Summer '11 ***Low Income Support Thread*** - Page 3

[mylilmonkeys]

We have safelink.  It took several weeks.  You should be able to go back to the website to see when you progress to approved status, but they don't notify you when the phone is mailed or provide any tracking or estimated delivery, so it's a little frustrating waiting and wondering. 

[Stayseeliz]

We're in the low income boat for sure. 6 of us living on very little. DH is straight commission which is all over the place. If we get a decent check it seems like it disappears so fast. It's so frustrating. I'm posting things on craigslist with very little response. So discouraged.

[zebra15]

Went to the PO Box dreading the stack of bills.  Low and behold there was a refund check from a cancelled summer program.  $150,  part of me wants to save the check, just for a little while, the other part wants to just pay some stinking bills.

My old roommate is creating drama.  It seems shes out of money and is trying to make that my issue.  I am learning boundaries and that is bothering her.  I do not need to borrow trouble.  Shes an adult, she should be able to figure out simple math, right?

I am sooooooo glad DS and I have our own place, even if it means we are 'apartment poor'.

[zebra15]

Originally Posted by mylilmonkeys 

We have safelink.  It took several weeks.  You should be able to go back to the website to see when you progress to approved status, but they don't notify you when the phone is mailed or provide any tracking or estimated delivery, so it's a little frustrating waiting and wondering. 

Well no tracking ISN'T helpful or smart.  sheezez.  How do they ship?  Regular mail, UPS, Fed ex? Carrier Pigeon?

This is what I have on the safelink site 

Qualified - Qualified (handset delivery in process)

[Paigekitten]

Hello everybody.  I stopped posting probably 6 months ago, but I could use a chance to talk with people in the same boat again.   Our family is probably the worst of financially we have been in our entire marriage.

We were planning to move to California in September to live with my parents and sell or rent the house, but then I felt really really strong feelings I shouldn't switch midwives (DH is not cool with UC).  I'm due November 1st.  But we seriously have NO money to get the house ready.   Our church has paid our house payment and utilities for the last two months.  We'd just leave the house, but DH's mom helped us buy it, and her name is on the title.

What's more is my health insurance subsidy ended on April 30th, but I thought it ended in June so DH went to the doctor for a sinus infection, and I had an ultrasound, thinking the insurance would pay in full.  So now we can pay $500 in medical bills and have me be uninsured for the pregnancy or we can pay $1400 in insurance premiums to stay insured for May, June, and July.  Our subsidy ended, and we appealed it, they just said we could reapply a few weeks ago, so it's most likely I'll get it back, but that won't do me any good if I have to reapply for the health insurance, I'll be declined for a pre-existing condition. Thankfully the kids are on the state health plan, I JUST got them signed up.  DH and I would qualify too, but it won't cover my midwives unless I apply during the last three months of my pregnancy.

On Wednesday, my two year old fell and smacked her head into the wall.  She was acting really out of it, and she fell from fairly high up so we took her into the ER.  On the way, I'm on the phone with the oncall advice nurse, and the phone died, and then the transmission died on the car.  Seriously, not cool.  Our other car is also not running and we have no money to take it to a mechanic and it's more complicated then DH can handle himself.  A friend ended up driving us to the ER, a neighbor helped us get the car home the next day.  And thankfully by the time we actually GOT to the hospital DD2 was FINE and chipper and I felt rather silly after all we'd gone through, but they still checked her out and everything.

I just feel so stuck.  I'm willing to walk away from everything I own, everything I've been building up these five years in order to take care ourselves, but even that doesn't help us.  We can't afford to stay, we can't afford to leave.

I told DH today that I checked it out and I'm pretty sure we qualify for TANF.  He said "wow, really?"  He told me when he filled out the food stamp application a few months ago he was thankful we didn't meet the criteria for TANF because we weren't in that bad of shape financially.

[mylilmonkeys]

Originally Posted by zebra15 

Well no tracking ISN'T helpful or smart.  sheezez.  How do they ship?  Regular mail, UPS, Fed ex? Carrier Pigeon?

This is what I have on the safelink site 

Qualified - Qualified (handset delivery in process)

I think it was USPS.  Sounds like yours is coming ... eventually.

[Thystle]

{{{{bobcat}}}}

Can you apply for a break on the student loans? IBR? Are they yours or hubby's or both?

Have you thought or tried fro SSDI for yourself if you are unable to work? Or enroll in online school?

WIC provides formula for birth to 12mo, and can either cover all or a good chunk of the need (it varies person to person when you ask), plus they can help you try to stay bf'ing.

Anychance you guys can move to a lower cost area?

Applied for food stamps/SNAP?

{{{{{hugs}}}}

[Thystle]

Anychance you can block her calls and emails? Just completely cut her out? 

 

Originally Posted by zebra15 

Went to the PO Box dreading the stack of bills.  Low and behold there was a refund check from a cancelled summer program.  $150,  part of me wants to save the check, just for a little while, the other part wants to just pay some stinking bills.

My old roommate is creating drama.  It seems shes out of money and is trying to make that my issue.  I am learning boundaries and that is bothering her.  I do not need to borrow trouble.  Shes an adult, she should be able to figure out simple math, right?

I am sooooooo glad DS and I have our own place, even if it means we are 'apartment poor'.

[Thystle]

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{hugs and good luck vibes for all}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

[maciascl]

DH gets his last unemployment check in 1 week. His 1 client got tired of waiting on the bank to reply after 2 months of nothing, so they withdrew their offer and are done house hunting. We will cash out DH's 401k that will last us about 5 months. Who knows what will happen after that. I want to throw up just thinking about it. Praying DH gets atleast a part time job to help stretch that money and can sell some houses in the process. He's only sold 2 in the 2 years he's been doing this so I am not sure how that is going to work out. I am feeling super stressed, anxious, and depressed. 

I also just realized today that my cousin is getting married at the end of the month and I have absolutely nothing that is suitable to wear to a wedding and absolutely no money to go buy anything. That doesn't help an anxious depressed mama feel any better. 

On the bright side a friend gave us a carseat for DS3 and it actually fit in my car. We have a small Corolla so fitting all 3 car seats in the back has been a huge challenge. If this seat didn't fit we were going to have to find $300 to buy the only seat that I knew would fit. I am so grateful for amazing friends!

[Paigekitten]

Originally Posted by maciascl 

On the bright side a friend gave us a carseat for DS3 and it actually fit in my car. We have a small Corolla so fitting all 3 car seats in the back has been a huge challenge. If this seat didn't fit we were going to have to find $300 to buy the only seat that I knew would fit. I am so grateful for amazing friends!

That's awesome!  The two carseats and booster we have already fit in the back of one of our cars, but not the other,  I am super thankful we don't need to buy a carseat for this new baby.

[happyhats]

hugs, ladies. 

Bobcat, I'm not saying that you should or should not have a child at this point, because only you know what is really right for  your family, but there are more opportunities to a poor family than to a poor childless couple.  It's easier to qualify for forbearance/IBR on your loans, foodstamps and wic is more readily available, things like tanf, etc.  Obviously just to have a child for aid wouldn't be a good idea at all, and I also think of course you must consider your health issues, but I also belief that when you are strongly, strongly pulled in one direction it is USUALLY for a good reason.

We aren't in dire straits, thankfully, but it feels like we are always juggling and never really getting ahead.  Hubs and I are going to try out a new budget this next month once we are caught up.  Let's hope it helps!  We'll be able to save a little every month (not a lot but at least something finally), have adequate money set aside for household needs, and have all bills paid on time.  How come it feels like this never happens??? 

Right now we have very little to no discretionary income until week after next.  We're surviving though.  We were blessed to win a gift card at a local grocery store and are putting it to use.  We have just enough money to get our car legalized to drive again (need to get insured again and need to get license renewed) and we will be getting wic this Friday.  On Saturday we have a free family fun day and then hubby and I will hopefully be having a "date night" with a movie gift card we've had since Christmas and whatever moola we scrounge up.  Luckily hubby had a couple hours overtime this paycheck. 

It's really frustrating to never really get breathing room but I have to count all the other blessings we have. 

[carmel23]

I kind of agree that there is never really a perfect time to have a baby...  And doing it while you are poor is almost easier then when you are both working, etc.  At least you are already adjusted to one income, yk? 

Happyhats, it is good to count the small blessings!  That is how I felt for a long time... that we weren't "getting anywhere."  My income has seriously slumped these past two months, but I am hoping that this is a "one window closing, a door opening" kind of situation... we can hope, right?!

[Thystle]

Hey ladies I just found a site that has a state by state list of salvage grocery stores and I hope it might be helpfull to someone: http://www.extremebargains.net/store/Independent_Discount_and_Salvage_Grocery_Store_Directory.html 

I know it's hard to find salvage/scratch-n-dent stores as many aren't listed and they are a dying/dead breed in many cities/states.

[Paigekitten]

We had a great couple days.  A friend of ours called last minute to see if her daughter could come spend the night with us as the person they had staying with her overnight had something come up.  I ended up taking the girls over to their house so that they didn't have to kennel their dog too, and it was seriously like HER daughter was babysitting MY kids.  I didn't let her pay me for that reason (plus she's done us tons of favors) but she did buy us lunch from Wendy's (which the girls LOVE, and don't get very often.)  And we all went to a park near her house this morning and fed the ducks. It was just really sweet, and so nice for my girls to get out of the house since our cars aren't working, and it was so nice for me to be able to help our someone else for a change. 

[zebra15]

Stupid safelink phone.  I guess I need to call them.  the only thing the dumb phone does is get 'text messages' every dang minute.  I spend the entire time erasing them. I can't find the phone number, had to call my other phone to get a number for the 'safelink' phone.  If tonight is any indication of how the service is going to work I am going to end up cancelling the dang thing, can you even cancel it?  

HELP!!!

[happyhats]

I love my scratch and dent store but don't frequent it much since I have a costco membership and its the opposite direction.  I've been thinking about going there this month though.

Now the car is insured and licensed.  BUT.  The battery is suddenly dead!!!  We jumped it once, but hubby didn't have time to actually drive it anywhere, and when he went out to drive it again today it was dead again.  Grrrr.  So we don't know if it needs replaced or what, but this isn't the timing for this, ya know.  We REALLLY needed to get to wic because we are super low on food, and funds.  Luckily we have a couple dollars left over on a grocery store gift card and we get foodstamps on the 22nd. 

Hubs has overtime, which is nice financially but it screwed up our entire weekend.  If we had made it to wic he would have probably been late for work, and we were going to have a date night that is now postponed until next week, plus we planned a free outing with the kiddos that is postponed too.  Boo.  I really need out of the house. 

[foxsmama]

hey everyone. i haven't posted in a while because our family has been going through some huge transitions.  after DH being out of work since april, using up every penny of savings, and having $0 income, we were evicted in june. after the eviction, we finally qualified for TANF, which gives us $500 a month. however, since we now have a recent eviction on our rental record, no one will rent an apartment to us. we have now moved into a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom house shared with 2 other families (5 other people, 8 people in the house including us). Our rent is $400 and utilities are $25 a month, so we have a little left over for diapers and other needs. DH is still looking for work. he has an interview tomorrow, and we are just hoping for the best. i feel like tearing my hair out sometimes. i just keep thinking 'at least things can't get any worse.....'

[happyhats]

eek!  Do you know the families you are living with?  That sounds really stressful and like you are in a pretty high COL area.  Can you look into low income housing?

Well, the battery was dead.  We had to borrow money from my parents to get a new one.  Thankfully my hubby had overtime so we can pay them back this week.  We also need to pay my sister for paying our property taxes!  We'll be broke again but we will be caught up.  We need to put in a "promise to pay" notice into our phone/internet company to avoid being turned off too.  I'm just scratching through until the beginning of next month when we will be all caught up and be able to use a working budget.

My mom gave me some bathroom rugs, towels and washclothes today from my grandpas home (the family is cleaning it all out since he had to move to a residential home).  Comes in handy since we were down to two towels.  My hubby was also gifted some very nice jeans, two new shirts, and some new athletic shorts from my grandpas since they are close in size.  Very good since he's been needing some jeans. 

We have wic tomorrow and are food stamps come in on Friday so at least there's that. 

[foxsmama]

happyhats:  We didn't know the families when we moved in. after being evicted we were staying with friends and DH was looking for private rentals on craigslist that were willing to rent to an income-less family. We all get along pretty well now that we are getting to know each other. Each family has their own bedroom shared with their children, and we all share the kitchen, bathroom, and living room. Living in a college town in the valley,  COL is kind of high. The section 8 list here is 3 years wait, and the low income housing is anywhere from 3 months to a year wait. I have applied for low income housing and we are on a waiting list.