I do try to keep things light on this blog, but this past thirty days just sucks a big one, so I vent.
We are lucky, we have a roof (albeit a leaky one) over our heads. We have a home (although this may be the last month we have heat). Our home has water leaks, air leaks, no insulation and is small. But, it is not a cardboard box or a car. All but one person, in our house has health insurance and he just happens to be the healthiest of us, so that is good.
My husband’s twenty year battle with COPD is tearing up his body. He has been ill for three weeks, and sleeps a lot. Every time, I debate just selling my art supplies and becoming a greeter at WalMart, something happens, that tells me I am needed here at home. My mother ends up in the hospital, my husband is up for an hour a day and there are boys to pick up after school, bills to pay, a house to give up keeping clean, etc. He is adamant about me not working, and I know this is because he cannot keep up with the job I do here, although, at this point, a chimpanzee could keep up with my house cleaning. I have never lived in such a dirty house.
We live at 125% of the poverty level; now that my art income is dried up. The youngest boy does receive his own social security income, which is counted for some programs and not for others, but helps with his part of life. He is going through new testing next week for his disabilities.
And, I HATE opening the mail. I literally groan when the boys bring it in. This week was particularly scary.
It was not until the 19 year old, a year or so ago, when he had a job, was spending over $40 a month in long distance phone cards, that we all sat down and figured, he would put that $40 in cell phone service and we would get cell phones. It worked out well, until this week. I opened our bill, which is normally $100 for four cell phones, and that bill, this month, was $459.52.
They picked me up off the floor, and I ascertained that I was too far in shock to break into a quivering mass of tears, I phoned AT&T to find out what the boys did wrong, so it can be avoided in the future; after I give them back custody of their phone. At the end of finding out what all was going on with it, they offered to change my plan and write off the excess of the bill. It was one of the highlights of my year so far.
I cannot tell you how much this meant to us. When we first got AT&T, there was a misunderstanding and we were charged for things that were supposed to be shut off. AT&T wrote that off too. I cannot say enough about this company. The cellular part of it. I am not so fond of the landline part.
My relief was short lived though, as the next day I opened the South Central Indiana REMC electric and propane bill and it was $ 1,123.86. $$675.18 was for one month of propane to heat this crapy, leaky house.
I’ll let you know how that goes, after I am recovered enough to call and see what we can do with it.
Oh man. I wish I could give you a big hug. It won’t pay the bills, but it will let you know that I’ve totally sort of been in that abyss before. And I spent years with this aching gnaw in my gut. It sounds like maybe some big changes are required. Those bills are outrageous and the stress you’re under is not tolerable for long. I hope things get better with spring and the warmer temperatures
We are going to see if we qualify for assistance to insulate the house. This is, beyond a doubt, the worse built house I have ever owned. I would love to gut it, no, tear it down and rebuild a ‘green’ house. Anything to cut down on these bills. But, I would go for insulation right now.
I hate to complain too because we don’t have to worry about living in a car or losing our jobs, I sort of already did that, but we have a guaranteed income, and while it is low, it feeds us.