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I'm currently looking for other health ins. that's way less per month than what I'm paying now, that has low deductibles and reasonable co-pays. I've trimmed everything else as closely as humanly possible (moved back in with parents to eschew rent & utilities), yet there's still student loan (which I'm about to do something to put it on hold), two credit cards--$96 and $58 respectively(I used to be good about them, but only been able to do the min. for over a year now), health ins.--$280, storage building rent for my household--$70, car payment--$270...not counting little stuff like lunch money, gas for the car, and routine car maint. and meds.

Substitute teachers only get paid for the days they work, and though I'm trying to get more days from other counties and other schools, I still only get paid once a month. I'm looking for other work that's full-time, but in the meantime I'm running out of options and feel like I'm being cornered. It is distressing. What savings is available is only about $100, which won't go far. Savings which isn't available is locked-up in a CD and a roth-IRA. I'm thinking seriously about breaking the IRA this week to tide me over until I get regular work. I'll get slapped for breaking it early, but I think it's the only way to keep from drowning. I've been swimming in the deep end for two years, treading water for the past year, and my arms are tiring out faster than I ever thought possible.

I want to go back to school, but doubt seriously I'll have any funds for anything until I can manage to knock down the bills. *ROFLMAO!!* Like that's gonna happen in the near future!! *sigh* And if I'm studying full-time, how in h#ll can I manage a full-time job? I don't do well with little sleep, and can't hack the college-age schedule anymore. And should I even go into teaching anyway?!? It's a majorly stressful career, even if it's a more manageable stress than theatre work.

Know what I really want to do in life? Skip-out totally on the 20th/21st Century and step back to an 18th Century farm-life. Much simpler, back to absolute basics, no modern-day rush. Just live by the seasons and deal with the day-to-day chores of gardening, tending livestock enough for a one-family farm, cooking, creating things to be cooked or preserved for later, and household chores. I'd never be bored, there'd be no TV, no phone, no electricity...of course, I would keep in some contact with the outside, modern world, but for the most part live apart from it. Think the Amish would accept me?

--RW

Hi,
I can see lots of appeal for the 18th cent but I would want to take with me Antibiotics, the modern stove, and the modern washing machine.

Even then, meals might have to be cooked 3 times a day and everything would be from scratch. No thanks.


But seriously.
Have you tried a reputable place like
Consumer Credit Counseling Services?
I used them back in the 90s for a while and paid off my debt.

They negotiated lower rates with the credit cards. I paid CCCS a certain amount each month and they paid the credit cards and other folks that I owed money too.



M.

The CD would be the 1st to go and keep the other if it were me. It can be rough I know.

RWA

This is a difficult time ................but things will turn arround..


Main thing seek advice........pay off the most active creditor..[highest intrest]
Seek an agreement with the others.. minimum payments[[ they would rather have little than nothing]

Then draw up the most ruthless budgeting plan you have ever drawn..... remember wecan live off fruit and veg and be full....then pay of all credit cards first then things that do not amount interest.. you may well struggle for a while.. with little niceieties in life... but at the end .. all of your income will be yours[ excludind utilities/rent]

RW... this is a difficult time.. you have to be ruthless with yourself in the short term for long term gain....

GOOD LUCK and i truly mean that

David

Sending you hugs. I agree with Mari, try the CCC, they should be able to
help you.

Donna

Dear RAvenswings,
I am sorry to hear of your money issues.
It sounds like you are doing alot to help get yourself afloat.
I have to say...That sounds reasonable for your health insurance.
That is a high car payment...perhaps your bank would give you a signature loan to consolidate your debt?
Substitute teachers are not paid what they are worth...in fact here in louisiana they don't even make minimum wage....just awful.
Returning students can sometimes get grants to go back to school...have you looked into this at all?
bizi

I don't know if this is a possibility for you, but here's what I did to get out from under my credit card debt...

I called the companies (two) and asked for a settlement amount. Both companies gave me an amount less than 50 percent of the actual balance. Then I took my CD and went to the bank and took out a collateral loan against it, paid off the credit cards. Now I pay $148 to the bank every month instead of hundreds of dollars to the credit card companies.

I think you got a lot of good advice here.

Money issues can be stressful, but as posted here there are options.

Hang in there.

Hugs, Nikko

Thanks y'all.

The ccards aren't nearly so desperate as what I've heard is possible. In fact, they are the least of those worries (unless late charges get applied). Them and the storage rent. It's the big ones like car and health ins. which eat what little paycheck I get. I TOLD my mom I could better afford to fix my old Plymouth Sundance than I could a 'new' car! But would she listen? No. Was I too frazzled to stand my ground? Yes, 'cause I wasn't up to dealing with things then.

I'm going to talk to the people who handle my IRA, to see what I can do with it. The CD I just opened in Nov., and is money received after the selling of my grandmother's house. I will NOT squander my inheritance. I'd rather that be left to grow for a down-payment on a house (when the day comes I actually settle down). At the time, I had put insurance claim money in an IRA, since I thought the job was a sure thing which would last. And at that time, it was. So I began thinking about setting aside for retirement, some 40 years down the road. The IRA has always been something 'set aside' to my mind. The CD matures in a year and is worth more...I can decide what to do with it then. But I will discuss these things with the IRA people today.

What I need is a regular-schedule, full-time job...soon. I already am down to absolute bare necessity...no niceties at all here since last Aug., and few before then. There is no more I can whittle out of my budget. I didn't plan far enough ahead last year for knowing the job might not hold. There's a piece of advice--plan ahead if at all possible!

--RW

(And I said that if I eschewed the 21st century for the 18th century, I'd still keep in contact with the modern world...antibiotics and other meds are HIGHLY important...as is an occasional visit to a washing machine & dryer...and the occasional use of a car. And really, when done right, cooking over an open fire or on a woodstove takes no longer than an electric stove/oven--as long as the fire doesn't go out.