Okay. I've been lurking this sub for about a month now and finally gathered enough strength to post this and ask for help. I'll be as brief and concrete as possible because I don't want to waste your time. Thank you in advance to you all.
I’m 28 years old
Income: $14.00 an hour; work 40 hours a week; take home roughly $875 after taxes biweekly. I claim myself on my W-2 end of year tax filing; i have zero dependents other than myself; I took a year off school and am returning in 4 weeks (already registered for classes).
Monthly Bills
Rent: $600 (renting a room out of a family's house because I can't afford more)
Credit Card: $50 minimum payment; $2500 balance; 24% APR
Car insurance: $91.36
Cell phone: $93.28 (fluctuates a few dollars here and there; unlimited data; recently paid off my installment plan which lowered my bill by $34.99 a month)
Debt Consolidation Program: $251 — 3 year program; attempted negotiated settlements via third party and first party company to settle at a lower amount than my originally existing debt — I have paid 7 months of the 36 months collectively. I owe $18,000 in debt to various creditors and debt collectors under this program.
Gas: $80 a month minimum for driving to work and back only; I'm returning to school which is in the complete opposite direction away from my house adding an extra 80 miles driven a day. I've guesstimated that my monthly gas expenses will go up to about $120 monthly
Food: $100-$120; my landlord is kind enough to let me eat her food when I have none. She's helped significantly within the last 3 months of me being off work (surgery) and hasn't asked for a dime of compensation for the food she's been providing for me and her family.
Toiletries: $50-$100, sometimes more. In exchange for eating food I provide paper plates, napkins, toilet paper, laundry soap etc. for everyone to use. It's a communal household so I do what I can to pitch in.
My bills go up and down depending on my living situation every month.
Other bills that I have as well — temporary and not fixed monthly payments:
$250; I owe my landlord $250 for remaining of last months rent.
$400; My ex-boyfriend's mom loaned me cash to get me on my feet when I got out of surgery. No income and the state was screwing me out of compensation.
$10,000; my friend pulled a loan for me to have surgery. There is no time limit to pay them back, but I do want to try and start paying them as soon as I can. They're completely understanding of my situation and want me to get on my feet first before I start giving them any money. I'm extremely grateful that they're so understanding.
Long story short... I was kicked out of my mother's house last year during summer semester. She kicked me out so she could serve me and sue me. She lost the case. The judge ruled in my favor. Apparently you can't serve someone who lives with you (I had no idea. I was oblivious to the whole thing and got blindsided by everything). I had to drop my classes and pay back the school for money they funded me which took a while, but i did it. I'm barely in a place right now where I can actually go back to school, and I don't want to give up. I'm 5 classes away from transferring to university — 3 of which I'm taking this summer. So
The reason why I'm under a debt consolidation program:
I had to have surgery the year prior to me getting kicked out. My mother (250-300k salary) told me she'd pay for it — which i was extremely grateful for — but then backed out on paying for it when the payments were due. I already had debt before this that I was paying off and had never missed a payment on anything in my life up until that point. My credit score has dropped from 790 to 440 in the past 8 months.
I'm ready to get this shit under control and get my life sorted. I'm tired of living in stress and worried that I won't have enough money for rent/dancing around the idea of being homeless (again).
Things I have done this year to lighten the load on my finances:
I paid off my cellphone installment plan: $220 payment
Paid off my other credit card: $460
I was starting to get ahead as of last week, but then my car battery died ($150), needed to pay for smog (CA; $55) and registration ($195). The cushion money I was sitting on is all gone now. I was planning on using that to help cover my rent for this month and now I'll be $100 short. I have $4 in my bank account. The reason why I'll be short money for rent is because I returned to work too early and injured myself in the process. I'm back off work, and have to wait for more back-pay from my previous and upcoming time off work.
I should have about $650 coming to me from back-pay within the next 10-20 business days. My financial aid should be pulling through by the end of this month, but I'm unsure how much I'm actually getting. They'll be sending out an email within the next 2 weeks to let students know their tentative award notice. I'm hoping I can use my financial aid and payment to cover my bills for this month; I return to work end of April.
My questions:
What's my next move financially before, and after I return to work? My income is slightly wonky at the moment, but once May rolls around the corner I'll be back at work full time without any instabilities or discrepancies in pay. The university I'm transferring to will be an hour and a half drive from my house, and roughly two hours from my work (both with traffic). My car will simply not make this journey for very long. 1 month tops. The motor will probably give out before anything else. I drive a ford focus with 210,XXX miles on it. The transmission (70,XXX; used) and clutch (NEW) were replaced last year. How do i do this? Is there a way to apply for financial aid or student loans that grant enough money for housing and cover my monthly bills? I'm sure I could find a closer job to the campus, but I would be shit out of luck and without a roof over my head. If I was on campus, that would alleviate $600 a month in bills on my end and make minimum wage more doable. I need help and advice. I'm open to any suggestions or options on what I can do to pull myself out of this clusterfuck of a situation. I'm at a loss. Thank you again in advance for your support.
Submitted April 03, 2018 at 05:25AM by awaysleeping https://ift.tt/2q1XbS7
