bigjacbigjacbigjac signed on in 2006. bigjacbigjacbigjac's profile page — He’s one of us. We cried with him when he lost his first wife (Pam). We rejoiced with him when he re-married (Tonia). We were with him when Tonia was treated for cancer and had a heart attack. Just as he’s been here for us and with us in our ups and downs over the years. Now he needs help.
He has a job at Wal-Mart but his wife is disabled (trying to get Disability). Tonia’s brother, uncle and cousin live with them but also have employment or health issues so iffy and intermittent income to contribute. Household income is enough to squeak by — as long as there are no unexpected expenses. Like $450 electricity bills for winter heating.
The old 5-bedroom house is old and in a “low-value” neighborhood. Mortgage payment is $333 a month (only $33 of which goes on the principal of $25K), considerably less than a one-bedroom apartment in Wichita, KS. Water bill is $60 a month. Phone/internet bill is $75 a month. Storage container in the front yard is $140 a month. Life insurance is $48 a month. (Health/dental insurance is through and comes out of the Wal-Mart paycheck. As does $100 month for a Health Savings account — necessary because of Tonia’s health issues.) Gasoline for transportation runs about $120 a month. Groceries vary but 5 people easily eat $500 a month.
And then there’s the electric bill. Heating with electrical space heaters means an electric bill that’s under $100 in September can be — and was — $450 in February. Note the difference is more than one mortgage payment. Over the winter they’ve kept the heat on. They didn’t always manage the mortgage. Or the phone/internet bill. Groceries have been partly managed via food banks.
So now the January, February, and March mortgage payments are due — $999. Phone/internet is a double plus penalty rounding to $200. March electric bill (lower and will continue declining as it warms up) of $330. Water, storage, and life insurance combined for $250. Add the $333 April mortgage to give them a chance to restock the pantry. Basically $2,000 to get totally caught up.
The uncle is contributing $150 a month, sometimes more, and food bank accessibility. Cousin contributes when he has a job (have all been part-time/temporary over the winter). Brother contributes when he can and has applied for Food Stamps. And of course Tonia has applied for Disability but that can take 2 to 3 years to actually be awarded. Steady income is bigjacbigjacbigjac’s job at Wal-Mart. Get them out from under the back payments and penalties and they’ll be OK.
He’ll be 62 late this year and is planning to take take early Social Security retirement — augmenting with (fewer hours) Wal-Mart to keep the health insurance —an even steadier income. Retirement will give him some actual time to fix things up around the old house to keep that electric bill from being so high next year. He’s got a plan for going forward. He just needs help getting the weight of last winter off him.
gofundme link — bigjacs house payments — $1487 to goal — slightly over ¼ raised, slightly under ¾ to go. If you can donate, bless you. If you can get his gofundme out through social media, bless you. If you can rec, tip, and reblog to other groups, bless you. Kossacks are the best. Bless you.