If you make over a certain amount, THEN hit hard times, you're screwed. You don't get medicaid or medicare (don't know the difference) to cover the hospital bills and new prescriptions. You don't get foodstamps while you try and catch up. You get nothing. Oh? $45k/ year? You'll be fine!
No- not really. Our saving is getting eaten up to pay bills. It won't be long until we're broke. Sure, we're making cut backs- including getting rid of our 2nd vehicle. But that only goes so far. I've also been looking for a job every day and applying to the local ones (since we'll have to carpool)
Rent is still $955/mo. The places across the street are half of that- but we make too much to live there!
:-/ times can get tough for anyone, on any income. Middle class gets screwed.
Vent over
****i mean no offense to those who are on it****
**edit
the $45k is after taxes. that INCLUDES the $6k-$8k bonuses. no, i do not budget in the bonuses- they go into savings, pay for things we need (registration/ inspection on vehicles, and work needs to be done, vet bills/ meds, medical bills,) and went towards xmas gifts this past year and med bills for the birth of my son.
until my dh was hospitalized (he's not anymore) we were fine. more than fine. but missed work, new medical bills, new prescriptions monthly (type 1 diabetic now- insulin dependednt), seeing a specialist every two weeks until we get a hold of his sugar, etc- it adds up. it was a huge set back and we still dont have all the bills. the savings was put in place for emergencies, and little extras here and there- but its quickly being used for bills, missed work, etc-
it will take us a while to catch up. we can do it i hope- i was just venting because so many people get help from the government just because they make a certain amount- yet the rest of us have to struggle to catch up. just because we make a certain amount it does not mean we wont be fucked when emergencies happen- kwim?
thank you for all the support and advice ladies- i really do appreciate it
Quoting xomrs.chase:
It is.. I'm a sahm and things were more than fine until my dh ended up in the hospital. I know I know we should have planned better blah blah blah....
It just sucks when people who make next to nothing get taken care of and those in the middle class go broke.
Sorry, venting a bit more LOL
Thank you.
Quoting OopsIAteDaffy:
I'm sorry. That must be difficult.
I have nothing against people on pa- its the system itself I have an issue with
Because of the medical bills and prescriptions we're down to about $20/wk for groceries and that's from savings. Plus, it has to be a low-carb diet due to dh's new diabetes diagnosis
Quoting Anonymous:
You, struggling with your family income of $45,000, still live way better than someone who is "taken care of" on PA.
Quoting xomrs.chase:
It is.. I'm a sahm and things were more than fine until my dh ended up in the hospital. I know I know we should have planned better blah blah blah....
It just sucks when people who make next to nothing get taken care of and those in the middle class go broke.
Sorry, venting a bit more LOL
Thank you.
Quoting OopsIAteDaffy:
I'm sorry. That must be difficult.
I don't know about where you live, but at our hospital there are programs to help pay hospital bills especially when a lengthy stay is involved. You can make a good deal of money and still get help. I'm sure you have already looked into this, but some people have no idea such a thing exists when I mention it to them.
I know this won't help now, but maybe look into something like Aflac when you can spare some money again to have a policy that pays while your dh is unable to work. I know it's too late now, but knowledge for the future?
Honestly if I were you in the mean time I would set up a small monthly payment plan with any hospital bills. That way the rest of the money can go to other bills.
I hope you guys can catch up soon. I know how bad it sucks when something happens that eats up your savings and there's not much you can do about it. *hugs*
To be honest I didn't even know what Afflac was until it was too late
Quoting kfroz0415:I don't know about where you live, but at our hospital there are programs to help pay hospital bills especially when a lengthy stay is involved. You can make a good deal of money and still get help. I'm sure you have already looked into this, but some people have no idea such a thing exists when I mention it to them.
I know this won't help now, but maybe look into something like Aflac when you can spare some money again to have a policy that pays while your dh is unable to work. I know it's too late now, but knowledge for the future?
Honestly if I were you in the mean time I would set up a small monthly payment plan with any hospital bills. That way the rest of the money can go to other bills.
I hope you guys can catch up soon. I know how bad it sucks when something happens that eats up your savings and there's not much you can do about it. *hugs*
Quoting Anonymous:Everyone's circumstances are different and PA doesn't take anything important into account. It doesn't matter if you have huge student loans and can't find a decent job. It doesn't matter if you took out leases on multiple vehicles during the good times before losing your job and ate through your savings in no time paying bills.
I think the biggest thing PA doesn't take into account is people who pay their bills tend to spend more money. For example, in my state the online food stamp calculator asks such limited questions on what utilities you pay. There is no option for "I pay gas, electric, water, sewer, and trash" even though all of those are vital things. They assume you at most pay your own electric, and even then they assume you get assistance for that.
The benefits calculators don't care if you pay $300/month on health insurance. They don't care about your bills. It is dumb.
So yes, it would be easy to make $45,000, pay all bills on time, and be poorer than an unemployed person who sleeps all day. Once you cross that magic threshhold of income you are expected to pay everything yourself. No assistance is offered even though you still need it.
Just for fun
Monthly income (45k/yr) 3750
After taxes AND health insurance: 2800
Rent: 955
Renters insurance: 20
Electric: 100
Gas: 50
Water and sewer: 75
Trash: 35
Two cell phones: 100+
Daycare for two kids: 1600
Car payments for 2 cars: 500
Car insurance for 2 cars: 300
Gas: 120
Bills paid, $1055 in the hole. No food purchased.
Even if you had fully paid cars or only one kid in daycare you still wouldn't have money for food.
Have you looked into purchasing a mobile home? I know it's not always the ideal living situation in someones head. But in reality it's an awesome oppourtunity to save money towards a future home. You can get a mobile home sometimes for as little as $1,000.00 and it's yours and only have to pay the lot rent. Which is normally between 250-400 dollars a month given location and what they have for extras. It is how we started. Our first place cost us just 1700 dollars, and in the first year we saved 6 grand off of what we were paying before for rent.
Sorry you are going through this. I know how tough it can be.
We are are struggling right now and make too much for FS. My husband got a new position through his work where he's "supposed to be making more money" only problem is his paychecks have actually been a few hundred less than what he was making before this new position. He's talked to them and they say it's coming...well our bills and food can't wait forever. It's causing us to slowly get behind on our bills and we are struggling with buying food.
He said he's trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, but if things don't change with his pay by the next check then he's putting in a request to go back to his old position where he was making more money to begin with.
Thank you.
Quoting Chuckydoodle:Have you looked into purchasing a mobile home? I know it's not always the ideal living situation in someones head. But in reality it's an awesome oppourtunity to save money towards a future home. You can get a mobile home sometimes for as little as $1,000.00 and it's yours and only have to pay the lot rent. Which is normally between 250-400 dollars a month given location and what they have for extras. It is how we started. Our first place cost us just 1700 dollars, and in the first year we saved 6 grand off of what we were paying before for rent.
Yeah, I had the problem initially too when my husband brought the idea to me. I had always been of the belief that trailers = trailer trash, so I went reluctently. And I was wrong, we got lucky and were in a great school district. And the mobile home park was full mostly of the elderly or aging population. And everyone loves grandparents. They were great to my little ones, seemed everyone always had a sucker or would buy them ice cream lol. We have long since left the trailer parks, but it was a place where for awhile we didn't worry how we would pay the rent, we didn't have to freak out over car payments. Because even just making it on a pizza job we could scrape by.
Quoting xomrs.chase:
I have thought about it. Actually, there are some cheap ones in a fantastic school district (thanks to lake vacation homes) that is still semi-close to dh's job. I'd live in a trailer for ds to go to a good school. I never thought about how much it would save us too- to be honest my mom burned into my head that trailer = bad because of how she grew up. I need to get past that
Thank you.
Quoting Chuckydoodle:Have you looked into purchasing a mobile home? I know it's not always the ideal living situation in someones head. But in reality it's an awesome oppourtunity to save money towards a future home. You can get a mobile home sometimes for as little as $1,000.00 and it's yours and only have to pay the lot rent. Which is normally between 250-400 dollars a month given location and what they have for extras. It is how we started. Our first place cost us just 1700 dollars, and in the first year we saved 6 grand off of what we were paying before for rent.
I think my husband's a sociopath
- xomrs.chase
on May. 2, 2012 at 3:46 PM