August 2010 low-income support thread - Page 3

[Pumpkin_Pie]

Well, I quit my job and called unemployment and it looks like I may have a case for discrimination after all, and I will very likely be able to get unemployment. I filed for it and will have someone calling me to listen to my side of the story then they will call my employer to listen to theirs. My boss signed a paper stating pretty much what happened according to my interpretation, so I think that will be pretty good proof as far as getting unemployment.

I also applied for two jobs, and one is looking pretty promising but doesn't start until the beginning of September. I am thinking that I just need to get out of childcare. I do it on the weekends for my church, and that is totally fine, but the people there are so wonderful. I just need to not work in a center, especially where my son goes to school. Crossing my fingers that I can snag this job that I applied for. I also *might* be able to get my son into one of the best preschools in town. I am so freaking over the moon excited and hoping and praying with every fiber in my being that it all works out. It is a super, duper, fancy Waldorf insprired preschool, that costs an arm and a leg, but I get childcare subsidy, plus our local public preschool lottery money, plus they have scholarship money for fall still left and my rent is reduced dollar for doller for whatever I pay for preschool soooooooooo hoping it all adds up!

For now I am scraping by and not even looking at any stores, not even grocery stores. I did splurge on a 39 cent soft serve cone for myself yesterday, but that is absolutey IT for the next few weeks. I have barely enough to pay most of my utilities so nothing is shut off and then a bit left over for gas money and then I have to pretty much stay home for quite a while in order to stay above water.

I found out that our local cash assistance program is so backlogged that it will take over a month from the time I drop off my application to even get an appointment to talk to someone, and then the cash deposit can take a while after that. My rent, fortunately will go down to zero for next month, but then if I start receiving unemployment, it will go back up a bit and then if I receive cash benefits, it will go up again. My foodstamps will go up too, but that also will take over a month to go into effect. Luckily, everything is retroactive, so I will be scraping for a while, but then will have a little buffer when everything goes through.

I am feeling pretty hopeful though. This preschool would be so ideal for me. It really goes with my parenting philosophy better than any place DS has ever been, plus the job that I am really feeling like is a good prospect is also for a company that sells natural parenting items and natural toys. It just feels like the two just go together so well, and would add a sense of ease and peace to our lives. The company I am applying to is supposed to be so fabulous to their employees too. A friend worked for them and LOVED them. I am so crossing my fingers!

[crazyeight]

Originally Posted by happyhats

pumpkin pie-I would call unemployment and get advice, but honestly, I'd make them fire you, and look for other employment meanwhile. It sounds like a crappy work environment to be sure, but you basically have a guaranteed job if they are so afraid/unwilling to pay unemployment. Unfortunately if they fire you on grounds of theft, in my state at least, they can hold your unemployment up to nine weeks. I don't know about cash aid at all. I was accused of theft and fired when I was very young but didn't know about fighting things and luckily didn't need to as I lived at home.

As for us, we're still plucking along. Our car is dying. Our rent has been increased. Hopefully hubby can get the spark plugs replaced this weekend and it will help the car. The car's a/c died, and it's so SOOOO HOOOT so it's hard getting around anywhere but we've managed. In good news,

We got a checking account!! We are on checksystems so we thought we were screwed until we could pay the crooked bank off and take a class, bla bla. We stumbled upon a second chance banking account at a local bank. We do have to pay a small monthly fee, but it's less than what we pay for check cashing. And we get a debit card so no more prepay cards for us.

My big monetary worry at the moment is getting fall/winter shoes for dd. She has wide feet so our options are limited. Payless has very few options right now, and places like stride rite are so pricey. Luckily we have a few months to save up some money.

yeah what frugalmom said! also i have a testament that we just took dc1 to get shoes there and he has flinstone feet and the shoes he tried on fit just fine! (shaq brand was on sale last week for $20)

[surrogate]

One of the interviews I did last week for childcare called back yesterday and said she will be starting monday. I wont get my hopes up until they walk through the door though.

I have also been talking to a guy for a couple days. It is exciting and makes me so happy, but I wont get my hopes up on that either, i know as soon as he sees my body he wont want me

[happyhats]

well, I'm putting some extra children's clothes and a swing in my parent's yard sale. I put a free ad up for them too (they have an ad in the paper already). I'm also going to be doing a free ad that will pay me up to sixty dollars on a prepaid visa card, so hopefully I'll get the full amount and can buy dd some shoes for fall/winter!

Cherry loaf is in the oven. I've been baking like crazy lately-guess it's nesting.

[frugalmama]

still trudging along - here's the roof update:

It's not going to be covered at all as the covered items damage was under our deductible of $2556. Not sure if that's good or bad as I don't know how much under yet. I'm trying to juggle bills and come up with enough for a very temporary fix, and pray we manage to get into a city program that might fix the roof, if they get funding. Right now they are out of funding of course.

We qualify for weatherization and our house really needs it, but we can't actually qualify until the roof is fixed. So a catch-22 there.

DD and my medicaid still hasn't gone through yet, and I'm getting the run around trying to find out why. I think the caseworker forgot a form. It's been over a week now since we were certified, so it should be showing in the system and it's not. I've been on hold all day doing the welfare shuffle trying to find out whats going on. I called on Monday, worker was supposed to call me back and haven't heard a thing yet. So I'm working my way up the chain to see what is going on.


At least we're good on food, and the public library to borrow videos is a block away. I can keep DD entertained while I'm on the phone with educational DVDs and books.

[Fruitful4Him]

I haven't had a chance to post in a bit but glad to see there is an August thread for LO support. I was on bedrest the last few weeks of my pregnancy due to high blood pressure. I just felt like crap after being sick with one thing after another...a cold virus my kids passed around and then to me...followed by bronchitis and pinkeye and the lingering effects, etc. the last 6 weeks prior to the babies birth. I just feel like that combined with the effects of our extreme financial issues just wiped me out. Anyways, during that time we had a few shut off notices but thankfully we were able to make payment --it was down to the wire but we still have electricity and water, thank God. My dh didn't even tell me...I was woken up in the morning by an automated call to let me know we were on disconnect along with a date; frickin lovely, I tell ya. We had to break our satelite contract and I don't have a cell phone any longer. I feel like so much is just being stripped away. I thought about going back to school for fall but I just can't muster the energy and seriously think that if I tried I would push myself into a serious postpartum depression/exaustion/etc. Maybe spring 2011...we will have to see.

Anyways.. basic utilities still on and our newest ds arrived on July 29. The labor was long and hard and we didn't have our UC at home like I had hoped. However, the silver lining of being born at the hospital was that the ss card and birth certificate were filed for automatically pretty much...and the ss card and insurance card arrived within a week of his birth. Dh took the birth confirmation letter to the food stamp office to report the change and we had the additional food money in our account the next morning. So on that front...a huge blessing b/c I like to see my kids fed.

I am thankful baby is here but overall and honestly, I just feel like my life is a snow globe someone turned upside down and violently shook. Sometimes I just feel so disoriented almost...like...twilight zone. I dunno. I am also a birth doula and recently received an email that my membership fee is due but honestly I don't know if we will have the money...or if I even care to renew. In some ways it will feel like yet another thing has been stripped from my life b/c I have been certified for going on 10 years now. But in other ways I am just like.. who cares. Honestly all my available energy is going into the bare minimum of survival mothering, anyways... I sort of wonder what the rest of this year and 2011 will hold in store. I hope it is good things.

[gabbyraja]

Originally Posted by Fruitful4Him

our newest ds arrived on July 29.

Congratulations! I'm sorry you didn't get the birth experience you wanted, but yay for a quick turn around on the FS! Also sorry life is kicking your butt right now. It's hard to see alight at the end of the tunnel when it just keeps going on and on... and on. Especially w/pp emotions kicking your butt, too! Just try to keep your head up. You said you're in school (on a break), so things will have to turn around for you SOME day, right? And you can get the doula cert back at some point, too. Maybe not right now, but at some point. Sorry I can't do much more than offer cyber hugs... 'cuz I'm gonna be right there in your emotional state in about 6 weeks or so.

May I ask a question? Would you mind telling me how much your FS benefits went up? I'm due soon myself (also planning a UC) and I'm wondering how much we'll be going up...

[Fruitful4Him]

Originally Posted by gabbyraja

Congratulations! I'm sorry you didn't get the birth experience you wanted, but yay for a quick turn around on the FS! Also sorry life is kicking your butt right now. It's hard to see alight at the end of the tunnel when it just keeps going on and on... and on. Especially w/pp emotions kicking your butt, too! Just try to keep your head up. You said you're in school (on a break), so things will have to turn around for you SOME day, right? And you can get the doula cert back at some point, too. Maybe not right now, but at some point. Sorry I can't do much more than offer cyber hugs... 'cuz I'm gonna be right there in your emotional state in about 6 weeks or so.

May I ask a question? Would you mind telling me how much your FS benefits went up? I'm due soon myself (also planning a UC) and I'm wondering how much we'll be going up...

Thanks for the support and cyber hugs. My IRL social support is lacking and I think that probably makes things rougher than the financial stuff ALONE...but combined it just feels overwhelming. I have tried to get involved but often it feels like many playgroups or social circles have so many financial strings attatched...trips to the movies or other children's play places ...and it just highlights areas that are already pretty raw, yk? I am hoping to meet some other mamas that I can relate more too..but I feel like I have tried and been burned way too many times and just don't know if I am up for it anymore.

Anyways...I digress. Our FS went up $150 but depending on your state and other factors it could be + or - ...but maybe it will give you a ballpark. I wish you the best with your birth and with everything coming together financially

[gabbyraja]

Originally Posted by Fruitful4Him

Thanks for the support and cyber hugs. My IRL social support is lacking and I think that probably makes things rougher than the financial stuff ALONE...but combined it just feels overwhelming. I have tried to get involved but often it feels like many playgroups or social circles have so many financial strings attatched...trips to the movies or other children's play places ...and it just highlights areas that are already pretty raw, yk? I am hoping to meet some other mamas that I can relate more too..but I feel like I have tried and been burned way too many times and just don't know if I am up for it anymore.

I just plain have a hard time connecting with other women irl, period. I also have no support circle, just hubby and my mom. It makes it tough.

I don't know if you also homeschool, or if your kids are too young if you are thinking about doing so. But in our area homeschoolers are mostly VERY frugal. They are basically all one-income families, and they always understand a tight budget. We attend MANY free events/gatherings and even those that cost are very low-cost. If you can connect w/other homeschoolers that may help? We have a yahoo group for our area... They're often also very "natural". There are 2 other UC families in our homeschooling circle.

Thanks for the good luck wishes!

[vannienicole]

Hi all. Rejoining, though I never really left. Single mama to two littles with a divorce that is (finally!) almost finished. I left him Jan 1, 2009! I work in a geology lab 20-25 hours a week for $10/hr. CS is spotty, but after this is finalized, I am making it come out of his paycheck! Halfway through the month and not a cent from him again. It's only $350 for two children. It's not like it actually does much around here.

I am a student but this semester will be light. On the 25th I go to orientation for substitute teaching in the public schools. It only pays $55/day, but with that and the geology lab, it'll work around my schedule a bit. I can only work as a sub M,W,F because of class on T,R. The lab job is completely flexible around my schedule. Example, tonight I don't have my children (they are at their dad's) so I am working from 730-midnight or somewhere around there.

I barely make the bills, pay only $32 in child care a month thanks to DHS subsidy and get $470 in FS a month. I don't worry about food at least.

sbtx is in the military, makes 3700 a month, pays little or no (:mad) CS, has a gf who works and lives with him, gets to go out drinking and out to eat whenever he wants....


It just makes me sad and sick.

[frugalmama]

Originally Posted by vannienicole

Hi all. Rejoining, though I never really left. Single mama to two littles with a divorce that is (finally!) almost finished. I left him Jan 1, 2009! I work in a geology lab 20-25 hours a week for $10/hr. CS is spotty, but after this is finalized, I am making it come out of his paycheck! Halfway through the month and not a cent from him again. It's only $350 for two children. It's not like it actually does much around here.

I am a student but this semester will be light. On the 25th I go to orientation for substitute teaching in the public schools. It only pays $55/day, but with that and the geology lab, it'll work around my schedule a bit. I can only work as a sub M,W,F because of class on T,R. The lab job is completely flexible around my schedule. Example, tonight I don't have my children (they are at their dad's) so I am working from 730-midnight or somewhere around there.

I barely make the bills, pay only $32 in child care a month thanks to DHS subsidy and get $470 in FS a month. I don't worry about food at least.

sbtx is in the military, makes 3700 a month, pays little or no (:mad) CS, has a gf who works and lives with him, gets to go out drinking and out to eat whenever he wants....


It just makes me sad and sick.

Has there been an official CS amount ordered by the court? If he's military and not paying it is easy to get it taken straight from his check In fact in many states if you tell your DHS caseworker that he's military and not paying they are required to file for it to be taken from his check, so you can say it wasn't even you doing it - it was the state

[crazyeight]

still surviving and trucking along. glad to have the support

[vannienicole]

Originally Posted by frugalmama

Has there been an official CS amount ordered by the court? If he's military and not paying it is easy to get it taken straight from his check In fact in many states if you tell your DHS caseworker that he's military and not paying they are required to file for it to be taken from his check, so you can say it wasn't even you doing it - it was the state

Ugh. No. His lawyer is supposed to be drawing up that part of the paperwork and is dragging her feet. My lawyer is more than irritated. We have the preliminary guildelines and a temp order "as per the guidelines" but nothing this month.Next week, I am going to do the leg work and drive up to his lawyers office if necessary to "pick up the documents to look over and sign" as she has had a MONTH to write them up.

Originally Posted by dhinderliter

wow and he only pays $350?! my ex is in the miltary also and we are STILL in the process of divorce (we knew we were going to by March 09). i had to get temp orders for child support and alimony and they sent off the paperwork to have it deducted automatically. however he is supposed to be paying more than they can take out of his check! its a court order so he's shooting himself in the foot and they can only take up to 65% of his base pay which is a crock b/c he gets the dependent housing rate because he HAS DEPENDENTS TO PAY FOR...grrr. makes me mad. ex is up to just over $4k in pay right now and pays 1/4 of that in c/s/alimony. course he's "Strapped" cause he has the house which is $1100/mortgage with ZERO roommates (3bd house). it did take about 1.5 months to get the military to get it all started but it took a load of my shoulders when it finally happened (since he only paid a partial month in the 3 months before it went into effect and it's my ONLY source of "income"). i hope it all gets better and goes through quickly. sounds like you have some good jobs too and that is wonderful!

I know the frustration. It's what the guidelines tell. I get no alimony but when this is over he owes me an additional $200 for four years subject to interest of 5-6% (we are still figuring that part out) as property settlement.

i am worried. we haven't paid the previous electric bill ($330) and the new bill came out 3 days ago (another $320). i got a disconnect notice (for the $330) and its going to be shut off in 3 days. i was going to call on friday but didn't get around to it so i hope they can help even though its close to the wire. we just have nothing. i have $60 that i have earmarked for the electric but other than that it will be about 2 weeks before we have enough to pay the $330 and then of course we'll be behind on the other bill and pretty soon after the first is paid the next electric bill will be coming. i had NO IDEA the electric was going to be so high (i expected at MOST MOST MOST $200) or we wouldn't have moved here. we aren't in a lease so thankfully come jan/feb (those months should be very low electric) we can think about moving before the summer. trick is that ds1 is now in K and i don't want to keep screwing up their school...not to mention that i have moved 3x in the last 11 months already. i haven't paid any of the other bills either. the water was the last disconnect the "diconnect amount" got paid but i held back the rest of the money to pay whichever disconnect was coming...so actually i have another $80ish to throw at the electric. i hope $140 payment will do SOMETHING.

see if they will do a payment plan. I had something like this happen to me last year and they spread the cost over 6 months for me.

we just got back from taking the stepkids back to their moms. it took bf's entire paycheck to get there and back plus we had to borrow $50 and call in a partial loan of $50 in order to make sure we even got home.

good news (or not cause if the electric goes out....) is that we have a very tightly packed fridge and freezer and plenty of FS. it amazes me how much FS i am getting. it is supposed to feed 1 adult, 2 kids and an infant whereas in reality over the summer it was paying for 2 adults, 4 kids and an infant!

I get a ridiculous amount of FS too. It's nice to know my kitchen is stocked, even if I can't pay to keep the electric on in said kitchen....

[Ianthe]

Hi Everyone! I am rejoining this thread.. we are super low income again, and have a strict budget once school starts in a couple weeks.

oh boy.

ETA.. I hate dealing with Dept of Worforce! It is impossible to get so many verification forms in one week time, and my DH's temp job is taking their sweet time getting his termination form. Our deadline was over a week ago!

[gabbyraja]

I just got back from giving away my dog because we couldn't afford him anymore. I was never a dog person, but this little dog was incredibly awesome. Great dog for kids, let them just climb all over him and still loved them anyway. One of the first words my littlest one said was the dog's name. I'm sad.

[zebra15]

Maybe I'm having a good day? On the way into the grocery store i was getting my cart and looked down, I found an almost full book of stamps.... No one was around so I put them in my wallet. I almost never mail anything so I dont have stamps but now I do. 'Thank you stamp fairy'.

[Attached2Elijah]

Well, DH has to go in and talk to our landlord to ask if we can pay rent at the end of the month. There was just no way we would have been able to pay our overdue Electric bill, groceries and rent on this paycheck (yes rent still would have been late) the good news is we will be able to save enough money back for the late fee and DH is supposed to get some overtime this week so hopefully it won't be too bad but we'll see. I'm getting tired of stealing from Peter to pay Paul every month. We have to pay $630 to our Gas company to finally catch up from our winter heating bill next month.. it just seems like we do okay during the rest of the year but everything catches up with us during the summer.. not to mention having back to school and birthdays coming up doesn't help anything. I really don't know how we're going to do 2 seperate B-day parties this year 3 days apart. They may have to have them combined... but I hate doing that On the upside though, they both want a "Palentologist" Birthday party so I think I could do some really cute Dino Dig type things for cheap. We'll see. Come to find out DH's ex is willing to let us use the step-kids Birth Cert and SS cards to get foodstamps... but I don't know if we'll be able to do that because they'll know we pay her child support or will find out about it once they realize it's not my name on the Birth certificate... but since we have joint custody, would we still be able to do that? She has residential but we have them half the time... so I don't know. I guess we'll have to see. I just know that could be the difference in us sinking and floating. Still seems ridiculous to me that $33 in income makes the difference with them... but whatever.

[Ianthe]

Originally Posted by Attached2Elijah

Well, DH has to go in and talk to our landlord to ask if we can pay rent at the end of the month. There was just no way we would have been able to pay our overdue Electric bill, groceries and rent on this paycheck (yes rent still would have been late) the good news is we will be able to save enough money back for the late fee and DH is supposed to get some overtime this week so hopefully it won't be too bad but we'll see. I'm getting tired of stealing from Peter to pay Paul every month. We have to pay $630 to our Gas company to finally catch up from our winter heating bill next month.. it just seems like we do okay during the rest of the year but everything catches up with us during the summer.. not to mention having back to school and birthdays coming up doesn't help anything. I really don't know how we're going to do 2 seperate B-day parties this year 3 days apart. They may have to have them combined... but I hate doing that On the upside though, they both want a "Palentologist" Birthday party so I think I could do some really cute Dino Dig type things for cheap. We'll see. Come to find out DH's ex is willing to let us use the step-kids Birth Cert and SS cards to get foodstamps... but I don't know if we'll be able to do that because they'll know we pay her child support or will find out about it once they realize it's not my name on the Birth certificate... but since we have joint custody, would we still be able to do that? She has residential but we have them half the time... so I don't know. I guess we'll have to see. I just know that could be the difference in us sinking and floating. Still seems ridiculous to me that $33 in income makes the difference with them... but whatever.

I would think that since you have joint custody, it would be assumed that they will eat food at your house, and could be considered in the FS.

[Attached2Elijah]

Originally Posted by LizzyQ

I would think that since you have joint custody, it would be assumed that they will eat food at your house, and could be considered in the FS.

Ohhh I so hope you are right... This could be the difference in sinking and floating for us.

[Gator-mom]

Wondering if I can join in here??

Sounds like everyone on this thread is pretty much floating in the same boat I have been for the bast 2 years! Dh and I are both full time students (me in nursing school). Ds is 3 1/2. We live in low income housing, and get FS (though not much because in Utah, they disqualify you if you are a student, but make an exception for just one of you if you have a child). Ds is on medicaid, but Dh and I currently do not qualify for medicaid on account that we have two falling apart cars, even though we make between $200-$500 a month. We pretty much make student loan money stretch to cover all of our expenses..

Just wondering what your experiences with vehicles are? We just had to come up with $500 to fix up dh's car just to get our emissions and safety done so we can re-register this month. Luckily my in-laws pitched in to help there, but I took my car in yesterday to get the oil changed and found out that I have $1350 worth of of repairs in wheel and axel problems that will probably need to be fixed over the next year.

So, just wondering How do you guys handle car issues? Do you go without? Do you have savings to help cover expenses? I have wracked my brain trying to figure out if we can go without one of our cars, but with having to drop ds off at preschool, and my school is 20 miles away, I'd be on the bus all week! Not to mention that my clinicals next semester start at 6:30am, so it would be hard to bus to that as well! Dh's school is not on a convenient bus line either..and our schedules cannot mesh in a way that we can carpool..we're always going opposite directions!

Anyway ((hugs)) to all of you! I know you feel my pain! And I'm sure everyone can use one!