting from Phillip Waring just ain't cuttin' it.

Lauri claims she's tryin' to help out, stating in the docs that she's working two jobs -- insurance agent and actress. Yeah, actress. Right.

BTW -- Lauri estimates Phil pulls in around $360,000 a year.

UPDATE: We just talked to Lauri, who gave us a completely different side to this story. Lauri says her ex is the one trying to modify how much money she's getting -- not her -- meaning he doesn't wanna pay her at all any more. She says because of this, she had to turn in an expense report -- which is the document that said she only makes 400 bones a month.