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Mar. 21st, 2019 02:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolariSo, what happened?
I'm currently in a perfect storm of financial ...not quite ruin, but definitely a super rough patch of road.
(TLDR: I have help, but I could use more. How can you help/ Scroll to "So, here's the damage.")
So, things were actually going pretty swimmingly up until a few weeks ago. I was in a position at work that, while temporary, had a pay boost that was not only covering everything, including meds, but having a little left over at the end of the day. I was using that to not only put a big dent in my credit card debt, but getting the occsional toy here and there, something I hadn't done in a while.
There was a plan when I was doing the Oregon Trail trip, where I'd be saving up to get my car fixed (it needed about $1500 of work on the brakes and rotors (again)), then I'd save up for the Oregon Trail trip. That's when the brakes started squealing, which means I needed to fix them NOW. I didn't have the $1500, but was roughly halfway there. I had a few weeks I could save up and take care of it.
A "pledge drive" where I'd offer prints of art for car donations went south when the printer fried and couldn't be repaired without a huge amount of money. I didn't have the art to print (and Kinko's costs wouldn't offset the amounts I was getting donated), the donations dried up at about $50 of the $800 I'd need.
Shortly after that, my phone's USB port broke, and took the ability to charge with it. I ended up replacing it with a new phone, and while I didn't eat too deep into the $800, I'm now on the hook for about $25/week for just under a year to pay that off. No biggie, we'll cut back on the toys, and still put money away for the car bill.
Shortly after THAT I got news from my dentist that I'd need a crown to replace a failing filling. Even with insurance, the dentist said this would be somewhere between $500-700. That hurt. There were payment plans, and I'm planning to do that...but that means things were going to start being super tight.
I always knew my position at work was going to be temporary, but I was expecting it to last until July. Shortly after the crown thing, I was told I was being moved to another project, causing my position to end five months early and go back to my previous pay rate. I was no longer breaking even, I was now beginning to hemorrhage money.
I started paring all my expenditures back, with the only exception being the trip to Canada. I'd paid for a hotel room in Canada back when I could still afford it, so I banked grocery money into the trip, as it was honestly a glorified grocery trip with a $10 show in between.
Now, for a SECOND time, I get a call from a collections agency saying I owe money for a hospital visit from last year. Both times, the hospital sent the bill to my home address - but I don't get home delivery in this town, and anything sent to my home address is returned to sender. It's all PO Box. After a year, they got tired of waiting, and now it's all at collections.
This happened a few month ago, but was $200, and I could cover that no problem. This time, though...$2000. And I can't really find too many ways to cut back anymore as I've pared back as much as I think I can without risking running out of gas during my commute or running out of food if I have a low blood sugar episode.
So, here's the damage:
Car Repair: $1500 (Estimated)
Phone Payments Remaining: $850
Dental Crown : $700 (Estimated)
Hospital Bill: $1900
Grand Total: $4950
My parents have stepped in to help, willing to make the Dental and Hospital payments. But they're retired, and this is going to pull off their savings. While I'm heavily underemployed, even with the pay bump, this would have been a rough patch. But now that that is gone, the rough patch is an iceberg that my Titanic is rapidly approaching.
I plan to put every spare scrap of money I can into these bills to offset my parents help. But I could really use some help with this. I've considered taking a loan out to consolidate all my debt in one spot, selling off the Video Game Shrine and my collectibles, and even rationing medications (My #1 source of money drain). But there's one way that would really really help:
At the bottom of my website (http://dolari.net/cs) is a "Please Donate" button. ANYTHING you can donate would help me immensely. I can't offer any real rewards, but if you want something, I can try to follow up with you.
Thanks in advance.
Also: Please change the American Health Care System.
I'm currently in a perfect storm of financial ...not quite ruin, but definitely a super rough patch of road.
(TLDR: I have help, but I could use more. How can you help/ Scroll to "So, here's the damage.")
So, things were actually going pretty swimmingly up until a few weeks ago. I was in a position at work that, while temporary, had a pay boost that was not only covering everything, including meds, but having a little left over at the end of the day. I was using that to not only put a big dent in my credit card debt, but getting the occsional toy here and there, something I hadn't done in a while.
There was a plan when I was doing the Oregon Trail trip, where I'd be saving up to get my car fixed (it needed about $1500 of work on the brakes and rotors (again)), then I'd save up for the Oregon Trail trip. That's when the brakes started squealing, which means I needed to fix them NOW. I didn't have the $1500, but was roughly halfway there. I had a few weeks I could save up and take care of it.
A "pledge drive" where I'd offer prints of art for car donations went south when the printer fried and couldn't be repaired without a huge amount of money. I didn't have the art to print (and Kinko's costs wouldn't offset the amounts I was getting donated), the donations dried up at about $50 of the $800 I'd need.
Shortly after that, my phone's USB port broke, and took the ability to charge with it. I ended up replacing it with a new phone, and while I didn't eat too deep into the $800, I'm now on the hook for about $25/week for just under a year to pay that off. No biggie, we'll cut back on the toys, and still put money away for the car bill.
Shortly after THAT I got news from my dentist that I'd need a crown to replace a failing filling. Even with insurance, the dentist said this would be somewhere between $500-700. That hurt. There were payment plans, and I'm planning to do that...but that means things were going to start being super tight.
I always knew my position at work was going to be temporary, but I was expecting it to last until July. Shortly after the crown thing, I was told I was being moved to another project, causing my position to end five months early and go back to my previous pay rate. I was no longer breaking even, I was now beginning to hemorrhage money.
I started paring all my expenditures back, with the only exception being the trip to Canada. I'd paid for a hotel room in Canada back when I could still afford it, so I banked grocery money into the trip, as it was honestly a glorified grocery trip with a $10 show in between.
Now, for a SECOND time, I get a call from a collections agency saying I owe money for a hospital visit from last year. Both times, the hospital sent the bill to my home address - but I don't get home delivery in this town, and anything sent to my home address is returned to sender. It's all PO Box. After a year, they got tired of waiting, and now it's all at collections.
This happened a few month ago, but was $200, and I could cover that no problem. This time, though...$2000. And I can't really find too many ways to cut back anymore as I've pared back as much as I think I can without risking running out of gas during my commute or running out of food if I have a low blood sugar episode.
So, here's the damage:
Car Repair: $1500 (Estimated)
Phone Payments Remaining: $850
Dental Crown : $700 (Estimated)
Hospital Bill: $1900
Grand Total: $4950
My parents have stepped in to help, willing to make the Dental and Hospital payments. But they're retired, and this is going to pull off their savings. While I'm heavily underemployed, even with the pay bump, this would have been a rough patch. But now that that is gone, the rough patch is an iceberg that my Titanic is rapidly approaching.
I plan to put every spare scrap of money I can into these bills to offset my parents help. But I could really use some help with this. I've considered taking a loan out to consolidate all my debt in one spot, selling off the Video Game Shrine and my collectibles, and even rationing medications (My #1 source of money drain). But there's one way that would really really help:
At the bottom of my website (http://dolari.net/cs) is a "Please Donate" button. ANYTHING you can donate would help me immensely. I can't offer any real rewards, but if you want something, I can try to follow up with you.
Thanks in advance.
Also: Please change the American Health Care System.
