Can someone help me budget/financial plan? It's a wreck.. - Page 4

[MissinNYC]

I don't know if this is possible, but if your place was not considered an appartment (as in you are house sharing rather than having your own appartment) would there be the same regulations about exits?

If you admit that you house share or get any help from family members to social services or welfare or WIC or foodstamps, they can and usually do cut your benefits or force you to claim your housemate's income. So if they say they live with MIL, they have to claim her income and assets and everything.

[JTA Mom]

Originally Posted by MissinNYC

If you admit that you house share or get any help from family members to social services or welfare or WIC or foodstamps, they can and usually do cut your benefits or force you to claim your housemate's income. So if they say they live with MIL, they have to claim her income and assets and everything.

Not for MediCal, here in California. As long as she is paying rent for a 'room' in her MIL house, and she buys her own groceries, etc, she is considered separate. No need to get MIL's info, other than a statement saying MIL is renting to her.

Even if she weren't paying rent, she could tell them that she cleans & cooks for her MIL in exchange for a room there. The workers are familiar with the bartering that goes on for those who are low income, so wouldn't bat an eye to it. And she'd still be considered separate.

Ami

[WindyCityMom]

Hey everyone- guess what? I'm a ChaCha guide now Woohoo!

[fairydoula]

Originally Posted by WindyCityMom

Thank you all so much. Cooking is tough because I have no stove in my apartment, but I'm working with MIL to see if I can cook in her house. She has offered to let us eat with her, but my daughter cannot eat what she makes (it is all very, very spicy and even I have to choke it down). Maybe DH and I could eat MILs food and I could make something for my DD.

With $50/wk... that's about $7/day for three meals for the three of us. I am giving up most of my meat and replacing it with beans- I love em but I don't exactly know how to cook them.

About the illegal apartment.. we have on exit and are required by law to have two exits. The caseworker said that we would need a notarized letter stating that we have two exits in our apartment, signed by MIL and us.

ok, then that's what you need to do! Would one of your windows qualify as an additional exit? Make that Happen Now, because you NEED help with WIC and Food stamps. If you had those two things, you would probably have an additional $300-$400 per month for food. You can use Baking soda and Vinegar to clean lots of things too, so you can use some of your food stamps to clean your house! There are so many resources, especially in a larger city.

You CAN DO THIS, but you've got to actually DO it. And you need to do it together! My dh and I are in a totally different position, being 51 and 37 and having both of us, steady jobs and good pay, but we didn't learn this lesson early so we have suffered for years with finances. Get a handle on it NOW and you will thank yourself later, I promise!!! Have as many talks, not accusations or fights or disagreements, but just colaborating talks where you both have input on what you need/want/can do to improve your situation.

Do you plan to work outside the home? If so, what education do you need to make that job/career happen? Figure it out. Put it on paper! Then go talk to people who know how to help you make that actually happen!

So many times we get caught up in talking about what we're "gonna do, someday" but we fail to do what's needed to actually make it happen! Don't fall into that trap! I speak from experience here! Good luck to you!!! - Jen

[WindyCityMom]

Another update... Chicago's housing dept is re-opening their housing lottery this June! I'm going to enter and hope hope hope that my name is picked!

[seeing_stars]

IMO your MIL needs to add another exit so that you will be able to get food stamps. If her husband is in construction and can do the work it will not be very expensive and being able to qualify for food stamps will give you hundreds in food per month. You need it and as a landlord she should provide that. Your daughter can deal with dust for a couple days if it helps long term.

[WindyCityMom]

He's not a liscensed contractor, he does it kind of on the side and it's not legit, therefore we can't get a permit for him to do the work.. I know that they have done work on the exterior of the house before w/o a permit (front porch and balcony) and the job they did isn't all that great because they had to rush and get it done before the neighbor called the City. I don't know how big the fine is though. I'd have to ask FIL about this one. It would also be so much easier for us to get groceries into the house because right now we pass them through the window