December Lower Income and/or Struggling Mama's Support Thread - Page 6

[Iris' Mom]

Sorry for the multiple posts, I'm a bit grumpy today.

I got the notice of my SSDI payments for 2008. They are reducing the amount by $160/mo. because of my income in 2006. There are a bunch of exceptions, like if you got a divorce afterwards. Um, how about the fact that I became disabled?? Nope, no good. Honestly, is it too difficult for the federal government to take into account an 85% reduction in income?? :

Okay, enough negativity. To be honest, I'm very lucky. There are those who can't work, and get nothing. I have 3 beautiful children, a close-knit family, food on the table, clothes on my back and roof over my head, great friends, access to MDC . . . So many blessings. I'm feeling better already.

[Thystle]

Good News/Bad News


Goodwill is no longer selling (or accepting) plastic toys.



I tend to never go there as the prices are higher than other thrift stores. Well I felt compelled to go yesterday and hit like the clothing motherlode/sale.

I found a bunch of stuff (some no wear or with tags still on) for about six of you ladies so I will be sending that out Monday. I am trying to get some of it washed but there is so much! So just warning you... I may just send it out and let you all wash it yourself.


It felt like xmas and made me giddy. I had to pile it so high in the cart I could not see over it.









Iris... several of us have BP dx's too. {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}}}}}}}} Sometimes it really is real, and it sucks but we learn to manage.

[CaliMommie]

Originally Posted by sarah_bella1050

I haven't posted on one of these threads for awhile now, not since the first couple. They just got so big so fast that I didn't feel I could catch up. So I"m subbing now, even though I haven't read the whole thing.

Hi Sarah!

Originally Posted by natural_mama89

Hey guys!!!! My internet was shut off for a few days, but, we obviously have it back now. I don't know if we are even going to be able to pay our rent this month. It sucks to have to choose between paying rent or bills. Luckily, our landlady is a friend of ours and will probably be okay with us paying her back later when we can handle it. We need to start looking for a place. We might end up having to stay with DP's parents for a little bit, but I hope not. Their house is tiny and dirty, and all my efforts to keep it clean when we lived there before failed. Like, I bought a hamper for the bathroom so there would not be clothes and towels all over the floor, and they still ended up all over the floor. It was unbelievably frustrating and depressing.

I hope everything works out & you are able to pay your rent AND your bills! It sucks when you have to choose between one or the other. Sorry that you are feeling stressed & emotional lately...hormones sure can wreak havoc on us, can't they?

Originally Posted by shayinme

Well today got off to a rocky starty but has gotten better, I talked to my Dad today who initally offered to send me some cash but made me feel so bad I was like just keep it. Long story short riding me about trying to take a basic job when I have degrees : (degrees don't feed us). My dad is a minister and since my Mom passed 3.5 years ago he had had issues but basically he alienates me and my brother.

Anyway we went to take dd to get boots and dh's larger client check had arrived while the bank was still open so it means I can do bills. We had lunch, took dd to see Santa but the best thing was ds who lives with his Dad at the moment just IM'd me that he has been doing some work for his Dad and wants to buy me these rather expensive boots I was pining away about last week at that mall visit. I was blown away, they are $140 and he told me he's like to get them for my Christmas present. I was blown away and just started crying, its not even the boots its the fact that my son would do something like that for Mama.

First~ how very sweet about the boots! : And yay for being able to pay the bills!

Originally Posted by JamesMama

So please send "Be understanding" vibes. We can handle $25 a week. It will be tight, but at least we'll be able to pay our bills and eat.

Sending "be understanding vibes"!

Originally Posted by Fruitful4Him

Wow, how scary for you momma (worrying about your son being exposed being immune compromised, etc). I hope that everything turns out okay an dthat he doesnt get sick and that you don't make yourself sick worrying. ((hugs))

Thanks mama! I am trying not to worry, cuz worrying won't change anything, yk? Easy said than done, though. Glad to hear that your re-cert went smoothly!

Originally Posted by Belleweather

I need to slow down. I'm less than 30 days (YIKES!) from my due date and just not doing much to ground and get ready for this new kidlet. And I know that I've got prepartum depression/anxiety which is going to work really hard to turn into postpartum depression if I don't get a handle on things. So yeah, I'm going to focus on emotional preventative medicine this month.

As for us, today is a tough day. Medicaid got screwed up, so DH was a few days without his medicine which always makes things SO HARD. He boomerangs really badly... he's way better with the meds, but when he doesn't have them he's actually far worse than his unmedicated self to the point that he can't do anything that involves concentration, even just having a conversation with me is too tough. So we're watching videos and playing video games all day.

Plus, the weather is the absolute pits and we had to be out in it for about 3 hours this morning to get DH's medicine. Since it's controlled, he has to get a written prescription and then take it across town to get it filled... all on icy, nasty roads with DS and I in the car. We're staying home and eating soup for the rest of the weekend, though!

Also, my mom came while I was on my business trip and totally rocked our house! She got a ton of cleaning done for the baby, took care of the remainder of the freezer debacle including getting the old freezer disposed of, and actually bought DH and I a King-sized bed as an early Holiday present... I was oogling one on Craigslist and she said if they'd give it to us, she'd pay for it because it was such a good deal ($100 for frame, box spring, mattress, and 2 sets of sheets). It turned out to be just a few blocks away, so she and DH picked it up and it was waiting for me when I got home. She and DH took care of a ton of pre-baby chores, and she left us with homemade bread and soup to eat for the weekend. I feel so loved.

take care of yourself... That sucks about having to be out in the yucky weather. At least you can stay home the rest of the weekend! I hope the medicaid gets fixed! That's cool that your mom cleaned the hosue for you! I always feel better when the house is clean.

Originally Posted by mrskennedy

Let me just say...
I feel like !
My self-bettering thing is going to be finding a good, normal sleep schedule--getting up and going to bed at the same time every day, and it being something other than getting up at noon or later and not going to bed until 4:00 AM! :
I need help, hugs, whatever you can offer.
Thanks mamas!

Good luck with the sleep schedule! I always say I'll go to bed at a decent hour, but then I do the "I just have to finish doing this one more thing" and end up in bed hours later! :

Originally Posted by Thystle

All you mama's remember this:

You are NOT your surroundings.

You are NOT your clothes.

You are NOT your home.

You are NOT your current situation.

You are NOT your bank account.

And you are NOT the sum of what one single person (stranger, friend, or family) thinks or says of you.



YOU are what YOU make of yourself and ONLY YOU can give that power away to others.


You are worthy. Don't "allow" others to "take" that from you![/COLOR][/B]

I love this!

Originally Posted by ~*Jaime

Hi all

Just wanted to say hi!

I'm sure I missed someone, I'm not quite awake yet! I need coffee I'll be back later to catch up on the rest of the posts!

[captain crunchy]

Originally Posted by mrskennedy

CC I don't give DH presents, bake cakes, or even make meals. (I know, I suck.) I don't do anything else either. What I give him for his bday is not nagging him to shave. This is a huge deal b/c he's like a frickin cactus and he knows it! Happy bday to your DH!

Aww shucks I will tell him! Thanks for the happy wishes!



Today is good. Dh begins his job tomorrow yay!!!!! I know he will be awesome -- he has always been a super employee and never had a problem anywhere he has worked. Everyone always loves him and I am like, okay, CAPITALIZE on that... I know he can grow with this company and get to a point where we are actually doing (dare I say it... I am... I am going there... ) comfortable financially. I am very proud of him because while it is a good job, it is far from a "dream" job of what he would love to be doing.

The in-laws are coming today, I am making lunch and a cake and we will have a little celebration. I didn't exactly want to be cleaning on a Sunday but I can't exactly tell the people who gave dh life that they can't spend his birthday with him I like them a lot, it is just ya know the stuff you have to do when people are coming over... like shower and get dressed


Duchslove, what is your great news!!! I know you said your manfriendlovah was feeling better (yay!) so it can't be that! I wanna know!!


I know I am missing so many others and I am sorry! I am sending lots of love and

[LankyLizards]

Originally Posted by captain crunchy

Think positively mamas, maybe it will be like etsy and they will only charge like 20 cents to list or maybe free to list but a tiny percentage of sales ...

Hope everyone is doing well ... tomorrow is dh's birthday and of course, no money for presents --- I will bake a cake and an awesome meal and well.. luckily with partners you can pay in kind if you get my drift Good enough for Marilyn Monroe, good enough for me

ok, that made me laugh. I'm sure there are others I should have quoted, too, but wow, 6 pages and it's the 2nd of the month. We may have to First 1/2 of month/2nd 1/2 of month threads!

So, for anyone who is new let me quickly introduce myself. I am a single mama to a two year old and I am full time college student. I am pretty much flat broke all of the time. I'm feeling really good about being completely poor, it's not being able to pay my bills that I hate.

I was offered a job for Catholic Charities, as night manager of a complex for ex-homeless families. It would mean free room and board. It is also right next to my college, which is about 30-45 minutes from where I am now. The cons that I can see are that it would mean I would have to break my current lease, which could cost about $1000. I don't have $1000. (If only....) I would also be sort of isolated from my friends and family, (which is, in the case of my psycho parents, a GOOD thing) DD has really bonded with her father and his father and brother lately though so this would be harder for them to see her . They don't have a car. Oh, and it's in a *really* rural area. Way more rural than where I am now, which is saying a lot. But, it's also got tons of farms, inc. the tree farm that me and dd went to last weekend, which was awesome. And it has a cute, historic little dowtown area with a farmer's market on weekends and antique shops and family owned cafes. I think there are lots of places to pick your own veggies and maybe even get fresh milk and eggs. Ok....

I want to do it. I do. I just worry about breaking the lease. I guess I need to go talk to the apartment complex manager and see what the options are. That's my goal for tomorrow. That and to call Cath. Charities and get teh ball rolling on that end.

I have had a crazy let-loose weekend. I hung out with old friends, went to see a band play last night and hung out the Cute Guy (who I have been crushing on for a while).It was a lot of fun. But now back to homework and bills. :

Hugs to everyone. Hopefully I can keep up with this month's thread. It is going sooo quickly!!

[sandygirl]

Originally Posted by LankyLizards

I want to do it. I do. I just worry about breaking the lease. I guess I need to go talk to the apartment complex manager and see what the options are. That's my goal for tomorrow. That and to call Cath. Charities and get teh ball rolling on that end.

Maybe if you explain the situation to catholic charities they will advance you some to cover breaking the lease? It's worth a shot!

I'd take the job in a heartbeat - if it were me.

[LankyLizards]

Originally Posted by sandygirl

Maybe if you explain the situation to catholic charities they will advance you some to cover breaking the lease? It's worth a shot!

I'd take the job in a heartbeat - if it were me.

Well, the job doesn't actually pay. Just free room and "board" (utilities and basic cable). But maybe I can work something out with the complex to make payments.....

[Belleweather]

Originally Posted by sandygirl

I fit in on multiple levels here - debt, single mama & not working, etc.

We had a yard sale yesterday and today - I'm wiped out, but we made $535! It's going straight to my student loans though - just as soon as I figure out how to pay on them while I'm still in school. I still have a big stack of things to craigslist, half.com, and secondspin - I hope they all sell!

Wow. That is an amazing haul for a yard sale! You did really, really well and must have worked really hard. I'm glad it payed off for you! We always make like $35 from our yardsales, but we keep doin' them anyway.

Originally Posted by 2Sweeties1Angel

I'll be calling the doctor on Monday to see about making payments on the copper IUD I've been wanting. Medicaid won't cover it, but they'll cover hormonal BC which I can't take. I've tried, even the Mirena, and it all ended badly.

I can't believe that your Medicaid department doesn't cover IUDs. That sucks! I know that some planned parenthood state orginizations will do them on a sliding fee scale, and that Iowa is actually offering them free of charge if you schedule the appointment in December and have it inserted before the end of February. We're close enough to the Iowa border and are having enough problems with Medicaid that I'm seriously thinking of taking them up on it.

Originally Posted by mrskennedy

Amy, barring medical conditions, babies are only as expensive as you make them. If you're AP, you can get by with a helluva lot less than most. We do and we're glad. We spend less money, have more space, and get to hold DS more.

Yeah, but sometimes you don't even have that "less than most". Especially if you've got to factor in Childcare and unpaid maternity leave. I know "Babies are only as expensive as you make them" is like an article of faith around here, but I'm still really spooked about what's going to happen to our family once this baby comes. :

Originally Posted by sonrisaa29

I have ADD as well and only in this last year have we had prescription benefits before we were paying out of pocket $85.00 a month. I cannot be without them and I hated having to choose between certain things and my medications.

What really sucks is my doctor is an 45 minute drive from my house and I have to go pick up the prescription and then take it to the pharamacy by my house since the doctors office can't call it in. I refuse to go to the pharmacy in the town where the doctor is because they pharamcist accused me of not really needing the medication I was on.

Okay, seriously... WHY IS THIS? It makes me CRAZY! : Every month DH has to schedule an appointment with his doctor to get a written prescription for his meds and then take that prescription to the ONE pharmacy in town where he can get it filled under MA. Each of which is on a complete other side of town from one another and from our house. He can't call more than 2 days ahead and has to wait for an appointment to be open and for Medicaid to approve everything and often ends up unmedicated while waiting. And it takes HOURS. We were really hoping that it was just a medicaid regulation or something, but it looks like it might be a federal DEA thing? I HATE it.

Sorry. I think that was just a rant that had to happen.

Originally Posted by captivatedlife

ok. I'm hopping on board...

. My name is Kim and DH and I have a little E. He works full time and I work 20 hours a week on an opposite schedule.

It's not working. I could be making more plus insurance if I went to work at a local nf store (the one dh works) plus when dh needed to cut back hours for school, I'd be able to pick up the slack for insurance.

We're planning on having another dc.... sometime.... but the whole job situation and fmla is freaking me out. I took 4 months off with this little one - I don't know how I'd do it on 6 weeks.

Ok. starting to freak out again.

I hate this:

Hi, Kim! I have a little E too, and my husband is also working opposite shifts from me, although he's the part timer and is home with DS during the day, and I'm the full time person. It's not working for us either... although DH carries our hopefully soon-to-be health insurance, so there isn't much we can do about it.

Originally Posted by captain crunchy

Today is good. Dh begins his job tomorrow yay!!!!! I know he will be awesome -- he has always been a super employee and never had a problem anywhere he has worked. Everyone always loves him and I am like, okay, CAPITALIZE on that... I know he can grow with this company and get to a point where we are actually doing (dare I say it... I am... I am going there... ) comfortable financially. I am very proud of him because while it is a good job, it is far from a "dream" job of what he would love to be doing.

I've got all my fingers and toes crossed for your DH!

[CrunchyDoula]

Just wanted to say good morning mamas!!

Today is a good day! DH was able to get paid early, so we were able to get rent and car insurance paid on time!! WooHoo! DH has today off, so I am getting a day off I am feeling much more optimistic about this month today and I just hope that everything falls into place!

[eilonwy]

It's been a loooong bloody month. I'm really, really hoping December will be better. Wednesday I have a meeting to get our food stamps reinstated-- please, please, PLEASE think good thoughts at this. If it goes well, I will not only go grocery shopping like a crazed woman but I will go to the health food store and buy myself some flax seed oil and hopefully get my brain back in order. : I am so tired of feeding the kids eggs all the time... : And I'm really looking forward to buying a loaf or two of 12 grain bread. : I guess it's kind of weird that I think of that as a luxury that we can "afford" when we have the food stamps, but... well, I'm just so tired of the Great Value sandwich wheat. I have no idea how I'd cope with having to find gluten-free breads... : s Anyway, those are the things I look forward to most-- 12 grain bread, flax seed oil, and... oatmeal!

Thystle-- I appreciate that list... I have to say, though, that I laughed because it really made me think of Fight Club and I could hear the words, "You're not your f****** khakis." :

Nature-- Your friend was a twit, but I feel a lot of pity for her... It sounds to me as though things are a heck of a lot worse than she cares to admit.

Something to improve myself this month... Hm. I don't know. I looked at one of those mini-stepper machines at WallyWorld last week. They're only about $40, and I'd love to be able to do something semi-physical while I'm, say, online or whatever. If i could set up a high table or something and step while I play my game, adding weights to my ankles and wrists when I got to be less of a wuss... I suppose the third trimester is a weird time to be thinking of such things, though. I'd really like to get in shape after this baby is born, though. Do a cleanse and such... I've got this mad idea that I'm going to find my waist before my 35th birthday (I just turned 30). This month, though, I have no idea. The flax seed oil will help, I think... so I guess there's that. Try to take care of my brain, my greatest asset (sadly atrophied and overworked ), and go from there.

Things to be greatful for:

1. People who want to help. Asking for help is hard. Heck, admitting that you *need* help is hard, even for someone like myself who was born into poverty. I'm always amazed to discover anew that people really do want to help, and that they want to do it without passing judgement on you and making you feel like crap. : It's so, so nice to be able to talk about things like this and to know that the women reading *get it* and that people want to help and listen. It's seriously huge.

2. Lantus, yes again. () The girls are sick, mike and I have had colds as well. As those of you who are living with diabetes/diabetics know, illness of any kind wreaks havoc on your blood sugar. Yeah, mike's still a man, and men are total wusses when they're sick, but the last time mike was sick we didn't have Lantus in the house and he was so miserable... it took forever for him to get better and he never stopped whining. This time he was able to recover from his cold in just over a week, and he was SO much less whiny, and asked me to thank the woman who sent the Lantus *again* because it makes such a huge difference in his life. It's a heck of a lot easier to think about drinking enough water when you don't have to take into account how much sugar your body's going to try to dump because you're sick. :

3. my sister said she'll buy a carseat for the Seamonkey!! HUGE relief, let me tell you. I still can't believe that I'm due in two months... : She doesn't have an infant seat to pass along, either-- my other sister was in a car accident and the new niece's infant seat had to be replaced (it wasn't a serious accident, baby was fine; Said niece is a tank anyway so my sister replaced it with a convertible).

4. my brother mailed me a dozen-odd infant prefolds that I'd forgotten I sent to my sister-in-law ages ago. Two months left... it's about time I took inventory of the diapers. Sadly, though, I already know how much baby boy clothing there is-- *none*. : I got rid of all of it when I was decluttering and we were planning mike's vasectomy. Ugh. I guess that's what I'll spend the next few hours doing, taking inventory of the baby things... :

5. my main Gemstone character is loveable and loved. It's silly... but it helps. She's not me and she really isn't much like me, but as a creation of mine which I animate... well, the fact that she's loveable means that a tiny piece of me is loveable too.

6. The fact that food counts as "special treats" for the kids. And you know what? I don't feel badly about spending a little extra on them. So when we get the food stamps, I will buy a pomegranite for the kids to share. Just a small thing, but that one little extra won't feel unjustifiable. (is that even a word?!? i'm so hazy with a chance of stupid today...

[Iris' Mom]

Originally Posted by LankyLizards

Well, the job doesn't actually pay. Just free room and "board" (utilities and basic cable). But maybe I can work something out with the complex to make payments.....

Are you allowed to sublease? Or, if you could maybe find someone looking to rent on Craigslist, your LL would be willing to let you out? Good luck, the job sounds good.

[shayinme]

Ladies, I have a question and I am hoping somebody here can help me out or rather tell me if this seems right.

I am without health insurance at the moment, sadly too much income to get state coverage and no $$ to buy any ( I am unemployed at the moment and dh is self employed). So I have been battling a nasty sinus infection for weeks and its a situation that if I pay to go to the doctor, no money for the meds.

So I have been looking around to see if there is any health care available for folks in this situation and discovered that in my county thereis a sliding scale clinic. Great, so what's the problem?

Well after calling forever (over 2 days) I finally get a human on the phone, explain my situation and then I am told that I have to apply to use the clinic services and that they can send me the packet. :

I got it and frankly I am troubled, in addition to wanting all my financial information (I can understand that since its sliding scale) I have to have all medical records sent to them and once they get all that information and process it then they can make an appointment.

Whoa... the idea of having all my personal details sent to clinic that I don't even know if I am going to go to on the regular bothers me greatly. I might not even like these folks and only go once, yet they cannot just make an appointment, seems crazy.

Last time I went to a clinic like this was back 16 years ago in Chicago and back you made an appointment, brought your proof of income and was seen the same day you went in by a doctor.

Frankly this feels instrusive as hell outside the fact I actually like my normal doc, just no cash to him at the moment so I really don't feel like transferring my current records or getting the old ones from Chicago.

Plus the idea of filling out deeply personal medical info and sending it in the mail feels strange (questionaire about health/sexual history) , who is looking at this.. KWIM?

Question is, is the norm when going to a free/sliding scale clinic.. or is this strange.

I want some insight, frankly I am close to either going to a urgent care clinic that is deeply discounted and if I am given multiple prescriptions only fill the most important one (antibiotics).

Thanks, just need some insight.

I should add I also have no idea I would be charged so I don't even know if its enough of a savings to make it worth the hassle.

Shay

[Nature]

Originally Posted by shayinme

Question is, is the norm when going to a free/sliding scale clinic.. or is this strange.


Shay

Around here? Yes. Its totally normal unfortunately. I ran into the same thing when I applied to get help from the dental clinic in Saco. They are happy to take out my tooth with no pain medication, and Mainecare will pay for it since its an emergency extraction. They made my appointment for January 22nd.

: as if I'm going to feel like going 2 weeks before my due date. Because you know.. its an emergency because I'm in pain. Makes sense to schedule the extraction 2 months from now. And I also had to give all medical and personal info...

They weren't even nice to me. I don't plan on going there again. My teeth can all fall out before I'll subject myself to that. :

[Nature]

Originally Posted by eilonwy

If it goes well, I will not only go grocery shopping like a crazed woman but I will go to the health food store and buy myself some flax seed oil and hopefully get my brain back in order.

Your health food store takes food stamps?? WoW! thats great! I hope you get them!!

[Aura_Kitten]

Here I am at 11 AM on sunday morning, two days behind where I "should" be on my final exam papers for Soc. ... because yesterday I slept all day... and then last night I was at my neighbor's house, helping her out ~ so there's my first update, on volunteering ~ I was planning to go help at the Convalescent hospital and ended up helping my elderly neighbor instead, for about 4.5 hrs last night, completely unplanned and unpaid, but she's so sweet. And then this morning I went over and prepared coffee for her, etc.


Iris' Mom ~ I remember being horribly embarrassed using food stamps originally, because I went on them first when they were those paper things. And then, when we switched the card it was so much easier. But then I found out how much more mortifying it is when the ebt card is rejected.


Belleweather ~ on having to go all over constantly for Rx's ~~ I know the feeling, we're in the same boat. There's a 72 hr waiting period for one of my medications and I have to get a dr's note refilling it every month.... but I found that if I call the 72 hrs before they accuse me of taking too much medication and running out early, and threaten to not refill it


And yes Medi-Cal sucks at covering any sort of b-c and women's health meds... I'm currently taking them on about it.
If you can, write your legislators!! They're the ones making these laws. Bring it to their attention that women need these medications.


Can anyone tell me how to multi-quote?





Now ~~ how crazy is it for me to seriously be considering up and moving to San Francisco...? I have no idea what I'd do with my POS van... and I've never driven on the freeway...... but damn I am SO SICK of this crappy town and there are no jobs around here, and all of my close friends are in SF.....
And I don't even know if I got accepted to any of the uni's down there... I just need out. :

If I withdraw from my classes at this point (that is, AFTER finals!)... and then start the moving process -- do you think I can make it work??
Are any of you in SF????
Am I totally insane??????

[shayinme]

Originally Posted by Nature

Around here? Yes. Its totally normal unfortunately. I ran into the same thing when I applied to get help from the dental clinic in Saco. They are happy to take out my tooth with no pain medication, and Mainecare will pay for it since its an emergency extraction. They made my appointment for January 22nd.

: as if I'm going to feel like going 2 weeks before my due date. Because you know.. its an emergency because I'm in pain. Makes sense to schedule the extraction 2 months from now. And I also had to give all medical and personal info...

They weren't even nice to me. I don't plan on going there again. My teeth can all fall out before I'll subject myself to that. :

WTF???? ::, times like this I miss being broke in Chicago, at least you could go to the county hospital and you may have to wait all day but at least you got seen the same day. Back home no one would ever ask for all the stuff places here ask for :. Sigh... really gotta think on this one, but the fact that I have to wait to be seen is really making me say screw it, ebay some more stuff and just pay. Only thing is I really could use the money I make from ebaying to take care of other stuff, I just don't know that I can wait weeks to see someone since right now even if this clinic scheduled sooner rather than later, it'd be at least 2 weeks with records coming from Chicago. Ugh...

Shay

[CrunchyDoula]

So I just listed my wedding dress and accessories and violin on craigslist so I am hoping to make some money! Send me goodluck vibes!

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by Nature

Your health food store takes food stamps?? WoW! thats great! I hope you get them!!

Oh, no, they don't-- it's just that if we don't have the food stamps, I really need to spend that money on peanut butter, potatos, and things of that nature rather than on flax seed oil, which is an "extra." It's something that I've come to realize I really, really need to be a reasonable person (especially when I'm pregnant, but even when I'm not) but I haven't been buying it because it's more important to me to buy groceries to feed the kiddles.

[Fruitful4Him]

If your area doesn't have a health food store that accepts food stamps.. maybe someday some motivated families/members of the community could form a co op? Here is our local co op http://www.rivercityfoodcoop.org/ It is located in the downtown area (to try to make healthy foods more available to families who would not possibly be able to access the "higher end" health food stores. They special order stuff.. and besides accepting food stamps, if you qualify for food stamps, you get an additonal discount on items (that are already really reasonable). My area isn't very crunchy.. but this co op rocks. I hope that the idea can catch on in other areas.. I am sure that many areas that don't have one would have enough interested families to support one.. and there are tons of grants and stuff out there for small business start ups..

[mum4boys]

Originally Posted by Iris' Mom

This thread is making me realize that I really, really need to learn to mulitquote!

mum4boys: That's very interesting re: the case law. UNUM is my disability insurer too. There is a case against MetLife in Mass. If you run across it again, could you possibly pm me the citation? Thanks.

Multiquote is easy. After you read a post you would like reply to hit the multi post button on the right bottom of the screen next to the quote button. Keep on doing this until you are ready to reply. When you are ready to reply hit post reply and all your things you want to quote will appear.

I was thinking this morning about the UMUM case law. Gosh time flies. It has to been last year at this time that I read it as I am no longer working on any employment type cases and have not for almost a year. I do straight family law now (I am a paralegal). There is an attorney here in Washington State that specializes in claims against UNUM. If you want I can get see if I can find his name again. He might be willing to talk to you and tell you what he knows about the company.

Originally Posted by serenetabbie

I was going to apply for modest needs, but we don't have a scanner. Sorry to whine... I just feel a little overwhelemed this morning.

Do you have a digital camera? Take a picture of what you want to scan and send it that way. Not perfect but it works.

Originally Posted by captain crunchy

Today is good. Dh begins his job tomorrow yay!!!!! I know he will be awesome --

Congratulations what kind of job is it?

Originally Posted by LankyLizards

I was offered a job for Catholic Charities, as night manager of a complex for ex-homeless families. It would mean free room and board. It is also right next to my college, which is about 30-45 minutes from where I am now. The cons that I can see are that it would mean I would have to break my current lease, which could cost about $1000. I don't have $1000. (If only....) I would also be sort of isolated from my friends and family, (which is, in the case of my psycho parents, a GOOD thing) DD has really bonded with her father and his father and brother lately though so this would be harder for them to see her . They don't have a car. Oh, and it's in a *really* rural area. Way more rural than where I am now, which is saying a lot. But, it's also got tons of farms, inc. the tree farm that me and dd went to last weekend, which was awesome. And it has a cute, historic little dowtown area with a farmer's market on weekends and antique shops and family owned cafes. I think there are lots of places to pick your own veggies and maybe even get fresh milk and eggs. Ok....

I want to do it. I do. I just worry about breaking the lease. I guess I need to go talk to the apartment complex manager and see what the options are. That's my goal for tomorrow. That and to call Cath. Charities and get teh ball rolling on that end.

Okay I think you should take the job. Do you have rent for January yet or will you? Then you will be faced with eviction again. So talk to Catholic Charities and your landlord. Even if neither will help you what is the worst that will happen? You get sued for the $1000 and then the court will set up a payment plan.
As far as your dd relatives go you have a car right? You either drive to college from where you are living or drive to their house because you are now living closer. 30 minutes is not that far at all.

Originally Posted by Aura_Kitten

Iris' Mom ~ I remember being horribly embarrassed using food stamps originally, because I went on them first when they were those paper things. And then, when we switched the card it was so much easier. But then I found out how much more mortifying it is when the ebt card is rejected.


Can anyone tell me how to multi-quote?

If I withdraw from my classes at this point (that is, AFTER finals!)... and then start the moving process -- do you think I can make it work??
Are any of you in SF????
Am I totally insane??????

Okay I am guessing the you had a food stamp balance. Say you have $30 on food stamps and you buy $50 worth of groceries. If you imput the card it will be denied but if you tell the cashier that there is only $30 on the card the cashier has to hand input $30 then you would owe $20. Does this make sense? You can check your balance 3 ways, online, phone and the cashier can do it also.

See on above of my post how to multi quote.

SF is very very expensive but if you have a support system in place. How much school do you have left?