Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
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Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
Rules For the rest of the Site also accessible on the sidebar.
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I hope this is allowed because I have nowhere else to go. I’m requesting prayers for my family, please.
My dad was just unjustly fired from his job. He was our primary provider. I’m disabled (not on disability) and work from home but it’s commission based and very sporadic.
We’re trying to get started with unemployment and getting him drawing social security, but he doesn’t turn 65 for another month.
We’ve cut back everything we possibly can and we were already struggling badly. Plus it will be 3-5 months before social security goes through, apparently.
Please pray for us to stay calm, together, and to not lose our home.
We prayed so hard. This is devastating.
If you are a believer in Jesus, I suggest this. THANK HIM. I know that might sound radical and counterintuitive, but letting go, humbling yourself and thanking God for ALL circumstances works wonders. I know you are hurting badly right now, and I am praying for relief for you and your dad and family. In the meantime, pray, pray, call out to God and thank Him because HE knows what is happening and why and His will is best. He has a plan for you, be sure of that.
Also, social security changed the age requirements. It's possible that your dad is not eligible for "full" benefits until he's 66 1/2 or even older, so please make sure he is aware of what he is doing in case he wants to retract that application. It would be a shame if he didn't get his full benefits. And also, employers need good employees. It shouldn't be that hard for him to get a job, even if it's not a perfect job or in his field. He could get something to tide you over for another year or two until he is eligible for his full SS benefits. Companies are paying decent wages these days because they are desperate for good employees and many like seniors because they are usually dependable and good workers. All the best, fren. Things will improve. God bless.
Thank you for your response and kind words.
I’m trying, but I’m struggling. Being autistic and having anxiety and OCD, this is a nightmare. We were already homeless just in 2018 before he got this job. I’ve worked so hard to ensure that that never happens again. Getting this house was nothing short of a miracle from God, and it was very obvious that it was his efforts that got us here. So it’s extremely confusing to now have it so threatened.
Dad struggled very hard to get the job he just lost. A big part was because we didn’t have a car, but we have one now so that will help. But the kinds of jobs that he’ll get will not pay enough for us to maintain the struggle-level income he just lost. He could get a job outside of his field but those pay worse too.
We know he’ll be punished. He’s been in a lot of pain from a failing hip doing a manual labor job, but he was trying to hold out until he turned 66 1/2 for those full benefits anyways. To lose that so close to the finish line and have no choice but to take the hit absolutely sucks.
You say you are disabled. Are you eligible for social security disability insurance? Regardless, is there anything you can do? Can you perhaps do a work from home type job where you answer calls for a business? You need a computer to do that, but you're posting here, so either you're on your phone or you do have a computer. Anything you can do could help a lot. Do you have skills at math or other subjects? Perhaps you could tutor students? That could provide a nice hourly income. You might even be able to teach English to foreigners via the computer. That would help your dad out a lot.
You haven't mentioned if there are other people in your family. Is your mom present? What about siblings, or grandparents? If there are more than two of you and everybody can pitch in and do what they can, it might just be enough to get you by until Trump turns things around. If you've got siblings who are legally old enough to work - not sure what age that is, maybe 15 or 16, maybe they could take on part time jobs. It could be fun for them and any income they can produce alleviates some of the hardship on your dad. They can buy their own clothes, even pitch in with food, utilities, etc.
Are you guys good at managing what money you have? Do you eat out much? If so, stop that because it's expensive. Is there anything you can temporarily do without? Cable tv, etc. If it's just you and your dad living together, is there any chance you could take in a room-mate? Again, it doesn't have to be forever. But if you could have some income from a room-mate for 6 months or a year, that could help you out a lot. Just make sure it's someone sane and responsible. Even one bedroom apartments rent for a very high price these days, so you might be able to get a good chunk of money from a room mate. Do a search for your area to see what one bedroom apartments go for and also, for house sharing opportunities to see what other people are asking / charging for rent.
Do you know who Dave Ramsey is? If not, look him up and give him a call. He has a radio show helping people get out of debt and build wealth. He might have some ideas / suggestions that would help you.
I know what it is to be poor. Like, I can't afford to eat today or tomorrow, poor. It sucks. So I empathize with you and if you lived near me, I would gladly do what I could to help you. Right now, the best way I can help you is to pray. God will see you through, one way or another. Whatever you do, if the house is the most important thing to you, make sure you pay that mortgage even if you're eating macaroni with tomato sauce (been there.) Btw, that's cheap and tasty. And if the interest rate on your house is high (bought during the Biden admin) you might be able to refinance it if your dad gets another job quickly enough. That could help lower the payment, but beware that lenders will typically suggest you 'roll in' the cost of the refinance, so that means you'll owe more on the house. That's not something I would usually advise, but in your case, it might work for you. Just be very careful not to be taken by an unscrupulous lender. Shop around! And if you're living in an area where home values are going up, a refi, even if you do owe more on the mortgage, might work out. Just please be careful! If I think of any other suggestions, I will come back and add them. All the best, fren. God be with you.
Thank you for the incredibly thoughtful reply!
I have never pursued disability because I would be unable to work, and when work is good, it pays more than the disability would. It would also mean a very long stint of not working and no income while waiting for approval.
I have extreme anxiety, OCD, and PTSD. I can look into a job like that but I worry I wouldn’t be able to handle it given the anxiety. Chatting online would be much easier on me but I’m not sure if something like that exists.
Did not graduate high school or get my GED so that will make it hard to get any job along those lines even though I educated myself outside of the system.
I do have a computer but not a phone with service. I do commission-based art and writing for an income (adult themed, unfortunately, but it’s what people are willing to buy, and I know God understands that I’m doing it for my family) and it pays okay, but I only have a few clients and have always struggled to get more despite trying to play the exhausting social media game for self promotion. I have been teaching myself game development and am making a game I intend to release on Steam sometime next year. It’s about halfway done right now.
It’s just me and my parents. Mom also has health issues and we don’t want her working as a result of that. Once we have more of an idea about if he’ll be granted unemployment or not, we’ll know how much difference needs to be made up, and Dad may end up getting a part time job and I may end up selling whatever of my things I can to get us by. I don’t have a lot but it’ll be something.
We do not eat out except very special occasions (very rare) and we do not have cable. We already cut anything unnecessary long ago except for one $10 streaming service I’ll be cutting soon. We are discussing a family member moving in with us if things get very dire but it’s up in the air right now and will require a large upfront cost to upgrade our electrical panel we’d have to figure out and I would lose my bedroom. So that sucks but I’ll do it.
Above all else we’ll be prioritizing keeping the house, even if we have to cut the internet or electric for a while. It still has $102,000 to be paid on it.
Thank you so much for your kindness and advice. We got our house in 2019 and compared to houses renting and selling around us, we’re extremely fortunate, and our mortgage is only about $850/month. The house next door to us was renting for $2,200/month before the owner kicked the people out and made it an Air Bnb.