unemployment

Weekly Photo Challenge: On the Way

Not sure what I will post as far as photography to show that I am finally on the way to my next destination.

After I had to let my house go to foreclosure, I am just waiting for the news that the sale of my house will be done.  They should be posting that horrible sign telling the world of my failure any day now.  I was so broke I had to file for bankruptcy because I would never be able to pay what I owed on my very upside down mortgage in my upside down life.  I will have to move to some income based apartment if I can’t find a cheap fixer-upper and go off the grid.  There’s a reason this blog is Po’ Girl Shines.  I refuse to give up or sell out or see things in a bad light in my life.  I will keep on shining till I get called home to be with the Lord Jesus.

So I sold my condo in 2005 to buy this house closer to my work & made a few bucks, literally, at that time but was told by the mortgage company to stop looking for a cheap house because they could adjust the interest amount lower and I would be able to afford a more expensive home with no money down, interest only for the first 10 years at an adjustable rate.  I always thought this was discrimination to the poor to make them pay a higher rate of interest on their mortgage if the price of the house was lower.

The decision to keep the rate adjustable on my mortgage turned out to be in my favor because of the very low-interest rates the last number of years.  Problem is when you do finally start paying off the principle and they decide to raise the rates no one can afford these payments anymore.  They have greeded themselves out of commission.  Not a well thought out plan for anyone involved.

My plan was to retire early and sell this home within the first 5 years of purchasing it.  After just a couple of years real estate values all started to drop.  A little at first, but the almost $20,000. difference made me wince.  I just hoped that the values would rebound again and then I would be able to sell it.  I did put some equity in my home by retiling the bathroom in actual ceramic, not that plastic tub surround stuff, and replaced some of the windows.  By this time I held off on anymore improvement in which I would have to spend additional monies.  Five years after my purchase, the home value had gone down to the point of no return, literally.

In 2011 my next door neighbor and friend passed away and her home, similar but not as finished off as mine, was sold for $29,000.  The fact that I still owed $133,500 on mine told me I was in trouble.

For some reason the people I worked for thought of the employees in the same terms they thought of the taxpayers that were not paying their taxes.  We were the enemy and treated all of us as such.  Everything was a fight and harassment was over the top.  I probably qualified for being disabled from what they did to me, but was too proud to show how broken I really was.

I cannot say some of the things that went on there but suffice to say that I did document some of them and was able to leave my employment and qualify for unemployment until I found other work, which I never did.  If I had known I was going to be driven from my job like this I would have documented everything and filed a lawsuit against them.  No one deserves to be treated like this in any place of business.

I decided to try to keep my house and kept paying on it and draining my savings, even my retirement to almost nothing.  Let this be a warning to anyone with money problems.  Don’t wait till you have nothing while you vainly seek employment, seek professional help early because you can have a small savings if you must file bankruptcy.  If I had known this, I would have filed earlier and kept something to try and begin my life again.

Even if you have faith, don’t harm yourself waiting for miracles that don’t happen.  That’s just common sense and God gave most of us this to get by between miracles.

Financial Hardships

Po’ Girl is officially arse-out Po’!

I have just received my discharge in the chapter 7 bankruptcy I was forced to file due to the unexpected loss of my job, which is a very long story, the expiration of my unemployment, the loss of three more part-time jobs and the depletion of my entire life savings.  I now find myself having to live on social security, a lower amount for early application, and the very small pension I managed to accrue with one of the companies I was employed with years ago.  The only reason I even needed to file was to prevent my mortgage companies from trying to collect monies from me that I simply don’t have.  I never had any credit card problems like most.  I only purchased what I could afford.

There was no way I could have kept my home as victim to predatory lending in 2005.  My home is only worth about half of what I paid for it originally, even after improvements so since I don’t have an extra $75,000 or so to give these game playing banks, I chose to stay as long as possible and keep paying on it.  The loan payments were also due to go up an additional $400-$500 per month this year as well.  My only regret is that I didn’t file sooner because they allow you to have more money in your savings than I thought in a bankruptcy and I should never have let my cash reserve get this low.  I have already stopped making my mortgage payments and expect to receive notice of foreclosure any day now.

Be sure to contact a bankruptcy expert if you ever find yourself in financial hardship before you waste all your savings in a vain attempt trying to hang on to your home.  They should be able to suggest some options for you.  What ever you do, don’t use any service that claims will help you to keep your home.  Most of these are scams as well as most so-called experts are anything but.  There are some legitimate programs available for those that wish to keep their homes.

Pension wise, I need to decide between a small monthly annuity to help with my living expenses and renting somewhere really cheap or just withdraw the lump sum if I happen to find a cheap fixer-upper that is of move-in condition and I will only need to pay for the tax, insurance and utilities which should still be cheaper than most rents though possibly turn into a money pit.  Unfortunately, the prices of homes are on the rise again, though I’m not sure how or why.  The economy, I’m finding out, it truly in the eyes of the beholder.  If you are financially solvent, it’s great.  For folks like me, not so good.

There are apartments for the elderly and disabled that I am now in the income bracket for, but it seems like a place to go when you are on your way out of this world.  I still feel young and vibrant and really am not looking forward to the almost nursing home atmosphere, even if it will be kinder to my purse.  I may take the easy way out and do this, but I still want to try new things.  I forgot that not having money is a real deal-breaker a plan-changer, it’s a female dog!

I am going to attempt an etsy shop very soon but fear their website is so over saturated with home-made items right now.  Years ago you could make a buck because there was less competition, but now I understand from some that sales are hard to come by.  I’ll try it for a few months and if no sales, I will be doing strictly craft shows.  I’ve never made much money hanging in art galleries and doing shows, but when I used to do craft shows with my baskets, I made a few bucks and I really loved the camaraderie with the other crafters.  Might have just been the economy at the time.  I really believe that we have never economically recovered since 9/11.

I am trusting in God to be led by the spirit for the rest of my days.  I will trust in the Lord and I will be led down the right paths from now on.

TrustintheLord

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Another “New” Year

Instead of filing bankruptcy in the beginning of 2014 as I should have, after losing my part time job at the end of 2013, I tried to hang onto my house just so I did not have to go through all the stuff I am now having to go through which is bankruptcy and foreclosure, having to downsize and pack up what remains and start living a completely different way of life.  So that kind of explains why I chose to try to find another job that never materialized and drain what little savings I once had to almost nothing in the vain attempt to stave off the inevitable as long as I could.  I can’t see any reason to stay here any longer since my balloon payments are due to begin this year and I would be paying an additional $450 or more a month.  I will be able to just make most of my bills, since I stopped making my mortgage payments now, with the small social security income I had to start drawing on earlier than I planned to.

I didn’t bother to rent my home out due to the amount of rent I would have had to charge this year and I was advised against just signing the house over or wasting my time seeing if a short sale would fly considering that I have two mortgages.  I will have to see how my foreclosure plays out to see where I’m actually going to be living when I leave here.  I have managed to get some applications in cities where I wanted to live, so depending on how soon I have to leave, and who has an opening at that same time, determines where I actually move to.  There is a place a few blocks away from my house that has a month to month lease option that sounds promising, though eventually I want to get out of this dirty city and all the memories.  Some of my family is still trying to talk me into moving to the upper most part of the Upper Peninsula in Michigan where they are now currently 20 below in wind chill and have already had over 2 feet of snow.  Snowfalls are beautiful, within reason, but I am no fan of winter.

Still no lotto wins, but I never give up hope and keep buying one for each major drawing in my area.  The Lottery is the carrot that dangles before the working rich and poor alike and the fact that I once knew someone who shared in one of the bigger jackpots, keeps me playing cause I know people can actually win it.

I can choose to move into a cheap apartment for people over a certain age that are income based because they have them all over.  I could also take out the remaining pension I have and purchase some little fixer-upper like one of my brothers did many years ago.  He made some low offer in cash that was accepted and it was his.  He did have to put a lot of money into it once he moved it though.  Money that I don’t have.  One of my other brothers could have done the same thing when he moved up by him this year, but decided to just rent a cheap but nice apartment with all utilities included in these, his declining years.

Tough call for me.

I am very handy myself and would have help from the rest of my family to make most repairs.  By draining my small pension I will only be short $150. per month as a monthly annuity that I would be applying to apartment living should I rent.  The taxes in some areas of the Upper Peninsula are super cheap, like $300 to $600 a year.  So I figure my monthly payment for my tax, insurance and utilities would be approximately $300 per month, which is cheaper than any apartment.  If I happen to get a money pit, then it will cost me a lot more than that and after a bankruptcy, if I needed credit for any major repair, my interest would be through the roof.

Or I could move to an apartment, like my one brother, in an area that is very popular with tourists and it will feel like I’m on vacation all the time.  I could really be free to do any free or cheap thing I feel like with no maintenance or responsibility and absolutely no snow-blowing all winter long!  Sometimes that sounds great to me, but I am so independent and used to love living creatively.  I guess if I go apartment, I might actually think of stopping Po’ Girl Shines since I have not been using it to make the kinds of posts I planned on initially and it does not look like many people see my posts.  I guess I really do have to blog or get off the spot this year.

I don’t want to just post an occasional pretty picture or a recipe.  I really wanted to be providing information that people could use.

I will see what happens.

Few examples of various art projects from years ago to current.  I love experimenting with various computer software on my photographs.  A couple were just fooling around on blank part of 35mm negatives and then scanning/printing them to see what they look like.

Blue Angel created from a pin photograph.
Make four of same pictures in various hues, highlighted edges and placed together.
Drew tree with fine tip marker on exposed negative.
Drew face on negative with fine tip marker.
Nature sketch.

 

Enough With The Comfort Food Already!

This has been a long, hard winter for all of us.  I am sick of the severe cold and all the shoveling and I’m sure most of you agree.

I lost my job, again, right before the holidays and my only sister soon after.  It looks like I will be losing my home by the end of this year unless I find another job soon and I have to say I have not had the time nor the inclination to look under the circumstances.

Being snowed in and being depressed does not make for a healthy person mentally or physically when you decide to self-medicate with food.  I do not drink or have any other vices and have found through the years what a great comfort food can really be.  One of my overweight friends once explained to me “You cannot eat and cry at the same time.”  I see what she is talking about now because for most of my life, I would lose my appetite if I was upset about anything.  Now I become ravenous!

I am still working out regularly, but not happy with the fact that I had managed to lose over 20lbs last year and have now found myself putting that weight right back on again.

I have tried to take walks on several occasions only to start slipping and sliding on the mess that has continued for the last two months in my area so about the only time I am out is when I have to get supplies.  I dig out if the snow is deep enough.  For a couple of inches of snow I just drive right over it all.  The unfortunate result of this is that snow becomes so compacted down that I am not able to shovel it at a later date because of the severely cold temperatures.

This comfort food actually comforts my stomach as well.

Po’ Girl’s Rice Pudding

Combine 2 cups cooked rice with 2 cups milk and 1/4 cup sugar.  Cook on medium-low heat stirring regularly for approximately 20 minutes until thickened.  Then add an additional 1/2 cup warm milk with one beaten egg (to temper egg), one teaspoon vanilla and 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder stirring continuously for an additional 10 minutes or so.  I slowly added a few spoonfuls of the cooked pudding to the 1/2 cup with the egg before adding this to the hot pudding to prevent the egg from curdling.

This makes a very delicious, but not super sweet rice pudding that I much prefer to store-bought.  Much better for your sugar levels.  The following video gives you an idea of how thick the pudding becomes when it is almost done.  Please stir enough to prevent scorching keeping your eye on the heat, adjusting as needed.

http://youtu.be/tZISpHkvSoM