October Low-Income Thread - Page 16

[nataliachick7]

Originally Posted by PenelopeJune

Hi everyone!!! May I join you here?

It's been awhile since I've been on MDC. I shut my internet off in May to save money, and we've since lost our house and have moved into a rental house. I just got internet back last week. (And it's slooooooow! I hate dialup!)

Anyway, I've been freaking out lately because even though our rent is now 1/4 what our house payment was, we STILL can't afford anything! We have an entire week until DH's next paycheck, and there is no money in the account. It will be a week of pantry eating. We have no meat at all, which makes it really hard because my DH doesn't consider a meal a meal unless there is meat. Thankfully I have lots of the basics, and a few dollars to buy a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, and some eggs. I'm HOPING that will tide us over until payday so we can make an Aldi's run.

Today I tried to find a buyer for our really nice dining room table and chairs. No luck. It is the only thing we own worth selling and I can't find anyone who will buy it! I have had no luck on Craigslist or with our two local used furniture places.

To the PP who's store didn't want to allow her to make a charge on her debit for under $5...they aren't allowed to do that. If you contacted your debit card company and told them that, the store could lose their agreement and their card readers. Soooooo not allowed.

We have several food pantries around here at local churches, do you have anything like that in your area? Do you qualify for food stamps?

[PenelopeJune]

We have several food pantries around here at local churches, do you have anything like that in your area? Do you qualify for food stamps?

Thank you, Nataliachick. I don't feel comfortable going to a food pantry, as we have food in OUR pantry, you know? Like, we may not eat what we WANT to eat, but we will eat. It may be a bizarre meal of mishmashed stuff, but we won't starve.

I have no idea if we qualify for foodstamps. Probably, I just don't feel we are quite to that point yet.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by Satori

ok, In the middle of writing this post it occurred to me to tap a resource and find out about any new in town nursing companies and turns out one does staff peds in my tiny town! There checking right now to see if they can do it it works out!

They called back, they are willing to staff my area for peds! We just have to get the process started which is a PITA, need new Dr's orders, deniles from the HMO so they can bill Medicaid which makes no sense since Medicaid already approved her for full time care at a nursing facility and said we could transfer it to home care. Either way, in theory I should have childcare for at least the 3 yr old come Spring term! Now I just don't know what to do about the 9 yr old bubble child... her SSI gets approved and I can use that money to pay for a sitter for her.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by PenelopeJune

Thank you, Nataliachick. I don't feel comfortable going to a food pantry, as we have food in OUR pantry, you know? Like, we may not eat what we WANT to eat, but we will eat. It may be a bizarre meal of mishmashed stuff, but we won't starve.

I have no idea if we qualify for foodstamps. Probably, I just don't feel we are quite to that point yet.

Yes but they could give you stuff to help round out the meals or be able to make other stuff you might like more, say eggs so you could make pancakes or flour so you can make bread. When its gets to be slim pickings around here its often because I'm out of key ingredients like eggs or herbs/spices that give the main flavor of a meal. Sometimes that little bit extra really helps get us though because we were suddenly able to make all the other stuff that we need.






*note to self, when buying critical part to fix kitchen aid mixer so we can make all kinds of yummy baked goods and make our food really stretch contact seller first to make sure there not shipping it the slowest possible way which is FedEx/UPS when 1st class USPS would be fine and get here a lot sooner.

[Krystal323]

in other topics-does anyone ever feel guilty about the material things you own? we have some nice things-like a GPS, a Wii, iPods, etc...(but they were all gifts, or in the case of one of the ipods we found in a muddy field, and one we got for 15$ at a garage sale) and the GPS was something my mil bought for my husband so he can do his limo job.

but ive had people give me looks like we should sell these things-like why dont we pawn them? well its not like we would get very much money for them-and then we would be without some of the only 'nice things' we have. its almost as if when youre poor, people expect you to have nothing...like we dont deserve it. sigh...does anyone else feel this way?

if i talk about having a wii-i feel like i always have to qualify myself and say, it was a gift, etc...

YES i totally feel this way. We have some nice things, because DH's mom died of cancer and we got a lump sum settlement amount from the malpractice suit. Wonderful way to get money, right...

We were able to pay cash for our new-ish van, bought furniture (where before, we had no couch and no bed--just the kids' mattresses), and yes we have some nice things in addition to these more "sensible" purchases. We still cry about the fact that we didn't just buy a small, modest home with that money when we had it--gods, do we cry about it. But when you've had nothing for so long, you are paralyzed when given the opportunity to have things. If we'd bought a home, we wouldn't have had the money to buy ANYthing else, and I was scared to make that leap. I thought we'd wait, buy some of the things we were desperately in need of, and then finance a home...but obviously things didn't work out that way.

For ten years, I never had anything nice that I expected to keep, because I ALWAYS knew I'd be forced to sell it sooner or later.

I am now crazy about keeping our things nice, because I KNOW if our dining room table gets gouged, or our couch gets ruined, there's no way we'll be able to replace it with anything of remotely similar quality--maybe not anything at all. I am so glad that I bought my kids quality furniture and nice mattresses when i had the chance--they had the most lousy, hand-me-down cr@p before...

It's a weird place to be in, having a paid-off van but no gas money to drive it some days...having a nice tv, but no money to rent a movie to watch on it

[Paigekitten]

Originally Posted by inkedmamajama

in other topics-does anyone ever feel guilty about the material things you own?

I do sometimes, although almost every nice thing we own was a gift or purchased cheaply and used. We have some really nice musical instruments but there is no way we could ever replace them if we did pawn them, and music is one of the few things we do for fun.

Although I do find myself sometimes judging people because of the nice things they have. DH was trying to do some temp labor work and everyone waiting for jobs had cell phones and ipods, and it kind of bothered him, because one of the first things we did was cancel the cell phone and get a skype phone number instead.

[Marlet]

Originally Posted by PenelopeJune

To the PP who's store didn't want to allow her to make a charge on her debit for under $5...they aren't allowed to do that. If you contacted your debit card company and told them that, the store could lose their agreement and their card readers. Soooooo not allowed.

That is so fantastic to know! I needed toilet paper (only bought one roll remember?) and had money to get an actual pack today . I avoided going there though because I didn't want to deal with the ornry woman again. I ended up going to our overpriced grocery store. I'll have to remember this though for next time. I have no problem telling her that!

[PenelopeJune]

Originally Posted by inkedmamajama
in other topics-does anyone ever feel guilty about the material things you own?

Yes and no. Yes, because we do have some really frivolous things (a Wii, digital camera, camcorder, DVRs) but most of those things were gifts. But also no, because we mostly have really crappy and/or super old things (a 30 year old mattress on our bed, 40 year old pots and pans, broken hand mixer, old or hand me down furniture) and we don't have most of the things that a lot of people have.

I try to take REALLY good care of all of our stuff, and have taught the kids to do the same. Someone commented on one of DS's toys that is almost 3 years old, because it looks brand new, even though it's one of his favorites. I see kids with a trillion toys and all their toys look like broken junk, all dirty and missing pieces, and I feel like they don't appreciate any of them because they have so many.

[AbigailGrace]

Originally Posted by PenelopeJune

I have no idea if we qualify for foodstamps. Probably, I just don't feel we are quite to that point yet.

You are this point. Go get some help. It's not easy but we had to do it last year for the first time. The 2 years prior, we were barely making it. Food stamps have helped us breathe. We still don't have any money because we even have less now than when we applied for the FS BUT we can eat! I also signed up for WIC a couple of months ago. And that was hard because we prefer rice milk or organic milk. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do... Jmho

[ashleyhaugh]

hi guys, i thought id join you here.... im a newly single mama, who just got a crappy paying job at a daycare.... but its a job, so thats good im about done with my savings that got me moved, etc. we moved to san antonio at the beginning of september. just signed up for foodstamps, and all i actually have to do now is go pick up my card. need to do wic too, but they were being pains, so i need to make another appointment.

anyway, i needed to share my good news that happened today with people who will understand. im broke right now. like $5 in my account broke, and i need to pay daycare on monday. my first paycheck is on thursday. when i signed up for internet, there was a rebate program going on. i got my check oh, a week or 2 ago. it was less than i thought it would be, but i figured maybe i remembered wrong. anyway, i went to check my mail this morning, and there was a letter from att saying sorry, we screwed up your rebate, heres the rest, and a check for $150!!!!!

that'll pay my 77.50 for daycare (1/2 price since i work there thank goodness, otherwise id be screwed) and put gas in the car and generally tide me over til i get paid

[mum4boys]

Originally Posted by ashleyhaugh

we screwed up your rebate, heres the rest, and a check for $150!!!!!

that'll pay my 77.50 for daycare (1/2 price since i work there thank goodness, otherwise id be screwed) and put gas in the car and generally tide me over til i get paid

[ediesmom]

morning mamas!

got a big plan to go to the mall today......edie got some gc's for her birthday:heart it will be nice to let her get what she WANTS for a change instead of me telling her what she CAN have

thats the plan. we have free bus passes so the ride is free...

have a good day mamas

[frugalmama]

I just wanted to share this with you all.

It's the end of the month {and money}, and I've got $7 left to last a week. Yesterday I went to a health expo with vendors {Free to go & free bus there and back} and picked up wonderful samples of fresh fruit, yogurt, etc that were a real treat. Dd got coloring books & a few toy-like items, and in general it was a ton of fun.

But the real treat was that at the end of the expo, they gave away all the food they had left. I got a gallon of apple cider {the really good kind}, a loaf of expensive bread, VitaminWater, and a few other things. I missed out on the pies & cakes, but oh well.

And I have a bunch of free item coupons I got while there for milk, olive oil, pasta and more so I get to go freebie shopping today even though I'm so broke. So now our meals for the rest of the month will be much better until our food stamps come in on the first.



Now I'm just hoping our WIC appointment on Monday goes as good - we are getting DD back on WIC since money is so tight. I am hoping it doesn't rain as we have to walk about 3 blocks to get to the clinic.

[ediesmom]

Originally Posted by frugalmama

I just wanted to share this with you all.

It's the end of the month {and money}, and I've got $7 left to last a week. Yesterday I went to a health expo with vendors {Free to go & free bus there and back} and picked up wonderful samples of fresh fruit, yogurt, etc that were a real treat. Dd got coloring books & a few toy-like items, and in general it was a ton of fun.

But the real treat was that at the end of the expo, they gave away all the food they had left. I got a gallon of apple cider {the really good kind}, a loaf of expensive bread, VitaminWater, and a few other things. I missed out on the pies & cakes, but oh well.

And I have a bunch of free item coupons I got while there for milk, olive oil, pasta and more so I get to go freebie shopping today even though I'm so broke. So now our meals for the rest of the month will be much better until our food stamps come in on the first.



Now I'm just hoping our WIC appointment on Monday goes as good - we are getting DD back on WIC since money is so tight. I am hoping it doesn't rain as we have to walk about 3 blocks to get to the clinic.

thats wonderful i'm so glad you went!

edie picked out three books, and a new outfit....and still has money (gc's) left over. she was so pleased that i couln't dictate price and limits

i wanted a book so bad i wrote it down and will get it from the library when they get it

[PenelopeJune]

Ediesmom, can you do interlibrary loan? Our library will borrow absolutely any book you want from other libraries in the state for patrons, if they don't have it. I'm constantly interlibrary loaning books and movies that our library doesn't have. And, of course, it's free.

Just thought maybe that way you wouldn't have to wait to read the book you wanted!

[Goddess3_2005]

So how does one do it exactly? Just go up to the dumpster and jump in? I'm being serious I have never done this before! Can you get in trouble?

[Ianthe]

Originally Posted by Goddess3_2005

So how does one do it exactly? Just go up to the dumpster and jump in? I'm being serious I have never done this before! Can you get in trouble?

http://www.allthingsfrugal.com/dumpster.htm

I have no idea how legal it is, but I think once something is thrown out it is public property???

I've found cookbooks, my Armiour (sp?), almost new snowboard boots, and lots of other stuff that was useful.

[UberMama]

Originally Posted by Goddess3_2005

So how does one do it exactly? Just go up to the dumpster and jump in? I'm being serious I have never done this before! Can you get in trouble?

The legality of it depends on your county/state codes. If you dig around via Google, you can usually find out from other DDers what your laws are.

[ediesmom]

Originally Posted by PenelopeJune

Ediesmom, can you do interlibrary loan? Our library will borrow absolutely any book you want from other libraries in the state for patrons, if they don't have it. I'm constantly interlibrary loaning books and movies that our library doesn't have. And, of course, it's free.

Just thought maybe that way you wouldn't have to wait to read the book you wanted!

yea, i do do that imy library! this book is brand new, tho.....so it might be a bit.

to do today....tack up wool blankets in my bedroom. its freezing in there and maybe change my bedding

have a good day mamas

[dantesmama]

Joining in a little late here. I'm a SAHM to two little boys, with a third one coming in a month and a half. DP works full time at a butcher shop. I was going to school part-time until we found out about this little bean - at which point I decided to just finish up the spring semester and give up until the kids are older. We're really hurting even more now without that extra financial aid money!

I just found out Saturday that our gas will be shut off any day. Apparently our account has been in shutoff mode since the 8th - meaning they could have shut off service at any point after that - so I'm hoping and praying they give us a few more days. On Thursday I can get down to their offices and set up a payment arrangement, and next week HEAP starts - - even if they do shut it off, at least it's not snowing here yet.

I just reapplied for WIC, and my first appointment is this afternoon. That will help us so much, especially with the new food packages. We're about $40 over the limit for food stamps but we'll be eligible after the baby's born, and then it'll be tax-refund time . . . so there's a light at the end of the tunnel! Just gotta get through the rest of the year.