[sciencetoy]

I am of course broke - on SSDI which doesn't come anywhere close to covering my expenses.

Of course my finances are a mess - I have no idea what bills are due when, and where the $$ will come from for my next MD co-pay. And I can't find anything, so when I need a copy of something, it isn't going to happen.

Does anyone have any ideas about dealing with the financial mess?

What do you do?

[anon1028]

you are not alone. ssdi is a far cry from our previous salaries. I had to forego credit payments for years and took a credit hit. I payed them off later on at a fraction and have started to get good credit back. your recovery comes first. pay what you need to survive. if you have trouble focusing get someone to help you sort things out.

[Mokey]

The difficulty in dealing with financial matters is something that doesn't get much attention. I find that this is one of the costly aspects of this type of injury. I just got another bill from the public library for overdue books and magazines for my kids. Late in filing income tax papers. Forget to claim health benefits. Lose bills and receipts. I had difficulty following what was going on with the long-term disability payments and have no way of checking to see if they were right or not.

I have thought about trying to get an assistant but I think it would take too much effort. I tried to console myself with the thought that at the end of my life than that this will not matter anymore.

I hope it works out for you.

[anon1028]

yeah I tell myself at my worst tmies that I will be dead one day and this wont matter. what a cruddy thing to have to say to comfort yourself lol.
I worked so hard for my savings and it breaks my heart that its gone but at least all the overtime boosted my ssdi. miss my 350z and thousand dollar at a time atlantic city visits

[Sitke]

You are definitely not alone, I can't tell you how many times bills have not been paid, I forgot I had library books and magazines out and right now have a....$155 fine, I almost dropped dead, luckily the very nice man there took pity and dropped it to $20 which is amazing.

I agree with Mark, pay what you need to survive.

I also cannot find anything, to give you an example, tomorrow I see a neurologist, have had the appt for 4 months yet this evening I am going to have to sort through a mound of paper work to find out the address of where I need to be tomorrow at 8 and fill the paperwork out.

I have been saying for months that I am going to file all my paperwork, this is the only way I know of that will help when looking for things, mind you then I'll forget to go to the file so....

Now every single night I know to put due bills right by the coffee maker where I will see them doesn't always work but it helps and I juggle the money, ask for extensions, never had a problem with that.

My credit is kaput but that doesn't bother me anymore.

[anon1028]

Originally Posted by Sitke

You are definitely not alone, I can't tell you how many times bills have not been paid, I forgot I had library books and magazines out and right now have a....$155 fine, I almost dropped dead, luckily the very nice man there took pity and dropped it to $20 which is amazing.

I agree with Mark, pay what you need to survive.

I also cannot find anything, to give you an example, tomorrow I see a neurologist, have had the appt for 4 months yet this evening I am going to have to sort through a mound of paper work to find out the address of where I need to be tomorrow at 8 and fill the paperwork out.

I have been saying for months that I am going to file all my paperwork, this is the only way I know of that will help when looking for things, mind you then I'll forget to go to the file so....

Now every single night I know to put due bills right by the coffee maker where I will see them doesn't always work but it helps and I juggle the money, ask for extensions, never had a problem with that.

My credit is kaput but that doesn't bother me anymore.

yeah..my credit used to rock, then it took a hit. that hurt a lot for a while but now I'm just in survival mode as a bunch of us are. before head injury I wanted to take over the world, now I just want to wake up feeling normal.sitke I know you can relate.

[Mark in Idaho]

sciencetoy,

I can't teach you how to be disciplined but I can teach you a few tricks. I can not deal with loose papers. I deal with this by putting papers in a three ring binder. Get a three whole punch and some three ring binders. Used binders work if you need to be cost conscious.

You can also use shoe boxes as loose filing systems. I use them for receipts. One box for unpaid bills that have not been entered into Quicken and another once they have been entered and scheduled for payment.

I also use Quicken to track my finances. I use bill scheduling and other features to plan ahead. My SSDI payment is scheduled for the 14th and the last week of the month, I sit down and adjust the date to the second Wednesday.

If you can't do these on your own, you may be able to get some help from your city or county social services department to help you set up system that work.

The key is to set up systems that, if you follow the system, everything usually falls into place.

I took an 80% cut in pay when I had to go on SSDI. It is difficult but we can survive.

My best to you.

[anon1028]

mark 80% is brutal. I am sorry but I am glad you adapted. I missed the 2 credit card payments last month because I don't want to admit to myself that there might be some cognitive decline pic. That is silly I know.I will have to ask the girlfriend for help

[Hockey]

Originally Posted by markneil1212

mark 80% is brutal. I am sorry but I am glad you adapted. I missed the 2 credit card payments last month because I don't want to admit to myself that there might be some cognitive decline pic. That is silly I know.I will have to ask the girlfriend for help

I had to turn all the household accounts over to my husband. So funny as my day job was in finance. I used to oversee an empire, now I can't pay the hydro bill. (If I don't forget outright, I invert the numbers.)

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. lol If nothing else, the TBI has sure given me a crash course in humility. I've learned not to ashamed to ask for needed help.

I've also learned that good people like to be needed. The friends who have stuck with me have said that they feel they have an intimacy with me that they didn't have before my TBI.

[anon1028]

hockey I didn't know about the finance thing. That is impressive. I think a woman stat tend to stick around longer with an injury like this. My guy friends couldn't handle it and it disappeared. Its good that you relinquish some responsibility. I have to do that too