Hard Times..ideas please

Have you applied at the local rest homes/retirement homes for kitchen work?? The ones in our county always have a sign for housekeeping or kitchen help.. Don't forget to put that you are fexible with your hrs.

Was that arrest issued and found a felony? If so you may have a hard time
of finding some of the really good jobs. I know it is even on rental apps now
if you have been convicted of a felony.

Apparently you have some sort of medicaid?

If you and your wife have not yet applied for SSD then do so immediately.

A lady in my area bakes pies and cakes and cookies and contracts them to a local resturant. She also does fresh bread. She has to have them there each day. In you position though you don't have the access to a good clean kitchen to do this. Your first thing is to see if there is some way to get that pump fixed on that well.

I was raised with an alcoholic father. It didn't cause me to be an alcoholic. In fact I wanted better than what my parents had. They had 2 big 5 gal jugs they went to the local groc store and filled every two days. This had to do us for everything. Clothes were taken to the laundry mat about every 2 weeks. We had an outside toliet.

When you get the cook job you applied for, things should get a bit easier for you.

Have you or your wife put out job wanted signs on telephone poles and around the stores? Also don't forget housecleaning and perhaps cooking dinners at the peoples houses.

Do you have access to a chain saw and tree tops? If so, people are buying wood right now.

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Please don't put signs on telephone poles. In most areas it's against the law because it creates a harzard to utility workers.

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I'm running so far behind I thought I was first!

http://hickahala.blogspot.com/

Sorry, that is just what popped into my mind at the time. Guess because they are on all of them in my area. Not to get too much off subject, but you can also make signs out of cardboard boxes and put them on a small stick and put them in areas that allow it.

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Churches are likely you best, fast help choice. I use to be the "clearing house" for the local churches in the town we lived in when we were in Ohio (all our churches worked together to help anyone, but you could only go once per 30 days for the vouchers or cash- hence the "clearing house"). The churches had money and things set aside to help people in your exact situation. The people we helped were not church members usually, sometimes drifter or people that just had a car break down between here and there. Either way they funds or store vouchers were there to be used.

Contact each and every church in you town and let them know your situation. Ask if there is any chance they might have a person or two that would volunteer to come out and help you get the room winterized. Be open and let them know you are calling all the churches hoping to get 1 or 2 from each over the next few weeks to give you a hand. Ask the churches if there are any contractors in their congregation that may have left over supplies they would be willing to donate to you. This type of help is very different from the cash/vouchers system.

Call the local boy scout troops too, never know what types of projects they are looking to do, they might be able to help out with winterizing.

Touching base and signing up with every government agency is great and should be done, but they move slow and you need help now. You can alway turn down the government help if it comes through down the line and you no longer need it. Churches can help NOW.

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Jen
If my typo's bother you, come on over and take a chair. We can discuss it over some "ham and swill calzones"
Follow us at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimisod/

nothing to add in the way of advice, but just want you to know that I'll be thinking of you and your family. I hope you can stay in touch, cause I do care. sending you prayers and my most positive vibes for things to turn around for you soon. in the meantime, do prepare for winter as suggested! I know in western PA we can get darn cold on Sept. nights. hard times are something alot of us have been thru, so just know you have friends here. ((hugs))

I'm sorry to hear what a rough situation you are living in. I have a few new ideas. First - as far as disability, if you can't get it by yourself, hire a lawyer who specializes in it. They take some of the money but it would be better than nothing.

For anything, clothes, diapers, building materials, seeds, etc - look at craigslist free and also freecycle. Post wanted ads on both for things you need. There are gardening groups online that you could probably get some free seeds from as well. There are lots of people who trade and give away seeds. Check out www.gardenweb.com.

Do you have a local flea market or farmer's market. Both can be a good place to buy & sell items. There are people who go garbage picking and sell things they found at the flea market. Some will get things as freebies, fix them up and sell them. Some get stuff by advertising that they do "cleanouts" where they clean people's basements, attics, garages, etc. Keep the sellable stuff and dispose of the rest.

As for cooking and selling your own items, here in NJ, you have to have a commercial kitchen to legally bake and sell. I don't know the regulations on Ohio, but they prevented me from trying those types of things. Of course, that doesn't stop a lot of people of doing those things under the table. Just check it out to make sure that you know what you're getting into.

Since you have cooking skills, is there anywhere you could set up a hot dog cart or a roadside food stand of some kind. May take more investment money than you have but still an idea.

Getting free books and selling them on Amazon is an easy way of making a few $$. Many people give away books regularly on craigslist and freecycle. Advertise and ask for books on them as well. You could possibly get more than you can deal with. It can be time consuming and takes a bit to make a lot of money but you can work from home and work on your own schedule. All you need is a computer and access to a post office. It costs nothing up front, they only take money out of the sale when they get paid. Students at the end of the year are probably a great source of lots of good books. Be careful when you set up the amazon account for selling that they don't make your account one of the ones that has a monthly fee when you start out. You may want to change the type of account later though.

For a source of water, get a rain barrel (or 2 or 3) and hook it up to the downspouts of the house. May not make all of your water needs, but IMO the less lugging of gallon jugs, the better.

For insulation, bubble wrap is very good insulation. I line my 10 x 10 greenhouse with bubblewrap in the winter. I have a small $20.00 electric heater that can't keep the greenhouse above freezing without it in the winter. Check for any companies or businesses that might get large quantities because of all the shipments they get in. Just keep layering it.

Use wood from Pallets to build a door. Line it with a blanket to keep the drafts out.

Grow chickens and eat and sell the eggs. Use pallet wood and tarps to build the chicken coop. Free range them during the day and lock them up at night.

Keep your head up and know that if you perservere, it will get better. You have children, so you have to keep going. That fact has kept me going in my darkest days when I almost lost my house. If you feel alone, joining a church is a way to meet people and not feel so alone. Keeping your spirits up and looking forward is probably one of the most important things you could do. Just because you're poor doesn't mean that you can't have friends.

Beyond the crisis of the moment, and remind yourself that this situation is only for right now and doesn't have to be forever this way. Come up with a long term plan to prevent this from happening again. What kind of career and or business do you want to build for yourself and your wife. What do you need to do to get there. money, skills, location, a partner, etc. Strive every day to get yourself closer to that goal. It may involve education - book or skill type. It could involve moving. It may mean research, it may mean building a clientele.

For me, after several years out of the workforce, I had to build my career back up again. I planned every step along the way. It involved taking jobs that weren't where I wanted to be in the long run but were a stepping stone to getting me to where I wanted to go. I'm almost there but I have to stay at this job for a minimum 6 mos to 1 year before I made the next move. We came very close to losing our house, we were 6 months behind on the mortgage, missed lots of credit card payments, etc. If I didn't start on the road back to rebuilding my career almost 2 years ago, I'd be homeless right now. A little bit of luck, some help from my parents, and a plan got me back on my feet. I don't want to ever live like that again. I'm not out of the woods but at least I see the clearing in the trees.

Good luck!

Never use fabric softener it decreases the diapers absorbancy. Check out www.diaperpin.com for cloth diaper resources or search for Miracle diapers for free diapers.

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Ehh, whatever.

Contact your local Social Service Office and ask for information on housing grants, low/no income housing, explain your situations and ask if they can point you in the correct direction..

You guys should be eligible for disability. BOTH OF YOU NEED TO GET ON DISABILITY. If you can't do it yourselves, get a lawyer to do it for you. Some lawyers will do this for free (called pro bono), and some will do it for free until you start getting checks and then you pay them when you start getting checks. Use your computer and start googling disability lawyers and then start calling. Most will give you a free consult. Also, if your children are having any kind of emotional problems, you can get them on disability too.

Now another great idea. GO TO COMMUNITY COLLEGE. See the financial aid counselor. THERE IS FREE FEDERAL AND STATE MONEY TO GO TO COLLEGE, also federal loans are available that are so easy to get and no quailifying except that you are in college. You don't have to pay back the loans until six months after you graduate. After you pay for classes, there is a substantial amount of free federal and state money left over to pay for food and shelter. If you both go, there is twice as much money.

Get a lawyer and get on disability AND get yourself enrolled in community college. Just a few suggestions. I hate to see people struggling so hard.

Hello to all,
Well when it rains it pours. Went to Athens today. Wife was going to sell plasma. All was going well till they told her she needed proof of address, and the only thing they would accept was a post marked letter or such. They wouldnt accept a statement from JFS. So the $50 we had been counting on is pushed back till monday. That is if i can scapre up enough money to get back to Athens, im not even sure i got enough gas to get to the gas station I called the 2 pawnshops in the area and neither will take my desktop as collateral on a pawn loan. I have a little aluminum but not much, not enough to turn in. So everything is on hold till first of week, unless a miracle of some sort happens. I hate to sound so glum but it is just so depressing. No $, no gas, little water, have like 4 diapers left. My mom is off on a drunk , i think? I dont know anymore. I dont know bout anything. My nerves are just about shot. My mouth is killing me. I finally stopped bleeding this afternoon. The infection is getting worse instead of better, the penecilin i got hasnt taken effect yet. I feel like im about to break down, lose control. I been calling around to places i put apps in, no luck. The wife has another interview for a position on monday, if we can get there?

As for the SSI/Disability deal. I been trying to get my disability for nearly 3 years. I have been denied then i appealed then denied again. I have a attorney. We have been waiting since last dec. to get to see an appeal judge. I had gotten a letter last spring stating that it may be up to another year or more before i even get a court date.


We are lookinjg into the college enrollment. The wife wants to go into nursing, and i might follow a similar route. We are going to attend Hocking College if everything works out right. I hope she can start this fall quarter. We thought we might be ab le to share books and what not so we could save even more money from the grants/loans. Cantr get an appointment from Job and family till the august 26 i think it is. They have no funding for gas vouchers or such for those looking for work. I hate to say it and i dread doing it that we may end up in the shelter after all. Seems like the harder we try the worse things get. Every time i seem to be getting another step up the latter someone kicks me back down into the mud. I see no end to this. When will it stop ? How can it stop? Why does it seem that i am being punished? IDK.

One other thing i wanted to mention that is a little gleam of good news. There is a place called Re-use industries here. They have a program where you can buy things from them and instead of paying for it you can work it off. I dont know all the specifics of it yet, i need to have a referal from JFS before we can do it and that wont be untill the end of the month at our meeting. They have building materials, appliances and other stuff there at the re-use place.

One last thing if anyone has msn messenger or yahoo i think works to, and they would like to chat sometime ? I can be reached at imahappyfarmer@live.com .

Keep your powder dry

We had fleas bad once. What we did was to sprinkle all over the carpets 20 Mule Team Borax like what you get at WalMart in the laundrt section. That whipped those fleas in just a couple of days !! The borax burned up the fleas, larvae and their eggs, but didn't hurt us or the cats. A good non-poisous way to stop fleas.

The powdered borax is easily swept up with your sweeper.
Ohio Rusty ><((((o>

It may not feel right, but think of your kids. You have to consider them first, and it does no harm to anyone for you to ask at the church if they have a program to help needy families. All it can hurt is your pride, and pride is something that is a luxury when you are trying desperately to feed and house your family.

Go to the church. Ask if they have a program to help needy families. Offer to volunteer in exchange for the service. They know it's hard to ask, but they can't help unless they know you need it.

Good luck to you, I hope you find jobs.

Modern Pioneer...PM me with your phone number and I will come see you.
I will try to get you on the chat ID you listed.

I can't take it anymore. I'm going to take this family some money. I can spare a couple hundred dollars, I wish I could do more, but I don't work anymore, and ours funds are limited. I think we are an hour and a half away

CAN ANYONE ELSE HELP??
I believe Melissa will give me a good reference. I've sent her money a couple of times for a couple of folks in similar situations, and many others can speak of my dealings with them selling comfrey starts and Kefir grains.

If Melissa would accept donations that would be fine, but I don't want to ask her as she has had a lot on her lately.

I'd like to set up a savings account to give them weekly access to a minimum of money weekly for gas and beans or something, or we could do it through a local church if they'd accept the arrangement.

I'd let them come live in my motor home, but we are a mile and a half back in a holler with no electricity, and a well we operate with a generator- no place for kids and parents looking for work. I'll even take it there if I can get it running or towed. It;s been sitting a couple of years now and I'm not a mechanic.

I know they need housing, but right now they don't have 2 lumps of coal.

And I mean help with even a dollar or 2.

Rick

This should not take so darn long. Talk to a few more attorneys, it shouldn't cost you anything for a free consult to ask them if things should be dragging on so. Your attorney should be able to set up an appeal in a weeks time ( as long as you don't live in an incredibly large town where there actually is a huge wait). Unless you've never worked on the books a day in your life, you should be able to get disability a whole lot quicker than your attorney is trying to get it for you. Like my attorney says, it's either true or it's a lie. If it's true, then it should be a no brainer. I was lucky to have a really great attorney at very little cost. But, I called around, explained my situation to each one, asked if they did pro bono or would work with me financially. I finally found an older husband and wife team (husband the attorney, wife the secretary) and the first thing the wife said after I explained everything was that they would work with me financially. Some attorneys had told me that I really screwed myself and wouldn't they wouldn't be able to do squat for me. I tell you, the right attorney, who really knows his/her ----- can do wonders and in a very short period of time. Either you're diabled or not, and if so, you should be getting disability.

Okay, I'm an expert on fleas. We had the same thing happen to us. The people who lived there before had three dogs that were totally infested. When they moved, they were hungry. And flea eggs can live for up to a year without hatching. They hatch when they feel vibration. The bestest thing you can do for fleas is vacuum, vacuum, vacuum and keep vacuuming. Vacuuming breaks their legs. Poison and vacuum some more. They also have a coating on the outside of them that, if you can wash it off, it makes them sick and weak. So outside, water the lawn, they also drown easily. WAsh them and drown them. We also poisoned but the watering helped immensely.

There should be no reason that you and your wife can't start this fall. You may not be eligible for state funding this semester, but you will be eligible for federal grants (money you don't have to pay back). There's also the student loans ( you don't have to take the full amount). One of the loans the government pays the interest until you graduate, get that one. It is easy as pie to get these loans. Everything is prorated on how many credits you take. You've got to go at least part time (six credit hours) or the free funding is not available. Half funding for half time (six credits of usually two classes) and full funding for full time (12 credits or usually four classes). You've got to get going though. The fall semester is going to start soon.

And, don't be afraid to ask for a handout from chruches. One month, a church group gave our landlord $$$ for rent. Don't be discouraged. Sometimes it is one step forward, two steps back. If you keep trying, it will get better.

If you havent already, put in your FAFSA for both you and your wife as soon as possible. Its the app for student aid. You can apply online. That is the most important thing right there if you will be trying to enroll for college and want grants or aid money.

I'm so sorry things are so rough for you and yours right now. I have a disabled daughter and we have watched her struggle and helped her out for years. Life can be so cruel. Even with lawyers it took us 3 yrs to get her disability.Just no way to get those wheels of government turning any faster.

Many folks where I live didn't have running water till lately. They used cisterns. I've found old trash cans lined with a trash bag put under the down spout do really well. I have several of them linked up with plastic pipe so when one is full the water flows into the next one.

Have you tried asking on freecycle etc for used trailer or something? I notice lots of ads asking for bigger things these days as times get rougher. Don't be embarrassed. I know there are old trailers laying around rotting where I live and maybe the owners have never thought that someone would be thrilled to get one.

I hope you can make it back to town on mon so your wife can get to that interview.

Hopefully your mom will go her rehab soon and at least then you will have a little more privacy, peace and quiet where you are.

Thoughts and prayers are with you,

PQ

If you don't feel comfortable doing this online, go to your college's financial aid office and see a counselor. They are very knowledgable and know how to get you what you need.

I have received one offer for a donation.

If anyone wants to send money through paypal (NON CREDIT CARD),

I have one set up through my GMAIL DOT com email address.

I am mountainman DOT rick

Thanks,

Rick

These are excellent ideas!

I really like the flea market idea the best...I almost suggested it earlier. Can you set up a garage sale somewhere on a busy street? Sometimes you can get free stuff from dumpsters, left overs from other peoples garage sales (post an ad on craigslist that you will haul off left overs), or from auctions. As a general rule,if you can find a decent auction barn, you should be able to buy $2 boxes of junk, and resell it for about $20, pieced out each item. I have done this for years, and this rule of thumb always seems to apply. It is an average, of course.

I also like the free books idea too.

Do you have a print shop around? Can you call them to see if they need any "hand work"? This is folding, collating, etc.

Have you talked to any of the farmers in the area for day labor, cutting weeds, clearing fence, haying or mucking out barns?

MP, you are going to have to keep your chin up. It is really important right now. Wife and kids are depending on you.

I know you can succeed. You are tough enough to weather this storm, and come out good.

There is a passage in the Bible that tells us God will not put us thru anything we can't survive. Sometimes we go thru hard spells to learn something. If you are anything like me, you will wonder how much more God wants me to learn, cause I have had enough tough times in my life.

I think you need to start calling some churches. Go with hat in hand, and let them know you are not there to scam them. Churches have been scammed time and time again, so they might be leery and suspecting, just to let you know upfront. But the churches can and will help. Just be sincere with them.

Praying for your situation.

Hang in there. Gonna get better.

Clove