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~~~~2013 Low Income Support Thread~~~~

90K views 1K replies 77 participants last post by  zebra15 
#1 ·
Starting a new thread for a NEW YEAR!!! Everyone is welcome!!

Low income support thread, for those living with a low income or struggling.

Support ONLY... no flaming!
 
#2 ·
I was able to get food, herbs, meds, much needed sweat pants for my toddler ($4) and sippy cups ($6) and still came in under grocery budget.
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Glad I got some elderberry since I promptly came home and fell over with the flu.
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When I was at the store a lady approached me and asked if I needed help buying my son shoes. I was mortified as I explained he has shoes, he just can't bear to wear them due to his SPD..
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She said she saw me get out of our van and was touched. I guess we look like poverty personified.
 
#3 ·
I would like to join.

We are low income due to our choice for me to be a SAHM. We can afford (barely) the basics... cost of living but that is about it. At times, I feel, it is damaging our marriage. Stress of not being able to afford things for ourselves but the boy always has what he needs.
 
#4 ·
I am desperately hoping 2013 is better. I have a job that should start on 1/11/13, full time and decent pay. Of course this will kick us off food stamps and state health insurance, in turn pushing me back into poverty but I need to do something. I can not continue to sub-teach. I need to increase my income and attempt to re-start my career.

I am also starting 2013 totally gluten and dairy free. I think gluten is whats causing all the problems with my stomach. This is going to increase my food budget until I can adjust to the new way of cooking. I don't eat red meat, my ds does. I will sometimes eat chicken or pork.

We need to utilize the library (and make sure the items are returned ON TIME).

I am hoping that corporate health insurance is reasonable and provides decent coverage.

I need to get my 2012 tax return in order. Hoping for a refund but again, it was a year with minimal income so who knows.
 
#5 ·
Good evening ladies. I'm back. Things are not looking up at this time. DH needs to have surgery on both knees and cannot work. Fighting with SSDI for my son. He needs to reapply, hoping that they reapprove him. But on a good note, I have a new job and I was given they ok to come back to my other job for tax season.

I'm tired of the struggle. While out of work I had medicaid, went back to work, making min. wage and lost my coverage. That sucks. Trying to make new more attainable goals for the upcoming year. Will use swagbucks more, use the crockpot more, and try to get our garden in. Those things will help with saving us money. My DD is about to graduate from high school and we will help her get what she needs. She also works and helps us with some of the bills. My oldest DD is having a new baby in March, she also helps out with bills, but now with 2 kiddos, she needs her money for them.

This is the first year that our tax return will not be needed for any major bills. So I'm looking into uping my savings account as well as starting a school supply fund. What does any one know about ING Direct?

Happy New Year to All and may your new year bring you blessings.

love and blessings

angie
 
#6 ·
i am unsure what qualifies as low income, and with spousal and child support I don't really qualify for any assistance, though DS gets reduced lunch at school and I am pretty sure my DD qualifies for WIC I just haven't had the heart to apply as of yet. I have been seeking employment since July which has been deemed unfruitful. I had 2 interviews this past week, they both are temp jobs but if I get one it would really help. I have come to the conclusion to make it in life I have to get my teachers certification so that is my current goal. My spousal support is a lot like unemployment (not permanent) and will expire October 2014 so the clock is ticking to get myself in order and get a career established by then. I currently have a small cushion from my divorce settlement (about 1.5 months expenses) which I am holding on to in case xDH does not pay support or something unplanned happens, though i would like to pay off my debt., I also am wanting to downgrade my vehicle to something smaller and fuel efficient, though newer. I know that right now I am at a fine line between being okay and majorly struggling and still have a bit of debt I would like to pay off as well. (about 1800$ in CC's and 4000$ in student loans)

I am doing more thrifting and going back to using cloth diapers for dd while I am not working, I also need to get back into couponing more diligently and cooking more whole foods with less eating out. Currently my cell phone plan is very expensive, I may switch to cricket or straight talk when my contract is up if things don't look up in the next few months on the job front.

I grow up low income and all so this is not anything new to me. We are okay, but I know that could change pretty quickly if something unexpected happened.
 
#7 ·
We are still here, of course. It sounds like DH may be getting a raise/promotion in the next few months which will be wonderful but likely to be just enough to get us off of all aid and then still in poverty. Oh well, it will be a step up and I can stop beating myself up for feeling like a leach (I do NOT think that people on aid of any kind are leaches, it is just my own anxieties and issues projecting on myself ONLY) Regardless a step ahead, is a step ahead and I will be extremely grateful. In the mean time I am praying for a good tax return or we are going to be in BIG trouble very soon.

I found out today that it is highly unlikely that we will ever live in my grandpa's house like I had secrectly hoped. My mom says it is falling apart and that grandpa wanted his girlfried to have the house, so she will probably stay there. It feels selfish but I am really sad about this. His girlfriend has taken great care of him and loved him but was a PITA for the rest of us, accusing us of stealing things and spying on her. She is kind of wack-o. Beyond that I have a deep emotional attachment to the house which is strange for me because I don't normally get attached to 'things' but my mom grew up there, I lived there for a few years as a kid and have so many amazing memories there. Plus I founf out that grandpa had a smaller life insurance policy than my grandma did and only left money for his kids, not grandkids. Totally understandable and by no means was I EXPECTING anything, but I was hoping since we are struggling so much. I am very glad my mom will get some though since she really needs the help right now too. Actually, now that I've typed that, I think I am happier that she is getting it and not me. I think she needs it more to help pay for her hip surgery.
 
#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by ibahippiemama View Post

This is the first year that our tax return will not be needed for any major bills. So I'm looking into uping my savings account as well as starting a school supply fund. What does any one know about ING Direct?
ING got taken over by CapitalOne. They are changing the name and we will see what happens to the customer service.

For free savings accounts check out your local credit unions. Usually much nicer than the big banks.
 
#9 ·
i'm here. i make about 1200/month including child support, food stamps and my PT job. i have fibromyalgia, adhd, ptsd and adrenal fatigue. i'm considering trying to apply for disability. i end up mostly bed-ridden or sedentary, at the minimum, for most of the day and am only able to work about 4 hours a day plus a few hours up about 4 days a week to cook, wash dishes/laundry and try to keep the house from becoming unnavigable.

anyone with experience applying for SSD?
 
#10 ·
I'm here too! I'm a single parent to 3 children. I'm a sahm and we live on child support plus the little bit I make from providing before-school care. I have had one littte girl for 2 years, one for about 6 months, and I just got two others this week. It adds quite a bit to our monthly income but it's pretty stressful having 7 little girls to get dressed, hair done, teeth brushed, fed, and off to 3 different schools. And it does take it's toll on my children too being up at 5:30am and having 4 friends in their home every morning as soon as they wake up. We get food stamps, heating assistance, and medicaid, and my littlest goes to Head Start. We get by being as frugal as humanly possible keeping our heat low, not using the dryer, making our own lotions, chapstick, and laundry detergent, cooking from scratch, shopping yard sales and consignment, and using cloth everything. It requires a little creativity sometimes but we get by. It's pretty frustrating sometimes to be constantly poor and having to say no to things the kids want or things they want to do or just looking longingly at everyone's fancy brand name stuff and electronics and such. That's when I have to remind myself that being debt-free is more important than buying STUFF.

Editing to add that the one thing I'm really really grateful for above all is the medicaid. I have a child with severe asthma requiring expensive medications, a child with ADHD requiring an expensive med, and I myself am on two very expensive medications and see at least one medical professional a week. Without medicaid, we wouldn't have access to all these things. Above all, I am just extremely blessed to have medicaid and that it exists in our state for parents AND children.
 
#11 ·
Hello everyone - I'll be joining in. We're doing what we can to make it in a very high cost-of-living area on one income. Hubby makes about $12/hr driving a truck picking up donations for a non profit here, and also gets some VA disability. He's also going to be pulling in his GI BIll soon, so that should help supplement. I recently had to quit my job after having our third baby. It just isn't practical for me to work. I was a social worker, so spent way too much time out of the house with my clients (who I loved and hated to leave).

We are going to apply for discounted kids insurance for my youngest two with the state. My oldest has insurance from medicaid with her disability (SPD, Autism, Development Delays, Epilepsy, and Cerebral Palsy). Hubby is covered through the VA. I don't have insurance, but that's ok for now. We'll do what we can when we're able.

We are going to be working on starting our first savings plan ever. I know it won't be much, but I have a goal of having at least one month's income saved up by the end of 2013 for an emergency fund. We're also going to start saving for each of the kids, and have a holiday-savings so we won't be so crunched next year like we were this year (Kids still had gifts this year, but it was tough, and hubby and I had nothing - neither did our friends/family).

We are going to seriously stock up on food and household items when we get our income tax refund. I am going to pre-pay for activities for the kids for the year (girlscouts, etc), and we are going to do some improvements on our car. I'm going to invest in some things that will hopefully help me bring in some money from home as well with a few skills I have. I am also hoping to get chickens this year... we're thinking about it anyway. We use a lot of eggs, and this would be great for the kids to experience, and also a wonderful way for us to know where our food is coming from.

I make most of what we have. I refurbish used furniture for our home. I make a lot of our clothing, or thrift it. I cook a lot from scratch, and go to our local food bank for food help. We go to the library for books and movies. We share a Netflix account with our friends, and watch that on hubby's X-Box that he got from our brother in law free, when he got a new one. They also gave us a year subscription to Xbox live so we don't have to pay for that either. We use reusable items whenever we can (rags instead of paper towels, cloth diapers, mama cloth, etc). We do everything we can to save money and make things stretch. We try to look at it like we're being responsible with what we have and giving our kids a better life with less.

Here's to a wonderful 2013!
 
#12 ·
Hi Mamas, I haven't posted on this thread in a realllllly long time. We've back on foodstamps for over a year now. There was an issue a couple months ago where my husband changed jobs and they never took his old job out of the computer so they completely cut us off from foodstamps and Medicaid for the kids and it was really stressful. I have a new caseworker and she needed tons of paperwork and I had to completely reapply for everything. I have never had a caseworker ask for so much paperwork! But I'm thankful everything is all set and our benefits are back. My son has had 2 surgeries and has chronic medical issues so I was really holding my breath for the time they had no healthcare. I also had to get help from the local town welfare office a few months back. The lady was really nice and the town covered our car payment and electric bill for one month. Also she had me write down what my kids would like for Christmas and the town bought them gifts .And the town gave us a $100 gift card to the grocery store. I can't even express how greatful I am!
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I'm hoping 2013 will bring financial abundance for all of us.
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#13 ·
IDK if I should post this here or not. I've been journaling A TON lately. My one downfall, that no matter how tight $$ gets is good paper. I try to shop sales, halfprice books, etc but I just need GOOD JOURNALS and GOOD PAPER. I know it seems silly to most people but $5 for a book that I'm going to fill in a couple weeks is totally lavish in this house. The outrageously good pens last longer then the paper. IDK if I can ever give up my good paper.
 
#14 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by zebra15 View Post

IDK if I should post this here or not. I've been journaling A TON lately. My one downfall, that no matter how tight $$ gets is good paper. I try to shop sales, halfprice books, etc but I just need GOOD JOURNALS and GOOD PAPER. I know it seems silly to most people but $5 for a book that I'm going to fill in a couple weeks is totally lavish in this house. The outrageously good pens last longer then the paper. IDK if I can ever give up my good paper.
It is funny that you post this because I really want to start journaling but I haven't because I can't get myself to spend the money on a decent journal but at the same time I don't want to journal in a cheap spiral notebook either.
 
#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by maciascl View Post

It is funny that you post this because I really want to start journaling but I haven't because I can't get myself to spend the money on a decent journal but at the same time I don't want to journal in a cheap spiral notebook either.
Oh mama- find the money for a decent journal. It's money well spent. I can't tell you how much better I feel after writing. And no -a school notebook for 17c will not cut it. A pretty adult journal is a must. A good pen, saved just for writing as well. Barnes and Noble usually has journals on the clearance racks, so does half price books and places like that.

Just a thought, I know we just finished the holidays, but Valentines day is coming. Either ask DH to get you a journal and pen or get one for yourself as a v-day present.

I'm an adult, I deserve good paper. The rest of my life is coupons, sales and poverty. This one aspect needs to be decent.

Ok... rant over!
 
#16 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by zebra15 View Post

Oh mama- find the money for a decent journal. It's money well spent. I can't tell you how much better I feel after writing. And no -a school notebook for 17c will not cut it. A pretty adult journal is a must. A good pen, saved just for writing as well. Barnes and Noble usually has journals on the clearance racks, so does half price books and places like that.

Just a thought, I know we just finished the holidays, but Valentines day is coming. Either ask DH to get you a journal and pen or get one for yourself as a v-day present.

I'm an adult, I deserve good paper. The rest of my life is coupons, sales and poverty. This one aspect needs to be decent.

Ok... rant over!
Also check out Michael's and/or hobby lobby in your area. Often on Sundays they have 50% off one item regular price. You can get a really nice journal for under $5.00. I have to agree it is so worth it in my book. Oh the Dollar Tree also has journals. Not as nice to get as the other places but better then a spiral bound notebook.
 
#17 ·
Omg so we are actually making less this year than we did last year, due to taxes. Wonderful.
 
#19 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by mum4boys View Post

Also check out Michael's and/or hobby lobby in your area. Often on Sundays they have 50% off one item regular price. You can get a really nice journal for under $5.00. I have to agree it is so worth it in my book. Oh the Dollar Tree also has journals. Not as nice to get as the other places but better then a spiral bound notebook.
I used to work at B+n years ago....but make friends with bookstore clerks. they often do journals in the bargin bin, and we do "stripped" books where we only send the cover back to the MFGR and just recycle the rest. I still have a few "stripped" books on my shelves. usually they were not great books (books that didn't sell) but anything damaged was delt with like that.

magazines, newspapers, etc.

They may be able to hook you up with slightly damaged journals for free, or save you a box of journals from the bargin bin. If i still worked there I would TOTALLY hook you up!

that reminds me of a lady coming in and asking for catcher in the rye for her daughter who needed it the next day for a HS class. rockford was the only big town with a bunch of little towns around it, and B+N at the time was the ONLY bookstore. this was before amazon!

we didn't have any instock at the time due to said class....and I asked where her daughter went to HS and she went to my HS (having graduated like a year or so earlier) and I was still living with my mom who was 7 houses away from the HS.

I asked her daughers info and the next morning marched up to the office and dropped off my own copy of catcher for free :)

how awesome am i? LOL
 
#20 ·
You ARE awesome. That is going above and beyond for SURE.

Went to the thrift shop today with my mom looking for jeans for myself. Totally struck out on that front but man, I hooked my kids up! Waterproof winter gloves and a winter jacket for my oldest, both things she desperately needed. Winter boots for my 8 year old, again, desperately needed. Sweatpants for my oldest that she needed for gym class outside. A new pretty dress for my 5 year old just because she would love it, it was cheap, and I had a few extra bucks to make her feel special too. And the best part??? I was standing in line with my mom and it was very busy and we'd been waiting a while and I decided on a whim to check back in a rack of jackets that I'd already looked at. Found a deep pink North Face fleece for my 8 year old for $17 that had literally been put out moments before. She's been begging for one for 2 years now and it perfectly matches her snow boots and even though that's more than I wanted to spend for something she didn't NEED, I knew it would be well loved and I love coming across amazing bargains that make my kids feel like a million bucks.
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She was so happy when I showed her. It was worth $17. It's this one: http://www.amazon.com/NORTHFACE-GIRLS-DENALI-JACKET-Style/dp/B009MBNKQO/ref=pd_sbs_a_12 For $17!!!!!!!! And it looks brand new! I kinda wish it was my size actually.
 
#21 ·
Justmama: Wow! That is quite the amazing score!

We are all sick here so I am not able to go to my small Sunday job watching kids today. Sad to see money lost. Then again the church I am working for is small to begin with and the older members are not wanting to be very family friendly which is causing alot of familys to leave. I have a sinking feeling that that job is going to dissappear very soon anyway.

We did find out that the manager above DH is leaving at the end of the month and he will get that job, but we don't know what that will mean money wise. It is likely to be a sizeable raise, but not enough to get us off of FS. However it will be enough that we can actually cover all the normal bills each month and breathe a tiny bit. Either that or it will be just enough to get us off FS and state medical insurance leaving us right where we are now once we pay for medical insurance. Either way it will be a blessing and I am going to keep looking at it that way.

Still have not gotten a journal, but I did find a school compostition book (a slight step up from a spiral notebook) I wrote in a couple times a year or so ago. I may just use that up until I can get something better. I did also manage to get some make up at some good prices too. I have decided that 2013 is finally going to be the year I start taking care of me again, so this is a big step in the right direction. I miss makeup and looking put together. Next step will be to get myself exercising and find some decent clothes that actually fit. We had a Savers thrift store open here a few months ago but I haven't made it over there yet to look for clothes. I've heard they are pretty great trift stores.
 
#23 ·
Hi all! It's been a while since I've had time to be here on Mothering, but I've decided to take a little time tonight and tomorrow day, for me. This was the first place I stopped.

Finances have been on my mind a LOT lately. We're getting our income tax refund, and found out hubby will be getting a sizable amount over and above costs from going to school (FAFSA). Nobody hate me, but I'm actually really stressed about the windfall, because I feel an incredible sense of responsibility for it. We've had a history with getting big amounts years ago with hubby's military bonuses, and being the inexperienced kids we were, we spent every dime on stupid stuff. I'm 30 now and want to make sure that we are wise with our resources. A lot of my mindset lately is focused around weighing options and finding the best way to spend/save/invest it. I know we can (and will) save a bundle of it for a rainy day, but I want to try to make it work for us too.

We talked about buying a house (we could feasibly afford a modest down payment), but it would increase the amount we pay each month for housing, and until our monthly income is greatly increased, and we are more secure (ie - both parties have jobs, instead of one), I don't want to increase our monthly bills.

I'm also looking at options for investing it to start my own business (but doing what???!)

I'm used to being a squirrel of sorts, or maybe just a miser. I don't know what to do, and I am petrified of making the wrong choice, turning around, and the $ is gone.
 
#24 ·
So my son broke our PS3. I couldn't really care less, it sucks but eh. My DH on the other hand plays several hours of NHL13 a night. Today he says "I think we should get a new PS3 with our tax return. Sorry to break it to you honey but that tax return is already gone to bills and necessary things. I'm just irritated because he never takes an interest in our finances until he wants something silly.
 
#25 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by micah_mae_ View Post

So my son broke our PS3. I couldn't really care less, it sucks but eh. My DH on the other hand plays several hours of NHL13 a night. Today he says "I think we should get a new PS3 with our tax return. Sorry to break it to you honey but that tax return is already gone to bills and necessary things. I'm just irritated because he never takes an interest in our finances until he wants something silly.
My DH is kinda like that sometimes and it makes me CRAZY!! He love bicycles and works at a bike shop so he is surrounded by bikes and accessories all day and he does get a great discount but we still have BILLS TO PAY!!
 
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