How to Deal With the Financial Devastation?

[VintageVera]

I haven't been well enough to work for over 2 years now and got my SSD a year ago. I've found that I run in the red every month and that's after squeezing each penny so hard that Lincoln screams! I have plans to do some small home businesses but  haven't acted on those ideas yet because dealing with the myriad of medical bs seems to be all that I can do. How do you deal with the resulting poverty? (I'd especially like to hear from other single people.)     

[Riki]

I live with my mom, and we do the best we can.  I"m lucky enough that I don't have to pay for medical insurance for dialysis, but I do have to pay for anything else, like medications, and transportation.  When my check goes into the bank at the end of the month, it's usually all gone in a matter of minutes.

[jbeany]

As another single person - welfare, and help from friends and family.  I'd suggest learning to become a minimalist - because you're going to end up one by default regardless.  Whatever you do, do not give in to the temptation to start charging things on credit cards.  When they tally your costs to figure out how much extra help you can get, they don't count credit card bills.  They don't care if you go bankrupt or not.  And while most bankruptcies are medical (or at least they were pre-recession), if you are holding out any hope for a transplant and a return to a normal work schedule, it's best to remember that your future employers might check your credit rating before they decide if they want to hire you.

Eventually you get to the point where the "helpful" magazine articles about how to cut out the "little, hidden costs" in your budget just make you laugh.  "Bring your coffee from home and skip the $6 cup from Starbucks."  Yeah, right.  When you live on disability, $6 is a huge cost, not a little hidden one.  That's 30 Ramen noodle dinners, after all. 

If you haven't already, cancel your cable; shut down your land line phone; get the cheapest cell plan you can find and dust off your library card.  They even have free internet at the library if that is out of your budget, too.  It stinks, but it's possible.  I went into the mess of disability with credit card debt from when I was healthy, and came out with perfect credit and a good chunk of the debt paid off.       

[KICKSTART]

On a practical side , i dont know about over there , but here we have quite a few good money savings sites, which i tend to use. They give you the places that are best to shop (food shopping) what offers are on. Meal ideas and general 'frugal' hints and tips, discount codes . Ive come across some good bargains using sites like this , if nothing else they make interesting reading ! 

[VintageVera]

KICKSTART: Whenever I hear the phrase "Over There," I feel like singing that old WWII song:
Over there, over there
Send the word, send the word, over there
That the Yanks are comin', the Yanks are comin'
And it won't be over
Till it's over, over there!

Ha, anyway I've done everything I can do and still maintain my sanity with this disease. I'm still wondering about others and how they cope. I hope people will overcome their resistance to discussing personal finances in order to help me get ideas and possibly a better perspective. LOVE, VV

[sumodidit]

Honestly, you will have to make the necessary changes in life. If you live an extravagant lifestyle you can kiss that goodbye. When I was diagnosed with my kidney disease I had to plan ahead cause I knew I couldn't keep up. I filed for bankruptcy and made alot of adjustments, I don't go out as much but I was already bored of going to clubs and bars. Now I just show my face here and there and people still love to see me and that I'm doing ok. It is hard because everything you do in life will revolve around your health. The main thing is to always have a good attitude and remember that you are always blessed cause it can always be worse. I've seen it with my on eyes, when I was in the public hospital I would wonder why is this happening to me but when you hear some of the problems that the the other people have we actually got it easy. The guy next to me had full blown HIV and the works but he still had a positive attitude but I still didn't want to be in his shoes and was glad to be in mine if you get my drift...long story short you gotta make some heavy decisions and your goal will be to have a simple life and learn to be humble and show humility!!

[RightSide]

I'm living off SSD plus my 401(k) plan.

I had the good sense to switch it into gold securities when Bush invaded Iraq.   Since that time, the price of gold has nearly quadrupled.

http://tinyurl.com/2dqe67h

[KICKSTART]

KICKSTART: Whenever I hear the phrase "Over There," I feel like singing that old WWII song:
Over there, over there
Send the word, send the word, over there
That the Yanks are comin', the Yanks are comin'
And it won't be over
Till it's over, over there!

Ha, anyway I've done everything I can do and still maintain my sanity with this disease. I'm still wondering about others and how they cope. I hope people will overcome their resistance to discussing personal finances in order to help me get ideas and possibly a better perspective. LOVE, VV

If  by ..'discussing personal finances' you mean putting amounts or figures in their replies , i wouldnt advise it as this is an open forum and anyone , anywhere could see your finances !

[VintageVera]

KICKSTART: Dollars and cents answers won't help me. What I'm looking for is approaches, ideas and suggestions. (Yes, you DID misunderstand me.) Hoping to hear more answers. THANKS, VERA

[glitter]

frugalvillage.net    nice site with a lot of practical tips

[jbeany]

On a practical side , i dont know about over there , but here we have quite a few good money savings sites, which i tend to use. They give you the places that are best to shop (food shopping) what offers are on. Meal ideas and general 'frugal' hints and tips, discount codes . Ive come across some good bargains using sites like this , if nothing else they make interesting reading ! 

Oh, coupons, definitely use coupons.  I had a Sunday-only newspaper subscription that included coupons.  90% of the time, the savings in coupons were far more than the cost of the paper delivery.  Then use the ad fliers to coordinate the coupons with the sales.  If they are having a buy one, get one free sale on a $2 item, and you have a $1.00 off coupon, you save $3.  It takes time to get the system figured out, but there are websites to help with that as well. 

If you get food assistance, you still have to pay for cleaning supplies, but there are ways to get the food stamps to cover those costs as well.  Vinegar and baking soda are covered as food, but they clean just fine.  Food stamps can also cover costs for gifts if you don't have any room in your budget.  Dollar stores and thrift stores sell pretty baskets for very little. (Thrift store baskets can usually be run through the dishwasher to make sure the dust is all gone.)  Fill them with homemade baked goods if you can, but chocolates, fruit, coffee beans, etc. are also covered.  You have to readjust your own food supplies to cover the cost difference, but a couple of cheap noodle dinners can be better than being the only one at the party without a gift to give.  If you are at all crafty, figure out how to do your favorite craft with recycled materials.  For me, scrap quilts made great gifts. 

If your friends tend to go to restaurants or get together for expensive activities, try having them over instead.  Do BYOB and a couple of cheap appetizers, and play cards or games.  I rarely had the energy for going out anyhow, so the low key get togethers were easier to handle.

Also, learn to cook if you can't already.  Anything from scratch is cheaper than ready-made, plus it has the added bonus of much less salt.

[Riki]

I get a lot of free samples of things.  Brandsampler.ca is pretty cool.  Every month or so, they have a new box of samples.  It's a P&G site, so there's a lot of glade and febreze and tide samples.  The last one I got Secret body spray, a sample of Tide detergent, a little bottle of Scope mouth wash, little sample bottles of Pantene for fine hair shampoo and conditioner (the last time I got those little bottles in the mail, they lasted me almost a month. My hair is really thin), and one of those new Febreze air fresheners.  I love this thing, and I intend to buy refills for it.

I also go to Save.ca for coupons.  You just click the ones you want and they send them to you in the mail.  Sometimes you get free stuff from them too.

it's not hard to find free sample sites.  You can get some neat stuff sometimes, some of which you could use as gifts.  I've gotten t-shirts, and reusable shopping bags.  Mom got an insulated lunch bag the other day.

I have a friend who is a professional contester.  She sells her winnings when she can, and uses it to supplement her income.  The last thing that she's mentioned that she won was a trip for 2 to Toronto, I think, for a Sarah Harmer concert.  She gave that to her daughter.  She won a trip to the winter Olympics in Vancouver.  Her and her daughter went to that, and they were there for the closing ceremonies.  She wins all kinds of stuff, from cell phones and ipods, to cds and dvds, gift baskets and promotional clothing.  It's kind of neat hearing about the stuff she wins.  She won't tell me her secret, though.