Debt Dumpers - 2017

[Ngwira]

State return done and we're actually getting back $706.00 which brings federal and state refund to over $2500 which is great, all things considered. I'm also getting my ebates check next week which will go towards replenishing my Starbucks account.

 

[crazycatstacy]

I feel like 2016 was a bust for us due to issues beyond our control and a lot of things we just spent on when we shouldn't have. 2017 seems to be going better. We have paid some off and put some in savings. We are going to Disney in October but that trip is already paid for. Still having a lot of family drama with my brother and nephew so not sure how that will all play out and what impact, if any, it will have on our finances. I am of course still crossing my fingers hoping to win the lottery.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I feel like 2016 was a bust for us due to issues beyond our control and a lot of things we just spent on when we shouldn't have. 2017 seems to be going better. We have paid some off and put some in savings. We are going to Disney in October but that trip is already paid for. Still having a lot of family drama with my brother and nephew so not sure how that will all play out and what impact, if any, it will have on our finances. I am of course still crossing my fingers hoping to win the lottery.

I'm always crossing mine for the lottery too. When they had the huuuge over $1 billion Powerball last year, DH was in Anaheim, CA for work and had bought a ticket while he was there. He said he almost passed out when he saw on the news that a winning ticket was bought nearby, but unfortunately it was not ours!

 

[Eureka]

So I've started working on my side hustle which I've been thinking on for some time to help generate some extra fun money/vacation money. I might have talked about this last year but didn't follow thru with it.

Selling items at children's consignment sales. I've actually been selling my daughter's stuff for 2 years now and have volunteered with the setup and breakdown so I see what sells and what doesn't and price points etc. I generally make profit wise $200 per sale just selling her stuff. I'd love to get up to $500 or so a sale. (side note one girl I know routinely makes like $1000 a sale but she also has like 5 kids so selling all their stuff probably helps lol) There are sells twice a year in my area one in my town and 1 in a neighboring city about 30 minutes away.

At $200 a sale I would make about $800 profit a year. I will be sourcing items from clearance sales at stores and garage sales and thrift stores.

I just found some deep discounted items at walmart for 50cents to $1 each bought $15 worth of stuff. (taking 50$ to start and see what I can turn that into) I figure I can turn all of the items into about a $30.00 profit after recouping my $15.

Anyways I'm really excited and wanted to share that excitement

That's great! I used to do consignment and sell on eBay when my kids were younger. I'd find lots of good names at thrift stores and make a decent profit. Now, i just end up selling the licensed sports apparel when they outgrow it.

 

[disneyduonj]

Well my accountant got my tax returns done in 24 hours!!! Getting back $1951 total - $1500 will go in EF/Savings and is being earmarked for tuition! It was $124 more than last year

 

[*3*Mouseketeers]

I punched our info. in on TaxAct and we are getting back $4100 on Federal and $500 on State! We qualified for EITC this year BECAUSE my husband filed for disability last year. The last he worked was April 15th and thankfully he was approved in September and received his first disability payment in October. We had 5 months with no earnings (waiting period). This tax money will go in savings to replace the money I had to use while waiting on his disability (well, it will replace about half of what I used from savings )

I am really really really thankful he was approved on the first try. I found a SSDI forum site accidentally right after he was approved and there are horror stories of people that have been trying for 4, 5, or 6 years to be approved. Anyway, hopefully we can get our savings built back up finally.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I am really really really thankful he was approved on the first try. I found a SSDI forum site accidentally right after he was approved and there are horror stories of people that have been trying for 4, 5, or 6 years to be approved. Anyway, hopefully we can get our savings built back up finally.

Do you mind if I ask if you hired an attorney or anything to get disability to go through so quickly? My MIL is currently trying to get disability for my FIL and I've seldom heard of people getting approved so fast, but sometimes I've heard it can help to hire a lawyer.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

I'm always crossing mine for the lottery too. When they had the huuuge over $1 billion Powerball last year, DH was in Anaheim, CA for work and had bought a ticket while he was there. He said he almost passed out when he saw on the news that a winning ticket was bought nearby, but unfortunately it was not ours!

Same thing happened to us. We bought a lottery ticket in TN on our drive home from Disney (in fact, that's the only time we buy tickets - on our drive home from Disney) and the winning ticket was sold in the same area. Couldn't wait to check our numbers. Of course we didn't win but it's probably the closest we've come so far .

 

[disneyduonj]

My mother has been going through the same thing - its been over 6 years I think and she has an attorney - waiting for the final judgement letter now.

 

[*3*Mouseketeers]

No, we did it ourselves. We filed online and filled out the reports and sent all medical records we had (which weren't very current) He had spoken to an attorney and the attorney told him that if/when we received the denial letter to bring it to him and he would help us but we were shocked he was approved. Social Security sent him to 3 appointments. He had X-Rays on his cervical spine, about a month later they sent him for a physical by a Doctor that had him doing different things like raising his legs, squatting (which he can't do), walking , etc. About a month later they sent him back for X-Rays on his hips and about a week later they called and asked him some questions and said they had enough information to make a decision. A few days later I was checking my online bank account and I saw where US Treasury had put a test deposit of $0.00 on there and I knew he had been approved before we even got the official letter. He wouldn't believe it until he had the letter in his hands though.

Here is that website that I stumbled on, the people are really helpful from what I can tell on there, maybe she can read and get some info. from it. http://www.ssdfacts.com/forum/

 

[DisneyMandC]

No, we did it ourselves. We filed online and filled out the reports and sent all medical records we had (which weren't very current) He had spoken to an attorney and the attorney told him that if/when we received the denial letter to bring it to him and he would help us but we were shocked he was approved. Social Security sent him to 3 appointments. He had X-Rays on his cervical spine, about a month later they sent him for a physical by a Doctor that had him doing different things like raising his legs, squatting (which he can't do), walking , etc. About a month later they sent him back for X-Rays on his hips and about a week later they called and asked him some questions and said they had enough information to make a decision. A few days later I was checking my online bank account and I saw where US Treasury had put a test deposit of $0.00 on there and I knew he had been approved before we even got the official letter. He wouldn't believe it until he had the letter in his hands though.

Here is that website that I stumble on, the people are really helpful from what I can tell on there, maybe she can read and get some info. from it. http://www.ssdfacts.com/forum/

Thank you! I am hoping he will be approved first round. He was self-employed and suffered a brain injury and can't talk very well anymore, so working in any capacity is pretty much out for him indefinitely.

Note to anyone who is self-employed: do yourself a favor and purchase disability insurance.

 

[*3*Mouseketeers]

My mother has been going through the same thing - its been over 6 years I think and she has an attorney - waiting for the final judgement letter now.

Thank you! I am hoping he will be approved first round. He was self-employed and suffered a brain injury and can't talk very well anymore, so working in any capacity is pretty much out for him indefinitely.

Note to anyone who is self-employed: do yourself a favor and purchase disability insurance.

I pray they are both approved.

 

[Eureka]

State return done and we're actually getting back $706.00 which brings federal and state refund to over $2500 which is great, all things considered. I'm also getting my ebates check next week which will go towards replenishing my Starbucks account.

I forgot about ebates. I think I only have $10 in there right now. I used it a lot over the holidays but now that I've stopped shopping....lol.

 

[*3*Mouseketeers]

Oh, I want to tell you a little funny about my husband's SSDI process. He has always answered the phone in a crazy manner. I never know how he will answer (sometimes he says embarrassing things!) He has always been dead-set against cell phones. He didn't want one. I convinced him he needed one since SS would be calling from time to time and he would not be staying in the house all the time. He finally agreed and I got him the cheapest flip phone with the cheapest plan (200 minutes a month). I told him "DO NOT ANSWER THE PHONE CRAZY". About a week after we filed for his disability I came home from work and he said "I heard from Social Security today. I told the guy you were gonna kill me". I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and asked "How did you answer the phone????" He said "Walmart". I could have killed him. He is applying for disability which means he CAN'T work and answers the phone as 'Walmart'. I just knew that they would throw out the application but thankfully the guy had a good sense of humor when DH told him that I told him NOT to answer the phone in any way other than "Hello".

He doesn't do that anymore, thankfully (if he doesn't recognize the name). I also had to up his plan because Mr. "I don't need a cellphone" went over his 200 minutes a couple times.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Oh, I want to tell you a little funny about my husband's SSDI process. He has always answered the phone in a crazy manner. I never know how he will answer (sometimes he says embarrassing things!) He has always been dead-set against cell phones. He didn't want one. I convinced him he needed one since SS would be calling from time to time and he would not be staying in the house all the time. He finally agreed and I got him the cheapest flip phone with the cheapest plan (200 minutes a month). I told him "DO NOT ANSWER THE PHONE CRAZY". About a week after we filed for his disability I came home from work and he said "I heard from Social Security today. I told the guy you were gonna kill me". I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and asked "How did you answer the phone????" He said "Walmart". I could have killed him. He is applying for disability which means he CAN'T work and answers the phone as 'Walmart'. I just knew that they would throw out the application but thankfully the guy had a good sense of humor when DH told him that I told him NOT to answer the phone in any way other than "Hello".

He doesn't do that anymore, thankfully (if he doesn't recognize the name). I also had to up his plan because Mr. "I don't need a cellphone" went over his 200 minutes a couple times.

LOL. That is pretty funny!

 

[Alexle2007]

Do you mind if I ask if you hired an attorney or anything to get disability to go through so quickly? My MIL is currently trying to get disability for my FIL and I've seldom heard of people getting approved so fast, but sometimes I've heard it can help to hire a lawyer.

Having worked for SSA for 25 years, there is really no benefit to hiring a lawyer when you first apply for disability benefits and many lawyers wouldn't even take the case since what they really interested in are the back due benefits which they can collect 25% off. I spent more time paying lawyers than putting beneficiaries into payment status. It was really depressing. Glad I moved from the Operational side to Systems.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Having worked for SSA for 25 years, there is really no benefit to hiring a lawyer when you first apply for disability benefits and many lawyers wouldn't even take the case since what they really interested in are the back due benefits which they can collect 25% off. I spent more time paying lawyers than putting beneficiaries into payment status. It was really depressing. Glad I moved from the Operational side to Systems.

Good to know! I'm a lawyer but know literally nothing about that field. I'm hoping we hear something one way or another relatively soon so we can get the ball rolling.

 

[Ngwira]

I forgot about ebates. I think I only have $10 in there right now. I used it a lot over the holidays but now that I've stopped shopping....lol.

Yeah, it's a nice check since it covered Oct-Dec which is holiday shopping season. I don't think I've made an online purchase since Jan1..lol.. my balance after this check will be 45 cents..lol

 

[Eureka]

@Jen and Ashwin hope your work trip went fine and REALLY hoping you get the result you're looking for tomorrow.

 

[PrincessKymm]

Do you mind if I ask if you hired an attorney or anything to get disability to go through so quickly? My MIL is currently trying to get disability for my FIL and I've seldom heard of people getting approved so fast, but sometimes I've heard it can help to hire a lawyer.

My mom was denied once or twice (can't remember) years ago and hired an attorney after the last denial. She had one hearing and even the lawyer was shocked at how fast the turnaround was for the approval judgement. It really depends on who is handling the case. Hope everything goes smoothly and he is approved soon. My moms approval from start to finish took 18 months-2 years or so. I did my best to support her and DS and we managed ok but once she was approved it was like I could finally breathe.