And so we begin the New Year…as always hoping for prosperity
and good fortune, health and happiness, and that thing so elusive…peace of
mind. I say to 2014…not a fond farewell, but a bitter goodbye. It seems that we
have struggled for a very long time now…in all things really…but particularly
in job and financial issues.
My husband worked his last day on December 19th,
2014. He had been with this company for almost three years. The company that he
worked for contracted with a larger company and the larger company was sold.
All contracts were off and replaced with new companies. So…here we go again.
During the last few years, we have been through five stints
of unemployment between us. Me twice and him three times (counting this one).
It seems that just as we begin to fully recover and settle in…we get hit again.
Each time a new job is found…it pays less than the one before it…so our income
has steadily declined.
We are pretty much resigned to losing the house this time
around. Events over the last couple of weeks regarding unemployment have made
this even more of a certainty.
He initially filed for unemployment and received a letter
stating that he did indeed qualify, and including the amount he would receive.
The following week he filed his first claim for the previous week…and somehow
checked the wrong box…stating that he was unavailable for work that week. As
soon as he submitted the claim, he received a notification that since he was
unable to work, he would need to submit more forms. He was absolutely aghast. He
immediately submitted the required forms…I faxed them in the following day…each
one with a hand written explanation from him stating that he was definitely
able, willing, and ready to work each day of the week in question, and that he
had mistakenly checked the wrong box.
We waited…nothing. He checked the status of his claim…and it
remained ineligible. A week passed…no word…no change. He submitted the next
weeks claim. During the process, he hit a different date in the drop down…and a
claim was submitted for the wrong week. Yesterday he spent almost two hours on
hold…after calling the number for claims…and received no answer. The two hours
on hold did however use almost our entire amount of calling minutes for this
billing period.
We had figured our income…with his unemployment…and a
significant drop in my salary (due to now paying for insurance for both of us) and
determined that we could manage about 90 days before needing to put the house
on the market. However, with two full weeks of unemployment now lost…and no
idea if or when it will be fixed…that time is decreasing quickly.
If the unemployment situation isn’t rectified by the end of
this week…I will begin to search for a weekend job. I won’t be able to make
enough to keep the house…but maybe enough to stay out of a foreclosure
situation until we can sell it.
It has been so long since I blogged regularly, that I am
sure no one is even checking anymore…and that is okay. I just needed to unload
my brain a bit.
If anyone is out there…
Be well and Happy New Year.
