February Low Income Mama Support Thread - Page 3

[Iris' Mom]

Originally Posted by mamamoo

So tell me a good place to move for a single mama of five. I need good social service benifits, a community college with a nursing program, it would be nice if my housing voucher would transfer and I was told it would if the city I move to had a welfare to work program. I figure I will be done with school in about 3-4 years, so I need to be somewhere affordable while I go to school. I am scared, but so ready to get my kids away from this drama, and daily disappointment. Their dad is amazingly scarce compared to what they were used to, and only answers his phone/calls them when he is not with his homewrecker. You would think that would turn her off. She does have a kid herself after all. The funny thing is he is super nice to me when she is not around, but when she is he is a major jerk. The whole situation is screwed up, and I need to get these kids somewhere where there is not drama everyday of the week. At least is he doesn't call them I can say it's long distance or something. He even sounded relieved, or at least uncaring when I told him.

I only know from my own experience, but it seems that there is a trade-off between cost of living and benefits, although there are places where both are bad. I'm in MA, and let me tell you some of the advantages:

Excellent allotment of foodstamps if you qualify. The maximum for a family of of 4 is $542; you would certainly get more. They look at income only, so you are allowed to have any type of asset -- car, home, IRA, savings, etc. Only the income earned on the investments counts toward eligibility. Medicaid eligibility is also generous, and of course there is WIC.

I'm not familiar with housing, which will be your biggest issue in a high cost state. Western MA is much, much cheaper, but again, I am not familiar.

Looking beyond social services, MA is an excellent state for anyone in the health field, b/c there are so many hospitals, many, many top notch. There are so many nursing programs, and when you graduate, you can look forward to making more than $35/hr as an RN.

Good luck in your decision.

[Iris' Mom]

Originally Posted by zonapellucida

Goodmorning mama! subbing

II wanted to say hello, I am Heidi and living with several children on a tight budget.

My thankful for this very momnet is that the computer still works even though I get these scary pauses.

Welcome!

[mamamoo]

Thanks so much!! I am going to research Maine. I think my mom and sister have wanted to move there, maybe I can convince them too. LOL

[Aura_Kitten]

Originally Posted by mamamoo

So tell me a good place to move for a single mama of five. I need good social service benifits, a community college with a nursing program, it would be nice if my housing voucher would transfer and I was told it would if the city I move to had a welfare to work program. I figure I will be done with school in about 3-4 years, so I need to be somewhere affordable while I go to school. I am scared, but so ready to get my kids away from this drama, and daily disappointment. Their dad is amazingly scarce compared to what they were used to, and only answers his phone/calls them when he is not with his homewrecker. You would think that would turn her off. She does have a kid herself after all. The funny thing is he is super nice to me when she is not around, but when she is he is a major jerk. The whole situation is screwed up, and I need to get these kids somewhere where there is not drama everyday of the week. At least is he doesn't call them I can say it's long distance or something. He even sounded relieved, or at least uncaring when I told him.

CALIFORNIA!!


Specifically ~ Sonora / Tuolumne!!! Housing can be expensive BUT there are a lot of income-assisted / subsidized complexes. There an excellent nursing program at the local community college and there is tons of support for working and single mamas. We even have an on-campus childcare.

(( ETA: Also I can speak from personal experience, to the housing in Columbia - Sonora - there is a fantastic low-income housing complex, largest size is 2 bedrooms though ~ but rent is totally affordable and it's a great place to live, and very close to the schools and college. It's only like a one-block walk from the apartments to the local elementary school ))

I hear the Arcata area is great as well although I don't know how affordable or available housing is there.




Everyone else ~ s too !!!!!!

[cornflower_3]

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[asianyoushi]

im here for now.. i went to dhs yesterday spent over an 1 hour in line... there were "only suppose to be 5 people ahead of me" but people were being rude and just started cutting even though its a number system... anyways yesterday i woke up with what i believe is a breast infection. it is totally kicking my butt. between the extreme hot flashes and chills, can keep down water. pain in the boob area i just want to crawl in a hole and die.. my husband is being a a$$hole too which makes this even more fun. i think i need to go to the er. but im not sure... i still really want to wait til i have insurance but i think i have to go.. just cuz i really need to get fluids in me and possibly get my boob drained or something... plus i have no idea if this infection can cause baby #3 any harm

[cornflower_3]

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[ediesmom]

well, everytime i hit reply i get bonked off!4 times today:

but......

hi all

i'll try again in the morning

[ediesmom]

eek! it worked!

but i still gotta go

see you in the morning

[Iris' Mom]

Yes, I'm having trouble too, and not up for spilling me guts to ether. I jsut hope everyone is hanging in and is still here when the server problems are finally fixed.

[Aura_Kitten]

** let's see if this works... **
... I spent all my free time today on Flickr because MDC's been being bratty (PM me if you want the link )...



My dd woke me up at 5 AM this morning vomiting enormous amounts of chunky dark brown sh!t... I rushed her to the ER thinking it was blood, it turned out that bile gets like that if it sits in the stomach for too long... ... This does not smell fabulous.



So then we came home and I started feeling really sick... got dizzy, got some freaky high fever, started hallucinating, took a couple of short naps, and in between, somehow washed all the puked-on laundry while my dd made every effort to puke in the toilet, and failed a significant amount. On my textbooks.


also kept my ds home from school because he's sick too but thank GOD he's not puking also.

Now I am cooking a pot of rice, my whole body hurts, and my dd is sleeping on my bed.

I have an appointment with a neurologist tomorrow so he can run electric currents through my foot and inflict enormous amounts of pain in an effort to find which nerve it is that's malfunctioning. .... I have been waiting almost two years for this one frigging test, it better yield some usable results.

I'm also waiting for the test results from my dd's tests and I was supposed to take her in to the dr but because I was so sick earlier we couldn't make the trip.



Despite how much I love school... and how I'm almost ready to transfer... and how well things were going.... mamas I am so in need of a REAL BREAK. I'm ready to throw in the towel. I've had a migraine that won't quit, it keeps coming back, for like three weeks straight now. Oh yeah, since the beginning of the spring semester. I'm constantly sick, I hurt like an SOB but can't afford the time away from my classes to have the surgery and do the treatments I need to actually make me better, and I feel like I never have enough real time with my children. I am so, so so so tired. And on top of that there is NO way I'll be able to afford to move so I can go to a 4-yr university, there just isn't.

[female18-]

I have yet to read through all the posts in this thread, but I just wanted to vent first. I feel really stressed lately because my ds's birthday is coming up soon, and since spending most of my money over christmas, I havent got much for his birthday. Then at the end of december a bill came for $265 for something, and now its february and I STILL HAVENT PAYED IT !! They sent me a warning notice saying I must pay it right away...which was last month but I still havent.

Im nervously thinking someone will be knocking on my front door to give me a fine for not paying it, which would be awful and even more money.

I get my welfare check tomorrow, so im going to make sure I have enough in the bank to cover it, so I can FINALLY pay it....but if I do, then I will only have maybe 20 dollars for groceries for the week! Thats not enough...but I guess it will have to be unless I borrow some from family.

Problem is I need to buy ds's birthday gifts, and if I pay that bill tomorrow, and use my last $20 on groceries, then I wont have ANY left at all to buy his gifts It might be okay since I should get another welfare check just before his actual birthday, so hopefully I can get his gifts and birthday party decorations AND party food...with that. But its going to be hard....im just feeling so stressed about it all!

[barky586]

Originally Posted by female18-

I have yet to read through all the posts in this thread, but I just wanted to vent first. I feel really stressed lately because my ds's birthday is coming up soon, and since spending most of my money over christmas, I havent got much for his birthday. Then at the end of december a bill came for $265 for something, and now its february and I STILL HAVENT PAYED IT !! They sent me a warning notice saying I must pay it right away...which was last month but I still havent.

Im nervously thinking someone will be knocking on my front door to give me a fine for not paying it, which would be awful and even more money.

I get my welfare check tomorrow, so im going to make sure I have enough in the bank to cover it, so I can FINALLY pay it....but if I do, then I will only have maybe 20 dollars for groceries for the week! Thats not enough...but I guess it will have to be unless I borrow some from family.

Problem is I need to buy ds's birthday gifts, and if I pay that bill tomorrow, and use my last $20 on groceries, then I wont have ANY left at all to buy his gifts It might be okay since I should get another welfare check just before his actual birthday, so hopefully I can get his gifts and birthday party decorations AND party food...with that. But its going to be hard....im just feeling so stressed about it all!

Female, why don't you just pay half or one-third of it? Then finish next month. Or is the type of bill you cannot do that with?

[cornflower_3]

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[asianyoushi]

asianyoushi- have you posted on the BF board? I had a blocked duct w/ the same symptoms and here is what I did. If you have a babe who is nursing, nurse so that their chin is pointed toward the blockage. It hurts like h#$& but it works. Also alternate between really hot and cool compresses. I think it took a day after I got that advice to start feeling better. Also, if you are waiting for medicaid they will back date your eligability and cover your visit if you do need to go to the er. Hope you feel better soon.


no i didnt post there. i went to the er last night my dad took me.. i was checked in at 4pm- with 103 degree temp. high pulse rate and sweating really bad.... sat in the waiting room for 2 hours got check back into a back room and they gave me iv fluids and they couldnt get 6 voiles of blood out of my arm... apparently i was "weird" as the rn said.. anyways was there for another 3 hours... they told me i had Mastitis ... i already knew that. so i left with a prescription.(apparently penicillin is what they normally would give people who have this.... too bad i cant take that.... they spent the last hour of my er visit trying to figure out what they could give me that didnt have any penicillin,the ingredients penicillin and is safe to take while pregnant... today i called my pharmacy asked how much it was for a 2 week supply(28 pills) the lady said 55 for brand name or 21 for generic. thank God i sold some stuff last week. so i had money for the generic stuff.
my parent still dont know im pregnant... so thats a good thing i guess... my mama came over this monring with her korean soup remedy - amazingly i am able to keep it down. so i guess im starting to feel better.
call the dhs office for health insurance- they said it will be at least a week to hear back from them...

[ediesmom]

good morning mamas

ive had a hard time geting my posts to stick.....site crashing? it been frustrating

but, good to be here this morning. i have this drawing class on wed. and friday mornings that i absolutely hate its friday morning.

i'm pretty unmotivated

asianyoushi, i am so glad you went to the er! maybe you could troll breastfeeding forum for tips on what to do if it starts happening again. That and please take some acidophilus to balance out the effects of the antibiotics.......you'll most likely end up with yeast if you don't.

aura (((hugs)))

having an emotionally rough patch lately....could be the long winter. chronic pain. i don't know, but snapping out of it would be nice.

i think i have made the choice to resign from a board that i sit on. i can still be involved, just not uber responsible. i need to not feel guilt over not being able to handle my 'too full' plate. paring down sounds like a smart thing.

well, off to walk the pooches before my lovely drawing class....................

[s_kristina]

All sorts of info on plugged ducts and mastitis http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mom/mastitis.html I've managed to avoid the doctor with mastitis a couple times, but did end up on some antibiotic or other when I was pg with ds and had mastitis. Thankfully ds is still nursing more then enough that any plugged ducts would be cleared long before we got to the mastitis point.

[ediesmom]

bump

[cornflower_3]

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[cwat]

A little off-topic, but I just took my van to the garage today (a combination of no money and fraidy-cat ness). It's been out of commission since mid-December but I only just now got around to it.
Anyways, I found out it's just some loose wires!?! and I can pick it up on Sat after work. I feel really stupid, but at least it;s something fixable (this time, anyway)