I Just Need a Minute.

[Rochelle Bos]

A minute where things in life are easy.

January 4th Collyn (husband) broke his wrist on the trampoline at an indoor playground.

Since then I’ve had so many ups and downs, I’m seriously so done. I don’t know how much more I can take.

We live on the edge financially when things are “normal” (which is borderline chaos for us). So since he broke his wrist he can’t work at all, he’s a letter carrier and his supervisor said he’s “basically useless with a broken wrist”. Can’t even do modified duties. BUT he gets 70% of his wage via short term disability from his employer. THEN we find out it’s taxed so more like 50% of his wage.

So then I contact our insurance broker/financial advisor and she no longer works for the company but refers me to a new person. Okay. He says we have disability coverage and should submit a claim! $1000 after 30 days and another $1500 after 119 days. SWEET!

We then find out that because we get disability from a 3rd party his work will reduce the amount he gets. (We assume so that he’s not making more that 100% of his wage, which he wouldn’t be). But we never got to find out the answer because...

Our original broker never gave us disability insurance. She says she thinks we declined it because he has disability through work, I don’t think we did. But either way. No “top up” disability insurance.

So I went to my bank to try to differ a mortgage payment! Financial advisor told me yes! I signed the paperwork and went home happy! Finally! A win!!

Well I just got a phone call and the head office denied it, because we owe more than 90% of the VALUE of our house.

So that’s it. I’m out of ideas. We’ve been listing stuff for sale online, but lots of stuff isn’t selling.

The orthopedist said that Collyn likely won’t be 100% until April. He also has a hernia surgery scheduled for March 3 when he will get his 3 hernias fixed. And we’re currently at the walk in clinic because he threw out his back

The part that I am struggling with the most is, with the support of my psychologist, I’m supposed to be saving up for the puppy I put a deposit on for this summer. It was going to be tight before he got injured, now it seems impossible.

I do almost nothing for myself. It’s always kids/family/others. I’m constantly running on the brink of a breakdown. This puppy was going to be for me. Hobby, giving me time to myself (walks/training) so I can be my own person again.

But here I am, being forced to ignore my own needs/wants again.

Sorry. Had to rant. I’m not doing good.

[Stormy Peak]

There's some kind of 'hardship' mortgage payment adjustment you can apply for...not sure how it works, like if they will do it for 6 months, or how much they can lower you payment...but you might ask your bank or the mortgage lender about it. It will reduce your payments due to hardship situations.

I'm sorry you are going through all of this... I had my own financial crises some years back when I ended up in a wheel chair, and Workman's comp was dragging their feet... I ended up using up all of my savings by the time that was settled and I was also put on disability.

I ended up turning off my DISH t.v....but kept the internet as I needed it to check in on my workman's comp and disability stuff...and I could also watch a lot of free stuff on the internet via YouTube and free foreign t.v shows with sub titles were easy to find too.

I use to by my dogs, dog food where meat was the first ingredient...but I had to switch to lesser quality stuff, and I ended up going to the food banks too. Every little bit helped. I never ate out much anyways, but I quit doing all fast foods. I've almost always cooked 'real' food...but started to do even more of it to save money. I have a 2 gallon stock pot and I make chili, stews, and soups and freeze the extra. 1 can of chili is like $1.50 (75 cents a serving) and serves about 2 people. I can make 2 gallons of better quality chili for about 20 cents a serving and there's enough of it that worrying about a lunch or dinner for the next few weeks isn't a problem. I also sold a few things to get through it all.

I hope things get better for you,

Stormy

[Leigh Ann Anderson]

Double check how you are paying for disability. I know for my husband's DI, if we pay with post tax $ the payout is higher than if we pay in pretax money. We chose to pay post tax, because that was the better option.

[Laura Ferguson]

I was going to echo to check how/who you are paying for disability. I wouldn't just take their word for it - if it is something you are paying for, there should be deductions, and if it isn't something you are paying for, but included through work, there should be an overall benefits sheet. Maybe they are accurately stating thing, but the whole turnover thing leaves me questioning it. Hang in there - you're getting hit with a lot all at once. We're here for you.

[Rochelle Bos]

There's some kind of 'hardship' mortgage payment adjustment you can apply for...not sure how it works, like if they will do it for 6 months, or how much they can lower you payment...but you might ask your bank or the mortgage lender about it. It will reduce your payments due to hardship situations.

I'm sorry you are going through all of this... I had my own financial crises some years back when I ended up in a wheel chair, and Workman's comp was dragging their feet... I ended up using up all of my savings by the time that was settled and I was also put on disability.

I ended up turning off my DISH t.v....but kept the internet as I needed it to check in on my workman's comp and disability stuff...and I could also watch a lot of free stuff on the internet via YouTube and free foreign t.v shows with sub titles were easy to find too.

I use to by my dogs, dog food where meat was the first ingredient...but I had to switch to lesser quality stuff, and I ended up going to the food banks too. Every little bit helped. I never ate out much anyways, but I quit doing all fast foods. I've almost always cooked 'real' food...but started to do even more of it to save money. I have a 2 gallon stock pot and I make chili, stews, and soups and freeze the extra. 1 can of chili is like $1.50 (75 cents a serving) and serves about 2 people. I can make 2 gallons of better quality chili for about 20 cents a serving and there's enough of it that worrying about a lunch or dinner for the next few weeks isn't a problem. I also sold a few things to get through it all.

I hope things get better for you,

Stormy

I’m not sure our mortgage provider has such a thing, or I’m sure they would have suggested it, but I will try asking. Never hurts to ask.

Our bills are pretty much cut as small as we can go, over the last year we’ve been trying to “get ahead” and have been trimming the fat. We don’t have cable tv, we use my parent’s Netflix and Prime TV (they also got the kids D+ for Christmas). We use an off the beaten path internet provider and pay half what the big dogs want for almost the same service. We don’t have a home phone, and switched cell phone providers to cut our cell phone bill in half.

Our cat usually eats raw, but she got sick recently (she at something she shouldn’t...) and now she’s being a picky butt. Slowly we’re getting her to eat it again. Costs less than $1/day to feed her the raw.

Double check how you are paying for disability. I know for my husband's DI, if we pay with post tax $ the payout is higher than if we pay in pretax money. We chose to pay post tax, because that was the better option.

My brain is all jumbled because crying could you explain this like I’m 5 :#

[Rochelle Bos]

I was going to echo to check how/who you are paying for disability. I wouldn't just take their word for it - if it is something you are paying for, there should be deductions, and if it isn't something you are paying for, but included through work, there should be an overall benefits sheet. Maybe they are accurately stating thing, but the whole turnover thing leaves me questioning it. Hang in there - you're getting hit with a lot all at once. We're here for you.

We checked our account to see if the secondary disability payments were coming out of our chequing account, there wasn’t one

And his paystubs weren’t very clear about it, they just show how much he pays into it. He called HR and they said it will be taxed. I should/will get Collyn to dig into it more.

[Leigh Ann Anderson]

Double check how you are paying for disability. I know for my husband's DI, if we pay with post tax $ the payout is higher than if we pay in pretax money. We chose to pay post tax, because that was the better option.

My brain is all jumbled because crying could you explain this like I’m 5 :#

I'm not the financial gal, sorry, but the way disability insurance (or at least DH's) works is that if you pay the insurance with pretax money (which if he is paying through work, through a pay check deduction I think will be pretax) then if you need to file a claim, they take the tax out on the back end (when you get the insurance pay out). If you pay it after taxes (in our case it is paid out of our checking account and NOT as a deduction on DH's pay check) then the full amount is tax free- you have already paid the tax liability/debt on the money.

IDK if you or he could do "gig work" as a way to make ends meet- delivering groceries for InstaCart, Shipt, etc. Maybe pet sitting or another flexible job? I'm sorry that you are going through this!

[Amy Bahama]

One thing I do when I need to bank some extra is transcribe for Rev. they take free lance transcriptionists and pay pretty decently if you are a good typist. Check into it.

[T.D. Palm]

I was a letter carrier. I got pretty sick one year & had to have 2 operations. Couldn't carry mail for 3 or 4 months.I used my sick leave while I was recovering & then when it ran out, the P.O. had a program where you could ''borrow" sick leave and then when you returned to work full time you paid back the borrowed sick leave with the leave you started accumulating again. Your postmaster had to approve it & then it had to be approved by the area postal management. If you weren't an abuser of sick leave, it was fairly easy to get.
When I was partly recovered but couldn't resume carrier duties, my P.O. let me work inside for half a day each day doing clerk-type work, so that I was only using 4 hrs sick leave a day.

[Stormy Peak]

I just scanned this, didn't read it all, but it might be a start on how to get hardship status for your mortgage. You might also Google the term Relief Mortgage.

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/claim-har ... -9656.html

If you get really desperate...start calling your local churches...sometimes some of them have funds available to help people out...it might just be a box of food, or $50 to $100 dollars to be applied to medical bills...ect...but every little bit helps. And, later, you can always do some volunteer work if you hate that kind of begging for help.

I'm an atheist, but word got out when I was injured, and the Baptist Church in my town contacted me and asked if I needed help. They offered to send 3 men and a pick up truck to my home...and the totally cleaned up my property...mowed the lawn, trimmed the weeds with a weed-eater, hand pulled other weeds and hauled all of it away. They even offered me the collection from the next Sunday's passing of the collection plate. I refused the money, as I couldn't bring myself at that time to accept so much help. But, 8 months later...I kind of wished I had...I didn't realize how hard it was going to get and getting help from those who truly want to help, and who can help, is nothing to be ashamed of when you are having problems. I also let the church know I was an atheist...in case they had issues with that. I wrote them a thank you note for the yard work too.

Hope the link helps. Also....Ask if you can get 2 or 3 months of no payments on you credit cards...my credit union will do that...you still get charged interest, but nothing else should change...other than down the road it will just take a bit longer to pay off the card...due to being excused to skip some payments now.

Stormy