Will I have to go on welfare soon?

reply to post by Jomina


Thank you. I appreciate any info you throw my way.
I appreciate your sharing too.

Originally posted by Thunder heart woman


If we qualify it would take the load off for awhile so I can pay these other bills, that's for sure.
Ultimately, it's holding my finger in a dam that's cracking.

Was going to mention this in my previous post (about the things you can do to help yourself.. aquaponics, solar heating/etc)...

Not to toot horns here or anything, but because of the above methods that I described, my family is officially, as of today, get off of food stamps and medicaid.

That's a really good feeling!

Originally posted by RainboStar
Ever seen extreme couponing? I think we should all start doing it.

I haven't seen this, but we do use coupons. It would be good to know how to work it to the best advantage though.

Originally posted by Jomina

Originally posted by Thunder heart woman


If we qualify it would take the load off for awhile so I can pay these other bills, that's for sure.
Ultimately, it's holding my finger in a dam that's cracking.

Was going to mention this in my previous post (about the things you can do to help yourself.. aquaponics, solar heating/etc)...

Not to toot horns here or anything, but by using the above methods that I described, my family was able to officially, as of today, get off of food stamps and medicaid.

That's a really good feeling!

That is amazing and I'm happy for you. It must feel good. Gives me hope!
second

We are almost done having wages garnished from a large hospital bill. It has been 5 really months of hell.

I don't understand how they can take out 25% of after taxes wages and expect people to survive. I know that it is our fault that it went to the lawyers in the first place. We actually had to drop our health insurance because between that and the garnishment there was nothing left to live on.

We both work, and had health insurance at the time, but despite that we were left with 3000 Bill for a simple trip to the ER after my husband had a seizure for unknown reasons. They didn't do a CAT scan or MRI, just IV fluids and some attivan and wait and watch.

We had the option to go to court and reduce or eliminate the amount, but chose to just stick it out for the time it took to have it taken out. I wish we would have at least asked for the amount to be reduced, after taxes and garnishment 50% of his already somewhat low pay is gone and while we have managed to keep things going it we have had to really watch every single penny.

You wont qualify for welfare, unless you have 0 income, or are making less than minimum wage. Yuor making double minimum wage..sorry. sorry to hear about your situation..all ic an say is your not alone. The only advice i can offer, is to cut your losses, meaning get rid of things at home you dont need..cable box* prices creep up in time on the bills. conserve elctricity...and unplug when not using,depsite its truend off..coffee makers, LED screens aka computer screens, anything wireless..even the toaster. youde be very suprised to see, how much juice they suck up and waste that you pay for every month on your bill, just by them being pluggedin and not turned on. thier welll over 80% waste electricity. its called 'leakage'. reffered to. tuen up yuor car, yuor husband can do it, its not difficult to do..3,000 or 3 month oil changes, spark plugs every 2 years or 20,000 miles, spark wires every 5-6 years or 30,000 miles. yuolls ave more in fuel costs by properly maintaing it, and cleaning it. air filter too...every 6 years or 30,000 miles is good, but if its black at this point replace it..its not lettting as much requireed air to flow through the engine, thus sucking up more fuel.
the economy is not getting better at all. all this news we read, about wallstreet doing good, companys over in stocks ect..its all manipulated. buy whats on sale, learn to utilize coupons, like that woman form oprah whimfrey..she bought $300 worth of grocerys, and spent like $4.00! after coupons. yuo cant buy what youde like n want right now, all becaue wallstreet and teh FED have screwed everything up for us all, and corporations for outsourcing your comfprtabel living to cheap slave labor in another country. screwed us over so they can reain extra profits so it loks good on paper
i hope yuor situation gets better though.

reply to post by Jomina


I am interested in the land 50.00 a month I am in a horrible money situation multiple talents and skills no-where here to work and I need money for more supplies

Here's a few "intro" videos that will help get you some ideas going to help you save a lot in bills.

First, there's the solar 'furnace' idea. The idea is simple and it's REALLY easy to make one.

Essentially, you build a box, paint the whole thing (inside and out) black. Then, line the interior of it with aluminum cans/corrugated plastic (like the election/campaign signs all over the place... make use of them rofl)/even aluminum siding. Whatever you can find, really, and no need to pay for any of it. You could get the wood to build it from wooden pallets that a lot of people literally give away. (I found over 100 of them on craigslist that were a few miles away from me)

Have a hole near the bottom and one on top. The top hole can have a tube or something similar running into your house. Then, the one on the bottom would be a cold air return tube coming from the inside of your house. Face teh whole thing to the south where the sun will be passing during the day, and the hot air from the inside of the box will passively transfer to the inside, while the cold air inside the house will be drawn back outside into the box to be heated up. That's through convection.

You can even have a simple fan from a computer running to pump out even more air (some computer fans can push out 100+ gallons of air per minute).

We're installing a bunch of these into the house to really get the temps up and possibly remove the need to burn any fuels at all during the daytime. Living in a northern climate, that can make a real difference.

Here's a vid I found of something similar to what we're doing. There's no limit to what you can do with it all, as long as you have a little imagination



Solar water heater ideas :



For more info on these, just do a YouTube search for "Solar heater homemade" and "solar water heater homemade". LOTS of great ideas to work with, seriously.

As for aquaponics... that system is really easy to set up, really easy to run, and can be done for CHEAP using recycled materials.

Here's an intro vid to the idea. It's a part of a longer DVD so don't mind the skipping around, but it'll give you the basics of the idea regarding aquaponics.



Here's a guy that made his out of a kiddie pool and stuff he had laying around hehe



If you're interested in REALLY getting away from the system and all that, you could even build a house out of recycled materials



Take that idea a step further by buying a plot of land somewhere really cheap (it's out there, trust me) and build 2 or 3 of these connected together for yourself, husband and kiddo (you said your kiddo was 7? God they'd love to live in their own wing lol trust me, my kids do! They think it's a treehouse on the ground lol)

With a smaller space, as well, the idea of the solar heater REALLY shines. It gets HOT in there lol Even in 15-20 degree weather, you'll see the temp in the house at 70+ with no electricity or gas used. At night, you could use a small marine furnace to heat the house using wood chips or pellets. Shoot, even cooking oil if you set it up right. There's also rocket mass heaters that you can cheaply build.


Hopefully these will give you some ideas to get started getting straightened out. Believe you me, I know all too well the position you're in, and would love to see you get away from it. It's heartbreaking, I know.

Like I said a bit ago, though, there's always something you can do. It's just a matter of doing it.

Cutting costs...yes we have gone to NO CABLE/SATELLITE/ no HOUSEPHONE until 30 days ago NO INTERNET (have to have for high school finals) until this summer,...
We pay cash for everything. No car payments, no credit cards... NO CREDIT
except for motgage,... and that will go tooo.. soon. Probably bankruptcy since I can't sell right now, even real cheap.

We lived right, with ne credit except the motgage, and can't even do that. That is now the american drewm..

One thing I was going to add as far as the aquaponics systems go...

If you live in a climate that has intemperate winters (like I do lol Indiana gets COLD in the winter brr)... you can also set the aquaponics systems into a greenhouse, and heat the greenhouse using one or more of the solar furnace ideas I had in my last post. That way, in the wintertime, you are still able to grow a good amount of food to sustain your family.


One thing that I always see people getting stuck on is the idea that setting up solar stuff has to be expensive. Sure, solar panels can be (whew can they lol), but you're not limited to solar panels. There's other things that you can do with solar that does not involve electrricity, like the water heaters, solar furnaces, even solar dehydrating and cooking...

For example, you can get one of those Dish Network or other small satellite dishes for cheap or free, right? People throw those out all the time. Well, you can get one of those and line it with either mylar (the balloon stuff lol) or aluminum foil.

Voila! Instant parabolic mirror!

What can you do with one of those? Try this on for size!



Booyah!

How's about THIS?



Heck YES!

You just cooked dinner without using 1 bit of fuel. Not only great for your wallet but great for the environment too

Combine that with the aquaponics, where you've grown your food (even fishies lol) and you just made a meal without relying on the system AT ALL!

Don't limit your mind to what we're taught we have to constrain ourselves to. My family has suffered direly because of that kind of thinking, and it feels really good getting away from it all.

Originally posted by tinker9917
We lived right, with ne credit except the motgage, and can't even do that. That is now the american drewm..

My family had the same issues. You're definitely not alone.

Check out some of the stuff I posted above to see what you can do to get away from things a little bit.

The American dream has been dead for MANY years... they just never told us to wake up. Time to start a new dream.

reply to post by gluetrap


That's crazy.. to pay that much for some drugs and IV fluids..

I hope we can change this wrecked health care system.

Just wanted to say that, hoping to not derail thread.

Originally posted by Thunder heart woman
I'm working two part time jobs, my husband is in college and working a full time and part time job. We are still coming up $300 dollars short on making it every month. We are paying monthly payments on a hospital bill, and now I'm being sued for one despite my proving to the collection agency that I simply have no money.

I'm going to court on wednesday to prove my case. I wonder what will the judge tell me? Pay anyway? Where do I get this money? My family is sinking. The gas and food prices are killing us.

This last month I sold off a bunch of things on craigs and ebay.

I have $35 left for groceries this week after filling up our gas.

I just want to know, will I be the next person to go on welfare so I can feed my kid?

Tonight , my husband and I feel like complete failures. I'm not whining, believe me. I'm angry. I feel like we are under the boot and being squashed. The govt wants to keep us weakened no matter how hard we work and sacrifice. It's never good enough.

Anyone else out there going through this too? Shout out and let me know we aren't alone tonight.
Thank you.

Don't blame yourselves for the situation. The blame does not lie with you.

Take whatever help you can get while you can still get it. Don't beat yourself up. And do your best to play the hand you have been dealt and enjoy life as much as possible.

reply to post by Thunder heart woman


My heart truly bleeds for you.....

Everyday more of my friends and their families cant afford everyday life. Many have lost their homes, I recieve foodstamps because I al underpaid and only have about $100 spending money a month, with which I normally put towards silver. I have credit card bills, phone bills and no car (college kid on a bike). But I only have to take care of myself. I can only imagine the weight of the responsibility of taking care of a family in these precarious times. I'll be praying for you , you have friends in ATS

I will pray for you.Hearing all the struggles of everyone posting here, as well as my own.I am reminded of the stories told by the older members of my family who lived during the great depression. They used to tell many stories that strangly parralell these stories here. I guess it's not a recession after all.

I hate to jump in here with a question but I would like to ask everone here what the they do for work so I can give solid advice.

Top 10 tips to limiting expenses...

1. Quit smoking. Period.

2. Think twice about eating out and don't give yourself excuses to do so; pack a lunch, it's really that easy.

3. Don't use your vehicle when you don't need to; invest in an old bike or walk, you'll get in shape, you'll feel better, you won't destroy the environment and you won't believe how much money you'll be saving.

4. Limit how much you consume; this applies to food, alcohol, and most things in life. Moderation is key. Avoid stuffing your face, we really don't need to eat that much... There's nothing wrong in indulging once in a while but most people over do it. If you eat half portions your food will last twice as long. If you do have a huge feast, keep the leftovers, you can live off those for a few days sometimes.

5. Make a monthly expense budget which will not change and stick to it. If you pay electricity, talk to your company about having your monthly bill divided into 12 equal payments; most electric companies do that. By doing so, you'll know exactly how much you'll be spending on bills.

6. Cut out all the bills you don't need; you don't watch TV in the summer? ...Deactivate your account for a few months!

7. Limit spending on nights out, go for free activities. Instead of going out to the movies which now costs insane amounts of money, go for a hike. If that's not fun enough for you, try geocaching... or take up a hobby and invest in a camera or some other artistic medium which doesn't require a huge investment.

8. Make your own gifts; people spend way too much during Christmas, Birthdays, Valentine's day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, etc. Most of these were created with the goal of making you spend, don't fall for it. Make your own gifts, it's worth a lot more when you actually take the time to make it.

9. Shop for deals, Make a list and use Coupons! At the market, deals often mean overstock of what-ever is in season, go for these food, it's what you want anyways. Sticking to your list is the best way to ensure that you won't overspend and coupons will save you tons. A mere 50 cents on an item might not seem like a lot but 50 cents on 100 items means that you saved 50 bucks, it adds up quick in the long run.

10. Put your pride aside and take all the help you can get. The government offer tons of programs and food stamps are a good idea but there are also local organizations which assist you financially, help you get your kids get involved in sports for free and help them get through school. We get our free turkeys during Christmas from the local food bank... we donate tons of stuff so we really don't feel bad for accepting their help.

Originally posted by RainboStar
There will be no welfare pretty soon

From the way it seems to appear, with enough republicans elected into office, we can be assured that welfare benefits will be be squashed in favor of routing the money to the...

...wealthy instead...

Very odd how they think, eh?

ALTHOUGH, I am in total favor of such benefits being reformed, I have TREMENDOUS compassion for folks such as those in the situation like the OP whom really could use the help of such benefits.

There are many who abuse it and that makes me FUME IN ANGER but although myself nor anyone I know have ever been in need of such benefits, I have GREAT compassion for those who really do need it.

Good luck OP, I feel for you and wish you the best. Has your husband considered temporarily dropping out of college to become employed so that you all can catch up on the bills?

Good grief I feel very badly for you and others in similar situations as this. I hope you get through this.

Good luck.

Well all these people in Cleveland sure get welfare, no jobs just a laughin and walking around the grocery store completely filling up there grocery carts to the brim. 200-400 pounds apiece .Just a talking as loud as they can laughin with big grins on there face, and driving brand new cars. You should move to cleveland everyone gits everything fo free here. While the working man like me has 20 dollars on spend on my food for the week. The veterans don't get anything just the Cleveland street class gets it all. Grown men all they need to do is make kids and have no job and its all fo free. Sick.

It doesn't seem all that long ago when just the man of the house worked a 9-5, made enough for all the family to lead a nice comfortable life and still save for the future. A lot of people I don't have too much sympathy for in todays climate as they live well beyond their needs, and are caught in a materialistic trap. But then there's those who just want to get by and are struggling. A recent UK study said that this year the average household will be about £380 worse off. Doesn't sound like a lot, until you figure in that most people haven't had a pay rise for years and since 2008 most people would need to be over £1000 better off to keep up with inflation.

And they keep cutting here and there. Still enough money for the wars though