Hi PaLady,
I have not been on the forum the last few days. I have been doing the things here at home and also have kept the grand son. Between the two, when I come up here at night to get on the puter, I end up falling alseep for hours, somtimes till the next morning lol. Oh, it wonderful sleeping in this chair. But, its better than no sleep at all.
I have had your situation on my mind ever since your inital post and have done lots of thinking trying to come up with solutions like everyone else on this forum. I guess in the grand scheme of things I think what would help all of us on here at the moment would be a big ole bag full of money, but thats not likely to happen either. Never hurts to dream.
Somewhere in the back of my mind I was thinking your niece had offered you a place to stay with her if you ever needed one. You said that you really didn't want to go there unless it was kind of the last resort because she had a small place herself. I don't know if you rent or own your place, but maybe now is the time to think about her offer. My thinking in this is, if you moved in with her it would have to save you some money-then with the 401 you have put back perhaps by checking with a place lke AARP you may be able to uncover some health insurance that you could afford to pay the premiums on. You said your unemployment is going to run out soon, I would think on this long and hard before my unemployment runs out, but not too long. Put your things in a small storage facility. Once you apply for SSD, you know how that can go, you may get it right away or you may have to fight. But, at least living with your cousin you would have a roof over your head and food to eat. If you own your home, that gives a different twist. I would considering selling the home and here is why. Either way you go you will be living on a fixed income, money will always be short and tight, it leaves little room for home repairs that can add up quick. Just paying someone to do lawn work is pricey when on a fixed income. Quite frankly and I think most will agree with me on this, once you go on SSD, believe me, you have little to no money left each month for an kind of an emergency, most SSD checks are not enough to live on. I know its never easy living with another person, however, its better than not being able to afford where you are at. Too many people living on SSD each month have to make a decision on whether they eat or get some of their medications.
My own sister ended up selling her home not long ago. She had lived in this home over 30yrs, on SSD, not able to afford most of her meds every month, the age of the house was catching up, she certainly did not have money for costly house repairs. She says in the long run it saves her money living in a small apt. She does not have to worry about repairs or someone doing the lawn during the summer.
Its just a thought but, I think if I had someome offering me a place to live and I was in your shoes, I would go for it. You have some potentially rough times ahead of you and at least this way you can cut some of them off at the pass. Just my brain doing some thinking lol. Susie