*~*~*2012 Low Income Support Group*~*~* - Page 15

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by Smokering What do "mainstream" kids eat? We've used up our grocery budget for the week, so I can't go out and get white bread... I could make white bread, though. Would white bread toasted sandwiches with cheese and tomato sauce be, like, normal enough? We're kinda low on cheese... hrmm.

Just have something plain... Pasta without sauce, bread and butter, etc. You can have soup and bread and they can just eat bread. I do have a super picky eater and I used to bring food if I cared if he didn't eat (he'd have hunger related behavioral issues when he was young). Now that he's older, I don't care so much and view eating at other people's houses as an opportunity for him to try new foods, which he sometimes does in social situations. If not, he'll just eat when he gets home.

[Smokering]

Heh - well, regarding our picky guest-chillun, I was beginning to worry a bit. I discovered they were coming today, not tomorrow, and I spent all of yesterday languishing with some weird disease, so all I had was a loaf of semi-wholemeal bread. In the end I thought "tough", and was planning to stuff it with garlic and cheese and stuff for a pull-apart loaf, and if they didn't like it they could lump it.   Aaaaand then my friend rang up and said the kids had had a late night last night, and could we reschedule for next week? :p Lovely girl, but flaky. So that at least postpones the problem! (Speaking of the spaghetti suggestion... the only pasta we have in the house is wholemeal. Heh.) Thanks for the ideas, anyway!

[Mom31]

serve what you have an don't stress- you can even say to your friend- I am going to be fixing  xyz and I hope your kids like it- if they don't you may want to bring something they like along.  We need to love each other for our differences as well as how we are alike.

I would just serve it- but an idea would be grilled cheese- cheap and easy and sounds like you have both bread and cheese- oh and tomato soup to dip?  Most kids like that right>?

[zebra15]

FWIW my kiddo turned 12 on Tuesday.  The lady who adores him at the local restaurant gave him a birthday pie - totally free!  

We had a lovely weekend.  Trip to the LEGO store, lots of time at the pool, kiddo got some new art supplies too. Half price books was having an extra 20% off that stacked with my teachers card so more books!.

He is so much happier to be back in AZ.  My employment options are limited but the kiddo is happy.  He even re-joined his old swim club today.

Happy bday kiddo!

[Mom31]

happy b day to your son. So glad you are back. "Home"

[zebra15]

We were just at the library and it seems they have a whole new section of DVD's.  The library is now carrying TV series!  My kiddo is elated.  We are currently watching ALF!,  Cheers is on-order and Punky Brewester is also on the list!  We do have Amazon streaming but the free options were getting boring for DS.

Just a heads up, check the library... they might have new material!

[zebra15]

My glasses were ready and I got them today  .   Wow, this is amazing.  I cringed at the total but it was definitely money well spent. I can see and the on-site adjustments are priceless!

[*LoveBugMama*]

Hi!

Can I join?

I`m a single mama to my 11 YO LoveBug. We live in Norways third largest city.. This city was said to be the most expensive city IN THE WORLD earlier this year. I can`t do anything but laugh about it... Reading this thread makes my so, so angry and sad. Being low income/poor in Norway is hard, but it seems it is a lot worse for you guys living in USA. Atleast we are guaranteed help from both doctors and hospitals, without having to pay much for it. (We DO pay for dentalwork, weirdly enough. Not consider important enough, I gues..)

I`m on disability, due to a chronic illness, so money is very tight... We rent a TINY apartment (350 square feet) and it costs me $1450 each month... Yeah... So more than half my income goes to pay rent.
 

[highlandmum]

Can I join in too? I'm a single mama to 3 young kids (ages 2, 4, and 6). I work full time---  and am struggling and can use some support! Hope everyone is doing well this weekend. 

[Smokering]

Hi LoveBugMama and highlandmum!

Well, I did my taxes. I get a rebate (yay!)... and we'll get some catch-up family support money for both kids, at some stage. So that's awesome.

Unfortunately DH owes a bunch on his business taxes, which kinda cancels out all that good stuff, and then some. Probably. He hasn't actually done his IR3 yet, so this is just the IRD's estimate. He did have a precipitous drop in income a few months back, so I hope that means his projected tax is too high and he won't have to pay as much as they think. We'll see.

Last night I went to a friend's going-away party, and when I went to go home the key wouldn't turn in the ignition. It does this sometimes, and usually wiggling the steering wheel and trying repeatedly works in the end. Not this time. Four guys tried to help, including a mechanic and two ex-Army guys, but nope. So I had to leave it there - Dad drove me and DD home. Luckily DH went over this morning with his key and it worked. I think mine was just an eighth-generation copy which had lost all useful definition. He got me a new one cut. Crisis averted. I'm glad it wasn't the transmission!

And in other good news, DH landed a nice tasty government contract! We're celebrating by going out for dinner and a movie on Monday night. The movie's free (I won tickets to a preview of Ruby Sparks), and we haven't had a date night in FOREVER, so... "looking forward to it" is an understatement. Mum's babysitting. Woot! :)

Have decided I have enough presents for DD for Christmas now. My mystery shopping stash includes a fancy notepad, undies, two sets of hairclips and a comb. I'm halfway through making her a felt flannelgraph-type thing. And I bought her a Waldorf doll online with some PayPal money I had; and when she arrives I'll make her a bunch of new clothes. Then I'm going to make her a Disney princess dress, and maybe another summer dress from some fabric I already have; plus the sailor dress which will match DS' and her cousins' sailor suits. (We're dressing them all up and taking photos on the beach, for presents for MIL and FIL. Should be cute!)

And I think that should be enough! I keep thinking of other things she'd like... a teepee, more costumes, a dollhouse... but really, I don't want to get her piles and piles of stuff. And her birthday's only a few months after Christmas anyway. And if I'm really on-to-it, I might get her summer quilt done by Christmas too.

So now I can use my mystery shopping money on Christmas presents for other people (or, you know, useful stuff for us!) Cool.

Hope things are looking up for all of you too! :)

[maciascl]

Welcome new mamas! Sorry you are here but glad to have the company, so to speak

By the end of the week DH will be promoted to a lower level manager at his job so we are just waiting to hear what his raise will be like. I am just praying it is enough for us to make it without having to steal from the savings stash because that will be GONE in about 2 months based on his current income. It won't be enough to get us off of food stamps like I previously thought but it will also mean that we get to keep our Medi-Cal coverage. Then again with the way things have gone at this job I am just hoping that they actually give him the raise and not just the extra responsibilities. Either way I am counting down the days til Friday when he starts in the new store. I am so done with having to worry about this. We will still struggle greatly but it should be enough to pay the basic bills, put gas in the cars, and food on the table.

[Mom31]

YAY on the promotion!  I know- I do that juggling act to- how much can I make before I lose everything and go under- or how much do I have to make to do without it- Right now the bare minumum I can make to make it worth it to go off assistance is 12 an hour- and that is with a good sum of child support to back me up as well....

Right now- I am at that minimum but if I can't get a job paying exactly that- I will have to work part time- so I can continue on with the food stamps and medical card.

[justmama]

Sounds like there's good things happening for everyone right now!  That's wonderful!  We are being blessed right now too.  Unfortunately our wonderful neighbors who share our duplex are moving.  It's wonderful for them, finally being able to afford a lovely 3 bedroom in a nice area but it's a little sad since we are so close and I had hoped our 4 year olds would start kindergarten together next year.  Also, you just never know who you are gonna get when you live in a side-by-side duplex in a not-so-nice neighborhood with a shared yard/deck/porch.  Making good out of a bad situation, we will be moving next door to their side which has a half-finished basement and that will give us a 3 bedroom place.  It's wonderful news since I have all 3 girls sharing the master bedroom right now.  We've made do for 2 years and this will cost us $50 extra per month but it's totally worth my oldest daughter having some space from her sisters and I'm hoping they'll get along better since they get space.  So we get to move in a month without all the typical moving expenses since it's just next door but that means $50 less each month to spend on heat and bills so we'll have to strap down more.  

Anyone worried about food prices this coming winter and heating prices?  Gas is over $4 a gallon in most places right now plus the drought this past summer and the "experts" are predicting that grain and beef could triple in price.  That's really really scary!  Anyone preparing now for the upcoming spike in food bills?  I've been putting up fresh produce from our garden all summer and have planted a fall/winter garden for the first time ever so I'm hoping that helps.  I'm also stocking up more than I normally would in pantry-type foods like pasta and rice and peanut butter.

[Smokering]

We're celebrating by going out for dinner and a movie on Monday night. The movie's free (I won tickets to a preview of Ruby Sparks), and we haven't had a date night in FOREVER, so... "looking forward to it" is an understatement. Mum's babysitting. Woot! :)

Wel, hmph... that didn't happen. DH came down with my ghastly sore throat, and couldn't go. I ended up seeing the movie with a friend, which was nice, but it was a shame to miss out on dinner with DH! We're trying to reschedule, but there's nothing on that we want to see... that said, tomorrow night a friend's having a surprise dessert party at a restaurant, so maybe Mum could watch the kids and we could go to that.

justmama: Yay for moving close by! A friend recently moved flats two doors down the street... it was SO handy being able to just carry everything across! And yeah, an extra $50 a month for your daughter's sanity sounds totally worth it. :)

We're coming into spring here, so I'm not really worried about winter, but I am determined to make my garden more productive this year and actually freeze stuff. I've never canned before - scared of it! - but I'm going to attempt to grow gherkins this year, sooooo! At the very least, hopefully we'll save on buying produce, and in an ideal world I'll have some nice ziplock bags in the freezer full of basil, snow peas etc, and some pumpkins to store in the garage.

[zebra15]

Justmama- yes I'm worried about food/gas prices.  I always worry about those things but even more now that I see fuel prices inching up every day.  Food seems to be increasing every time I get to the store as well.  I'm not stockpiling right now, but doing a weekly shopping.

[justmama]

Yep, every time I go it's more expensive.  And our food money doesn't stretch as far as it used to.  No organics for us anymore.  The only splurge is very small amt of meat I buy for my kids every month(I'm vegetarian) has to be antibiotic/hormone free.  But I buy that as thriftily(is that a word??) as I can with the in-store coupons for same day expiration plus buying a whole chicken instead of the more expensive cuts.  But it's getting pricey to just survive these days and I wonder about people who are living on the edge even more so than we are and how they get by.  Head Start just handed out a form today with the statistics for our town and one of them was so sad to me.  There's 296 kids in my town that are homeless.    I knew we lived in a low income area and 80% of the section 8 housing in my town is right around my neighborhood but that's really sobering to know that nearly 300 children don't have a stable home and know where they will sleep and where their next meal is coming from.  

[Mom31]

It is really getting scathe. Even at twelve dollars an hour I bring very little home and I have all my bills paid for the most part. Gas to get here and back is sixty dollars a week childcare is forty if they don't have school one day its fifty dollars a day then add in buying food and not having healthcare......I am pretty much proving my point as to why I did not work.

[justmama]

Mom31, that's the exact reason I'm not working right now.  But I plan on going back to work once my youngest is in fullday K next year.  It will financially be worth it at normal wages with a high school diploma only and no career skills.    

[zebra15]

Em- Thats why I only work 'part time' and keep my $$ under DES limits.  I can't afford to loose food stamps or medical.   $12/hr is approx 24k a year.  After taxes, insurance, etc, there is no way I can make ends meet.  I hate living this way but its the only option I have right now.

To make this worse on my end DES cancelled my food stamps because they didn't get payroll stubs from me, well I didn't work at the school over the summer (DUH) and I didn't have any to turn in AND I TOLD THEM THAT. I printed out my schedule for them and the pay dates.  So now I can reapply.  They also changed my medical to a 'step down' program since I'm 'working'.  This means co-pays - I don't have the couple dollars per RX or visit to pay.  THATS WHY IM ON ASSISTANCE.  

[maciascl]

I don't know what to do with DH. The store he was working in closed and he is in a new store (same company). While the 1 store was closing he worked some in both stores but I don't think he got paid for all the hours he worked. He should have had more overtime. He even opened 1 store and closed the other in tha same day a few times. He has been completely in the new store for a week now. He was supposed to be given a mangement position in this new store and while he is doing manager work nothing formal has been done and he has not been told about a raise or anything. I am so frustrated! They are taking advantage of him and he won't ask anyone about it and just gets mad when I bring it up. I understand it is uncomfortable to talk to your boss about this kind of stuff but not nearly as uncomfortable as I am trying to figure out how to pay the freaking bills with no money. I am so sick of this stress. Even beyond the money aspect of it I am tired of seeing him being taken advantage of and not standing up for himself. I am not saying he needs to ask for more than he deserves, but working for free or doing a managers job for little more than min wage is not acceptable.