Help Us Get By Until We Can Get A Second Income

hi hi everyone -

 

I'm Kitty. That's the first photo me and my husband, Dalton, ever took together. We really need some help. We're doing everything we can, everything we're supposed to, and it's still not enough. We've been struggling a while, but it's coming to a breaking point right now. I'll explain:

THE BACKSTORY

 

We both worked full time until the pandemic really hit - then I lost my job, and spent a year (funny enough, almost to the day) at home until I was hired at my current company, making the most now I ever have (which isn't like a CRAZY amount, $15, but I was still really happy to get). It was hard, but not nearly as bad as it would have previously been with enhanced unemployment and shut-off and eviction moratoriums. What did make it hard was unexpectedly spending the last quarter of the year and about 2 months of the next ENTIRELY without income on my end after the Department of Labor cut the Extended Benefits program without warning in November, when Virginia's unemployment rate dropped low enough for them to justify it. I had already been job hunting, but after that spent about six months spam applying for roughly 25 jobs a day on my own as well as went to three different temp agencies which never produced any assignments, and those 25/day applications yielded about 6-10 actually contacting me per week, which led to about 3 interviews a week, which in turn resulted in just the single job offer at the company I'm with now, which of course I leapt at.

THE KICKER

 

We were starting to get back on our feet, and my husband lost his job about two weeks ago, right as all those safeguards are beginning to expire. He's only ever worked at that one company, since the week after he turned 18, almost a decade ago. Losing his job means he's also lost his insurance, which, as a diabetic in the States, could be a massive problem. Blessedly Walmart carries no-script insulin, but that's still $75/month when it was previously $30, and he still has other medications and supplies that would be fully out of pocket now. He's looking for work and applying for UI in the mean time, but he was making near $20/hour and we still struggled, plus we've only one car, that itself needs some repairs, until we can raise money for a second - thanks to a predatory lending company, our truck was just recently repossessed. I'm carpooling with a coworker that lives near us, so he would have the car, but as i said it needs some repairs. it should be able to DRIVE after this weekend, but it'll still need some money to pass inspection, which is up at the end of the month. Until he gets a bite, it's just flatly not possible to pay everything we need to on only my salary.

WHAT WE NEED TO PAY

We have current utility bills, plus accrued balances from lockdown year that need to be paid soon or be shut off, a few loans/credit cards, car insurance, medical expenses for both of us, car repair costs, food for our pets, and of course food/household needs for us, gas to get to work etc. Our mortgage is still on COVID forbearance, but that's expiring soon as well and adds another $1300 a month. I'm paid biweekly to boot, so my check is gone basically the day I get it and then we're just out of luck the next 13 days.

power: $2000 back-owed, plus current charges
gas (for heating): $500 back-owed, plus current charges
water: $380 back-owed, plus current charges (this one is bi-monthly so it's a little easier)
internet: $50/month (we do get EBB)
credit cards: roughly $400/month, between both of us
loans: $375/month, between us
gas (for the car): $50-100/week, just to get to work and back (I work in the next city over, it's a 30minute commute. car isn't currently running but that's a big draw when it is)
pet food: ~$50-60/month (October needs prescription urinary health food, he gets bladder crystals)
medical: previously something like $150/month for his insulin, supplies, and meds and my meds and bimonthly med checks, now likely closer to $1000 without his insurance

WHAT WE'RE DOING

 

We're crunching as much as possible, applying for any assistance we might now qualify for since my income was the lower of our two (praying he gets approved for medicare or medicaid, especially), we've gone to our community pantry (we needed to go before he lost his job to be honest, but we could never get to one before it closed when we both were working so at least THAT part is easier), he's applying for UI and new jobs, we're trying to sell some things we don't need anymore, in college I ran an Etsy i still have some stock from to sell, and I can make basically anything (I made my best friend's wedding dress, I crochet, sew, embroider, work with clay, make candles, cards, stuffed animals, bake, legitimately if it has a section in Michael's i can probably do it), and I've offered them plus editing or proofing (I've a degree in English), baking mixes, or even tarot readings, everything I possibly can and had absolutely zero takers. it's like no one can even see us. even with the holidays coming, when i was usually absolutely swamped with official orders AND people I knew wanting commissions, there's nothing. I know everyone is hard up, I don't blame them, it just makes for a very specific brand of desperation. 

 

Given that track record, I'm not setting my heart on this gaining traction, but we've run out of other options so I'm asking for help if you've any to spare. anything you give us will be directly paying down our bills and living expenses, keeping our heat on, putting food in ours and our pets' mouths, keeping gas in our car and keeping it and US running until we can ride this out to the next break. the moratoriums start to expire next week - I'm just trying to get enough pad to keep our heads above water if we can't stay entirely afloat, at least for a month or maybe two.

 

Thank you, so much, for any kindness you can give and I hope it finds you again 10 times over

 

-kitty

PS - if anybody would like to make more immediate donations [gfm takes up to a week to deposit, after 2-5 days to process the donation itself], you can send to my or Dalton's cashapps/venmo/paypal -

mine:
cash app: $hussybustle
venmo: @kitty-fagan
paypal: @violetinthevoid2

Dalton's:
cash app: $daltonfagan
paypal: @daltonfagan