Please try to help Angela keep a roof over head. Thank you.

On the second page, of my post " What do you need and what do you want to give away?", Ticksinnc requests any info or help so she can hold on to her house. They're in serious LymeTrouble. I hate it when one more Lyme family becomes homeless. She's called all the churches, social services etc and...nada. Help and ideas are welcome.

Sorry I'm not better at giving directions to my post.

unfortunately, as far as I know, there is not much support happening in NC.

I WILL see what I can do by checking in with the locals there, OK?

Hang in there Angela...

Melanie

-refinancing your home for a lower rate...

-shopping or selling on E-bay...

-check out a `Women's resource Center'...

-asking the good doc about payment plans...

-complete list (so far) of needy meds sites:

Free or reduced priced medicines: http://flash.lymenet.org/ubb/Forum1/HTML/004031.html

Other sites:
www.needymeds.com
www.phrma.org
www.infuserveamerica.com
www.themedicineprogram.com
www.needymeds.org
www.healthynh.com
www.rxassist.org
www.rxforohio.com
www.rxhope.com
www.helpingpatients.org
www.pfizerforliving.com
www.TogetherRX.com
www.benefitscheckup.org

Angela,
I am so sorry for the predicament you find yourself in right now!
I do wish I could offer more...but if anything else comes back from my inquiries, I will post again.

Much Love, Melanie

hi folks;
sorry -offline; things going not too well. If things get at least stable; I could be back online more frequently next weekend.

I remember someone did an ebay thing for another lymenet member in financial distress;

who was it?

can someone pick up this thread? i'm going back into surgery for 3rd time; long story but Angela really needs several kinds of help.

can we pull together whatever it is that you folks did for another member?
lets do it for angela;

ALSO
angela; you must try EVERY charity; catholic, protestant, salvation army; Anything you find listed, ask everyone in your state; call your local assemblyperson, your town official, etc.

also call whatever your equivalent to Social services is; I know they are in bad shape, but keep trying; each case worker is different and you need to find Someone who will help advocate the system for you.

Can you folks help with this?

So sorry; trust I'm not bagging out; just can't get stable health wise; I'll do whatever I can to put in to this when I can.

does anyone remember?

ask the old-timers and frequent flyers (of lymenet)

lets see if we can't assist her keep her home

Im in; even if I can't be online or running auctions; count me in.

Ellen and some other know how to reach me by phone.

TC- someone make sure TC sees this; she knows some info on ins and outs and may have some advise

who ran that ebay thing?

what else can we do?

there are temporary things we can do, but Angela will also need long term solutions, so this it a multi-part problem solving thing.

if anyone emails me, put lymenet in the header; if you need me fast, get to ellen and she'll call me.

I lost my apt. years ago; many of you know how much you can loose. This is a family who has lyme; mom and kids sick;

we can help; i don't know how much, but there's enough brains, experience, compassion and tenacity on this board to help with at least a chunk of this;

Sincerely
Regina

Talk to a banruptcy lawyer or do a search on google.

The way I understand it, if you're on top of your payments, you can keep your house. I think as long as you pay your payments on time, you can keep your house.

I know you can definitely keep your house if you use chapter 13. That means you will have to pay back most of your bills though. It doesn't wipe the slate clean like chapter 7.

And bankruptcy DOES NOT ruin your credit like everyone thinks. Believe me! Those stupid credit repair/credit counseling places usually ruin your credit just as bad as a bankruptcy.

My husband went bankrupt and a year later we had no problem whatsoever buying our first house. His credit score is almost as good as mine - it's in the 700's and it's only been 3 yrs since his bankruptcy.

As long as you know how to bring your credit score up, the bankruptcy won't be a problem. We've refi'd our house. He's bought a new car at a 3.9% interest rate. We're going to be buying a new house this summer. His bankruptcy has not effected anything.

Really, bankruptcy has such a bad stigma. It's not that bad. So what if it stays on your credit for 10 yrs. My husband has had no problems at all with his. His credit score is awesome! Most people don't have a credit score in the 700's and they don't have a bankruptcy on their credit either.

My father is a loan officer and his main customers are people with bad credit/bankruptcy, etc. He tells them what to do with their credit and if they do it, they get the house.

Everyone claims bankruptcy. I've heard it all watching my dad work. No big freakin deal.

I'm the Treasurer for the Lyme Disease Network of South Carolina.
I checked with our President & our organization will be glad to handle funds donated to help Angela & her family.

We have all the required legal papers for a non profit organization, & we are registered with the Secretary of State, South Carolina.

Our website is www.sc-lyme.org
Our HotLine # is 803 - 798 - LYME

Those wishing to participate may e-mail me for more info, or send donations to:

The Lyme Disease Network of South Carolina
Post Office Box 6634
Columbia, SC 29260 - 6634

If someone will check with Angela, let me know what she says.

No matter what the income is or isn't.
www.crown.org has a program that helps people do this. IT is a volunteer program so there is no cost.

It is Christian based.

When I was working with adults, I taught budgeting. IT was a lot of fun and an eye opener.

First you record all expenses for approximately 3 months....including popping money in a vending machine, cups of coffee here and there, etc. Those quarters add up.

It is an eye opening as to where you money is going. I would have the students estimate where the money was going before putting it down on paper.

Where it was actually going, was a different story once it was down on paper.

Then determine what you income is for upcoming month.

Expenses:

1. Housing

Next is to determine how much is going for housing. Include rent or mortgage payments, utilities, phone bills, cable, maintenance, etc.

2. Transportation:

Car payments, fuel, insurance, licensing, maintenance (you need to estimate some of this and then divide by 12 to get a monthly figure)

3. Food

4. Insurance

Life, Medical, Other

5. Debts

Credit card, loans and notes, other

6. Entertainment and REcreation

Eating out, actiivities, trips, vacation, other

7. Clothing

8. Savings

9. Medical expenses

Doctor, Dentist, Drugs, Other

10. Miscellaneous

Toiletery, cosmetics, Beauty, Barber, Laundry, cleaning, allowances, lunches, subscriptions, gifts (including christmas), cash, other

11. School/Child CAre

Tuition, materials, transportation, day care

Housing should only be 30% of your net spendable income.

Add all these expenses up. Substract them from your net spendable income.

How did you do?

Staying within your budget doesn't happen over night. It takes discipline and time to turn things around.

I sat down with a 50 year old man to help him with his budget. Once we figured out what he was spending a year on transportation, he had nothing left of his net annual salary.

He didn't have a clue that his big red truck was costing him that much a year to drive. He sold it, took a loss, and purchased a vehicle within his budget.

It's your money. It's your choice. But, putting the numbers on paper just might surprise you and help you make different choices.

As I am typing this, I am dealing with the brain stuff and vision stuff. So, I hope it is clear.

I also have found that I use the monthly figures as a guideline. I have yet to have a month that goes exactly as my figures that I have put down on paper each month.

I also find I am putting zero's in several of these catagories right now as housing, food, and medical are my top priorities right now and there is nothing left over for other categories.

If you would like me to send you a budget sheet let me know.

It is more than filling out the budget sheet though. But, it is a start.

She hasn't posted since her one about being pregnant on 4/17 - she hasn't responded to any of those posts (nor to any of them here).

Is something going on offline?

Like posted earlier, we unexpectedly found out that we are having another baby. I feel that God wouldn't give us anything more than we can handle. I am still worried of course, just too much going on. I do have Medicaid to pay medical now for me and the kids and a church brought us some food which was VERY helpful. Since we filed bankruptcy last year we cant refinance due to the high interest rate we would would get. I have checked around. We cant get assistance with out mortgage because its mortgage and not rent. Everywhere I have called states that we may qualify if we were renting. I feel if we could just get our head above water and get our mortgage, lights and phone caught up then maybe we can see about moving and selling the house or something. I just dont know. I dont know where to turn, every call leads to another number and another call and another number and so on. My PICC was removed today due to the pregnancy and they are checking on safe orals but now I have hit my 6 maximum prescriptions for the month of April and Medicaid is dragging their feet. I have waited on an anti-nausea med since last Monday. I literly get sick as soon as my car moves so that 7 1/2 -8 hr round trip drive today was horrible. My husband stay with the 3yr old and picked up DeeDee at carpool.

Guys, I really appreciate any ideas, suggestions you can give me at this point. I thought I read somewhere in a post about needing my address but I need to go back and read it again. (Lyme brain) BTW, I am having problems getting emails, so anyone can email me at [email protected]
Thanks to everyone from the bottom of our hearts!

------------------

Angela

I don't know what the situation is but if you have gone from a two income family to one...you just may need to put the house on the market or rent it out and down size.

Tough I know. I have been through it. I still miss my home...but looking back on it, I should not have tried to hang on to it as long as I did. It was not realistic. 100% of my budget went to putting a roof over our heads.

ON the other hand, I rented my garage out for storage. That at least paid for the property taxes. Just an idea. Storage was in need in the town I lived in at the time.

I heard that the Salvation Army will help with mortgage payments. Perhaps that will give you time to adjust.

You have a lot of things to tackle. It can be very overwhelming. You also have a lot of positive things in your life too.