A Mixed Bag Life Update XII
It’s that time of the year for us, time for our annual lease renewal, and as I expected, it’s going up, but more than I expected, a whopping 11.2% increase. Currently, we pay $1,095 per month, on a month-to-month lease, and if we stay on a month-to-month lease, we’ll be paying $1,225, however, if we commit to a 12-month lease, the increase will be $100, a mere 8.73% increase on what we currently pay.
Due to multiple financial challenges, we are unable to move in such a short period of time, just 5 weeks from the notification of the rent increase, having to give notice by April 30, 2023, and move out by May 31, 2023. We don’t have enough available cash to physically move, let alone, pay a deposit, usually equal to one month’s rent, application fees, and more to secure a new home by June 1, 2023.
This forces us into signing a 12-month lease, as $1,195 butts up against the absolute maximum rent we can afford. $1,200, and that puts us dangerously close to not making it from month to month.
Moving on, my daughter Alya is having trouble with, what she perceives to be bullying at school. From what she tells me, it sounds more like middle school life, but to her, it’s bullying, she is the very sensitive type, who can burst into tears for the smallest of insults. There does not seem to be anything physical going on, which is where I draw the line, no one needs to be laying hands on my daughter.
This is having a knock-on effect of causing her to be late for school, four times this week, as we cannot get her moving in the morning, this morning, she missed the entire first period, and part of her second period. Which is obviously causing her to fall behind in her lessons, affecting her grades.
We tell Alya to ignore them, it’s just part of middle school life, and middle school kids are mean, but she doesn’t seem to be able to let it go. Sadly, Alya did not inherit my sarcasm gene, she is more like her mother, Erin, who tends to take things to heart more than I do. Not to say I am insensitive, and maybe my sarcasm is a mask, but I tend not to let people’s words hurt me, especially if it’s some random person.
After just four months, we have paid Erin’s deductible and max-out-of-pocket costs for her medical insurance, but at a cost of about $4,500 in outstanding medical debt, which we cannot afford to pay, plus about another $750 in credit card debt for medication, but at least until the end of 2023, everything is 100% covered by Blue Cross, Blue Shield of Kansas, outside of our $658 monthly insurance premium.
Erin gets $1,543 monthly disability payments, as she works part-time and falls under the max income she can make. But, in reality, she struggles to do it, working 3 days a week, 5 hours a day takes everything out of her. When she gets home, she lies down and cannot do much of anything around the house. The only reason she works is because we need the money, even with SSDI, our combined income is not enough.
About half of the aforementioned debt is to the local ER, where we end up every 2 to 3 weeks because of Erin’s severe Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, and Lupus, which is exacerbated by Erin working, I would say that 7 times out of 10, the Emergency Room visits are when she arrives home from work. And her rheumatologist and pain management doctor are either unable or unwilling to help her avoid the ER.
Back to Social Security, Erin is constantly being investigated for her income, and forever under threat of having her SSDI stopped. One of the reasons is the way Social Security calculates your income, by calendar month, which is problematic as most people in the US get paid bi-weekly, which means that twice a year, a person has 3 paydays in a calendar month, which puts Erin over their limit for that month.
And, if the SSDI payments stop, no more medical insurance and I will be defaulting on my personal loan, which was a consolidation loan for credit card balances made up of about 70% past medical debt. Do you see a theme here… remember the United States has the best medical system in the world… /sarcasm
To end on a positive note, Erin and I went to see Papa Roach, Falling in Reverse and Hollywood Undead a month back at Hartman Arena, which of course, was put on a credit card, but we needed a release after months of stress. And we have booked tickets to see In This Moment and Motionless in White in August, also at Hartman Arena, using our own money from one of those aforementioned 3 payday months.
And, it looks like we have a new member of the family, my daughter Alya found a kitten all by itself in the local park and brought it home. We tried to take it to the local animal shelter, but they refused to take her, telling us to just release her, she’ll find her way home. We did not feel comfortable releasing the kitten where we found her, as there are wild animals in the area that would kill her in a heartbeat. We’ll keep an eye on local websites and Facebook groups for lost pets to see if someone has a missing cat, but otherwise, it looks like we’ll keep her as a companion animal for Alya to help with her autism and anxiety.