Pay Day!

Well, the third Wednesday of the month is my social security check distribution date. It is electronically deposited in my checking account at midnight (or shortly thereafter!) on that Wednesday morning. I awake with fresh money to spend.

This was a tough month for us. Evidently I forgot to deduct from my checking account balance an amount for an automatic debit – a big one, the car payment. For whatever reason I was hundreds of dollars short but at least I had a little bit in savings and the credit union automatically transferred what was needed to cover the checks coming through – or electronic debits.

However, the drama tightened. I thought all the debits were covered but then one notice after another came through email from the credit union. I checked the savings account balance. It went down to $200, $150, then $100. When it hit $76 I began to really worry. Would the debits cease before the SS check was deposited?

Finally, $4.31 was left in the savings account; checking was zero. That’s the margin we came down to. Lest anyone state the obvious – Why didn’t you stop spending? – I had. Not one McDonald burger, or Panera coffee, no gas, nothing. We had a tiny amount of cash and we bought the barest minimum of groceries to get us through to shopping day. I even used a five dollar bill to buy 2 gallons of gas so I could attend one more meeting for SCORE. Thank God the car is hybrid. Getting 40 miles to the gallon paid off!  I got to all the meetings I was obligated for, and still had gas for transport to the gas station and Target for shopping on Wednesday.

We breathed a huge sigh of relief. We had done it by the skin of our teeth. Now I know what that phrase truly means!!

I have a few meds to refill. One I ran out of. Three just about ran out. Food was nearly gone except for two cans of soup and some crackers. I kept hoping there wasn’t another automatic electronic debit looming out there. There wasn’t, so we got through.

Our income is just about exactly what we have to spend to survive. There are no extras. I earn some additional income from two projects during the year. Usually these are in the spring so we spend that income down slowly for several months, usually using the funds for insurance premiums – car, renters and medical. Without that income we could not make it.

Due to medical difficulties I filed for bankruptcy in 2013, lost the house and we’ve been renting ever since. So no stash of investments await our emergency use. There is no emergency fund. No vacation fund, either. We simply learned to make do.

And to keep busy. Keeping the mind active, keeping the fingers busy, and getting involved in helping others has saved our day. We don’t need saving. Others do. And that fuels a lot of activity, excitement and passion. It makes our days full and rewarding. And for that we are very, very grateful.

For those government and political thinkers who feel social security is an entitlement giveaway rather than an earned benefit, and for those who think seniors don’t have to deal with cost of living increases, just review what I’ve written above. This year we won’t get a small increase in SS benefits. But Medicare premiums reportedly will jump. We just don’t know by how much. That automatically comes out of the SS check. We have no way to budget for this. And my other health insurance premium I’m required to have, keeps going up as well. And rent. And food. And medical attention frequency.

The costs keep rising. The income doesn’t.

This is a perfect, distilled statement of what the middle class and lower middle class have to deal with. It is what the republican party has been attempting to do for many years. And they have succeeded.  Why they think this is important, I’ll never know.

I am a humble person. I need no lessons in humility. As a gay, senior citizen, member of Alcoholics Anonymous, now non-smoker, I’ve learned all the lessons I need to learn about addiction and lack of control. I get it. I accept the responsibility.

Now if all the others would as well. Especially the judgment oriented republican do nothings. They are the ones with blood on their hands.

For shame!

October 21, 2015