Will I have to go on welfare soon?

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.

You are not alone.

Our hearts are with you all.

reply to post by Thunder heart woman


God, I wish you well!

This sucks, and sadly you are not alone. I know others on the very bubble you sit upon.

Sincere prayers to you and your family. Here's to hoping something good is about to happen for you.

Peace.

There will be no welfare pretty soon

Thanks all. It's just good to know we're not the only ones. Strange that I find consolation in this.

And yeah there will probably be no welfare soon. They will get around to that. More important to fund these wars.

Sad part is, you wont qualify for welfare. I'm a single mom of 4 children making $13.50 per hr, a LITTLE child support, and do not qualify for welfare, foodstamps, or medicaid.

Saw a post on ATS somewhere someone was joking they needed a part time job just to pay for gas to get to the full time job

No, you're certainly NOT alone. I feel it too, without getting into too much detail, i am in a situation that slowly seems to be deteriorating, financially speaking. The future isn't looking so bright lately.

Prices on everything is going up, yet i can't seem to get ahead of them. I guess we just have to hang in there, and see what happens. Things can change, we never know. Good luck to you all

reply to post by Thunder heart woman


You are not alone... I have done everything the way i was supposed too. I stayed in school went and got a few degrees. I worked my way up the corporate ladder and im still not mkin ends meet by 300 -400 a month... Its crap out there and all of the 535 ppl that make our lives hell prob do not know the current price for a gallon of gas.

You probably make too much for food stamps and need to leave your husband to get welfare... they really give you this advice at those gov't offices.

You probably qualify for local private funded fuel assistance/food pantry assistance, that's a huge help on the food budget.

Get a cheap pre pay cell phone, chop your utility bills down by conserving as much as you can, car pool or get 4cyl vehicles.... and tell the judge what you told us here. The truth is on your side, and you can only do what you can do with what you've got, that's it, don't let it stress you out.

reply to post by BlastedCaddy


Same.

I'm ready for something to change, I don't know what that looks like, but there must be a better way...

If you and your hubby can't makes ends meet with all your jobs, you're never going to make it on welfare! You should see a preofessional credit counselor, They can help keep those nasty creditors at bay. Or maybe, you should see a lawyer about bankrubcy if you medical bills are really high. That's propbaly what a judge will tell you too.

I feel for you, But better times are ahead. They have to be. What is you hubby taking in college? How old are your kids?

Originally posted by JibbyJedi
You probably make too much for food stamps and need to leave your husband to get welfare... they really give you this advice at those gov't offices.

You probably qualify for local private funded fuel assistance/food pantry assistance, that's a huge help on the food budget.

Get a cheap pre pay cell phone, chop your utility bills down by conserving as much as you can, car pool or get 4cyl vehicles.... and tell the judge what you told us here. The truth is on your side, and you can only do what you can do with what you've got, that's it, don't let it stress you out.

Well, I can't see me leaving my husband But we have no cell phone. We use our internet gmail phone for now. We're chopping away though. Thanks.

Ever seen extreme couponing? I think we should all start doing it.

You're not alone.

My family :

Myself, disabled with blindness and unable to work anywhere, but I bring in some funds by doing freelance writing on the internet. It's not a ton but it works.

My wife is healthy and works full-time. We have 2 kiddos at home and one grown-up (she's 20). The kiddos are 7 and 9, with the 9 year old being severely autistic.

My mother lives with us, which helps out with the bills and food.


We've been trying to figure out ways to get ourselves ahead of the mess we've been in, and have come up with a few solutions that work, but it is still really rough right now.

Some ways we have cut bills down by a serious margin are using solar 'furnaces' and solar hot water heaters, and will be setting up some aquaponics systems to grow our own fish and vegetables in a big way. There's some families out there bringing in over 6000 pounds of food a year on 1/10th of an acre of land using the aquaponics methods. All of the above is made from recycled (and pretty much free lol) materials.

If things get REALLY tough on you, you could always (and I know this is hard to think about, believe me) find some land to buy on contract (there's some folks selling 40 acres of land for 50 bucks a month, believe it or not) and build a house out of recycled materials like wooden pallets/bottles/tires (think Earthships)/etc for REALLY cheap.

That would at least get you away from some of the hardships.

If you want more info on any of this, let me know. I'd be happy to toss info your way to help you see the potentials.


There's ALWAYS hope and you're NEVER stuck... IF you're willing to change a tad.

That's a problem for a lot of folks, though. Not saying that you're this way, but a lot of people get addicted to the darkness they're in. It's comfy and any change is uncomfy. "Go with the darkness you know" and all that rot.

You're certainly not alone. I'm not making ends meet either... I Have a full time job and a partime job and my wife works full time. Every month we choose which bills to pay. And which get re shuffled back in the stack. Gas approaching s bucks. A gallon' groceries always on the rise, and everything else. I'm just so tired of working more and more just to keep falling behind. Best of luck to you

reply to post by Thunder heart woman


food prices!!

if you got 250.00 in food stamps wouldn't it help?

would you feel like a failure to use them?

when it was Really bad for us. we used them...

untill i didn't need them anymore....

feed the family food,,,,, pride doesn't feed anyone....

Originally posted by windword
If you and your hubby can't makes ends meet with all your jobs, you're never going to make it on welfare! You should see a preofessional credit counselor, They can help keep those nasty creditors at bay. Or maybe, you should see a lawyer about bankrubcy if you medical bills are really high. That's propbaly what a judge will tell you too.

I feel for you, But better times are ahead. They have to be. What is you hubby taking in college? How old are your kids?

He's going for computer programming and already has an associates in graphic design, which is worthless right now. My daughter is 7.

Originally posted by darrman
reply to post by Thunder heart woman

 

food prices!!

if you got 250.00 in food stamps wouldn't it help?

would you feel like a failure to use them?

when it was Really bad for us. we used them...

untill i didn't need them anymore....

feed the family food,,,,, pride doesn't feed anyone....

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.

reply to post by tinker9917
[mo.re]

Same situation in my house too. I am a father of 4. My wife and I both work jobs making minimum wage and qualify for nothing. Dont qualify medicaid or medicare because both jobs offer insurance, but we cant afford the insurance they offer. Damned if you do, damned if you dont. It is very frustrating and demoralizing. I have known other couples going through the same thing and one has actually quit a job just to qualify for food stamps and save gas money driving to work. Yeah this crap just screams the AMERICAN DREAM.

reply to post by Thunder heart woman


i am sorry to hear about your circumstances. i would hazard a guess here that not only are people going through this, it has already happened to some. and getting back into work will be harder than ever.

the only way i was able to stop the rot was by clearing debt and doubling up with others, this may not be an option for some, but it worked for me so i will mention a way out. if you know somebody or people in the same situation who you can trust, move in together if there is room, the bills still cost the same but they become shared, use all extra money saved into paying of the debt. put all the extra money into one bill first to get it paid off as fast as possible thus freeing up some extra money you can put into the next bill untill all debt is cleared.

when the debt is gone, move out and get your own places or continue living the same way to make living cheaper, or all move into a bigger place that you can afford. this might not be ideal for some people but it does work. 2 households paying gas, is more expensive than 1 shared between more earners for example.

not sure how it works in america or if it works out cheaper overall. but IMO worth doing for a fresh start.