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morgan_dhuSo, the last time I posted, I told y'all about how much my life sucked.
It still sucks. Only much more so.
My general state of health continued to deteriorate during the summer and fall, and between all the things that are wrong with me, like the joint pain and the increasingly intolerable edema and other stuff (which I will address in another post, because it's too complicated to put here), it was kind of getting obvious to both me and my employers that I really just was no longer able to perform my work in a satisfactory fashion. Not so much a quality dip, as not being able to spend enough time sitting up at a computer to actually do my work on time.
So we started taking about the company's Long-term disability plan (LTD) and how because my health conditions are not exactly the normal kind of stuff it's not certain I would qualify but my employers assured me they would to be as supportive as they could be once I reached the point where I simply could not longer work at all.
So that day has finally come. Friday was my last day of work. Now I'm on medical leave for four months until I've waited out the qualifying period for LTD, and then I get to apply and wait and see if they will pay me benefits. But of course, benefits don't come anywhere near covering household expenses. I can also apply for Canada Pension Plan Disability benefits (CPP-D) - which, again, I may not qualify for because my medical situation is so weird - but not before six months have passed.
Even if I do manage to qualify for both, I will still be almost $1,000 a month short of what's needed to pay all the bills (mortgage, taxes, utilities, insurance, food) each month. But... I can't give up the house, because no rental situation is going to give me an environment that is free of toxic stuff and thus safe for me to live in. Any apartment we rent would share walls with other people and their perfumes and stuff would seep in and leave me in a situation that I'm not sure I could tolerate for the full length of time it would take for all that crap to kill me. I mean, we bought this house in the first place because I was getting so very sick from breathing other people's laundry exhaust, soap, perfume, air-fresheners, and so on.
So that sucks. Assuming all goes well and I do qualify for the LTD and the CPP-D, where do I get another grand a month? We have no debt except for the mortgage, so I can't reduce expenses by consolidating debt. We may be able to switch to a variable mortgage, which might lower the interest a bit. Not only am I pretty much not able to work, but the few things I could do - if I tried to do any of them, I would immediately become ineligible for both the LTD and the CPP-D. My partner is my full-time caregiver, he can't work either because he can't leave me alone.
So I really don't know at all how we're going to survive this. There are no relatives who would be realistically able to help (I have no relatives, period, and my partner's relatives are few and in difficult circumstances themselves, for the most part).
So... We're basically fucked. There's enough in savings and inheritance to carry us through the qualifying period (when I am not getting any money from anywhere), and what's left over will carry us through several more years (four or five, depending on various possibilities) IF I qualify for both LTD and CPP-D, and maybe one year if I don't. After that... things look bleak. Really, really bleak.
If anyone has some bright and original ideas, they would be welcome. Just...
Budgeting is not a solution. All we spend money on now, aside from the aforesaid mortgage, taxes, utilities and insurance, is food (which, because one of us has major food sensitivities and neither of us can tolerate chemicals, dyes, preservatives, etc, in our food, pretty much has to be what it is), household necessities (toilet paper, washing soda...) and books. Clothes when the old ones wear out. Replacing things that are broken or dead (we just bought a new TV because the old one is losing its ability to show images that are decipherable in any way whatsoever). We never go out, not even to see a movie. So please don't talk about cutting out non-essentials. We are by nature non-consumers. We don't buy shit we can do without anyway.
But anything else? I would love to hear any creative ideas or sources of funding that might apply to someone living in Toronto, Canada. Because any thought you have might just save my life.
It still sucks. Only much more so.
My general state of health continued to deteriorate during the summer and fall, and between all the things that are wrong with me, like the joint pain and the increasingly intolerable edema and other stuff (which I will address in another post, because it's too complicated to put here), it was kind of getting obvious to both me and my employers that I really just was no longer able to perform my work in a satisfactory fashion. Not so much a quality dip, as not being able to spend enough time sitting up at a computer to actually do my work on time.
So we started taking about the company's Long-term disability plan (LTD) and how because my health conditions are not exactly the normal kind of stuff it's not certain I would qualify but my employers assured me they would to be as supportive as they could be once I reached the point where I simply could not longer work at all.
So that day has finally come. Friday was my last day of work. Now I'm on medical leave for four months until I've waited out the qualifying period for LTD, and then I get to apply and wait and see if they will pay me benefits. But of course, benefits don't come anywhere near covering household expenses. I can also apply for Canada Pension Plan Disability benefits (CPP-D) - which, again, I may not qualify for because my medical situation is so weird - but not before six months have passed.
Even if I do manage to qualify for both, I will still be almost $1,000 a month short of what's needed to pay all the bills (mortgage, taxes, utilities, insurance, food) each month. But... I can't give up the house, because no rental situation is going to give me an environment that is free of toxic stuff and thus safe for me to live in. Any apartment we rent would share walls with other people and their perfumes and stuff would seep in and leave me in a situation that I'm not sure I could tolerate for the full length of time it would take for all that crap to kill me. I mean, we bought this house in the first place because I was getting so very sick from breathing other people's laundry exhaust, soap, perfume, air-fresheners, and so on.
So that sucks. Assuming all goes well and I do qualify for the LTD and the CPP-D, where do I get another grand a month? We have no debt except for the mortgage, so I can't reduce expenses by consolidating debt. We may be able to switch to a variable mortgage, which might lower the interest a bit. Not only am I pretty much not able to work, but the few things I could do - if I tried to do any of them, I would immediately become ineligible for both the LTD and the CPP-D. My partner is my full-time caregiver, he can't work either because he can't leave me alone.
So I really don't know at all how we're going to survive this. There are no relatives who would be realistically able to help (I have no relatives, period, and my partner's relatives are few and in difficult circumstances themselves, for the most part).
So... We're basically fucked. There's enough in savings and inheritance to carry us through the qualifying period (when I am not getting any money from anywhere), and what's left over will carry us through several more years (four or five, depending on various possibilities) IF I qualify for both LTD and CPP-D, and maybe one year if I don't. After that... things look bleak. Really, really bleak.
If anyone has some bright and original ideas, they would be welcome. Just...
Budgeting is not a solution. All we spend money on now, aside from the aforesaid mortgage, taxes, utilities and insurance, is food (which, because one of us has major food sensitivities and neither of us can tolerate chemicals, dyes, preservatives, etc, in our food, pretty much has to be what it is), household necessities (toilet paper, washing soda...) and books. Clothes when the old ones wear out. Replacing things that are broken or dead (we just bought a new TV because the old one is losing its ability to show images that are decipherable in any way whatsoever). We never go out, not even to see a movie. So please don't talk about cutting out non-essentials. We are by nature non-consumers. We don't buy shit we can do without anyway.
But anything else? I would love to hear any creative ideas or sources of funding that might apply to someone living in Toronto, Canada. Because any thought you have might just save my life.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-13 01:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-13 10:08 am (UTC)Roommates are not really possible. While we do have a spare room in the basement, both my partner and myself have environmental illness (also known as multiple chemical sensitivities, though I am much worse than he is). I quite literally could not tolerate another person in the house unless they agreed to use no personal grooming products at all, no perfumes, no laundry detergent, and not to bring any of their own belongings into the house until they had been detoxified through repeated washing in baking soda (if clothes, linens, etc.), or exposure to heat and ozone. Also, they would have to shower and wash their hair every time the came into the house from going outside.
My partner can go out and manage to cope around people who are using personal care products, and in environments where there are plastics, carpets, car exhaust,m and other things, but only for a couple of hours, and doing so leaves him quite ill for the rest of the day. He could not tolerate a normal work environment, assuming we could find such a program.
We are trying to think of things that one or both of us might be able to do from home that would not have fixed deadlines - it would be nice if either of us could do crafts or something like that and sell stuff over the net, but we have yet to think of anything we could do that anyone would pay money for...
no subject
Date: 2012-02-13 04:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-13 08:54 pm (UTC)I've tried many time to find an online presence that is based in Canada, but the closest I've come is a mailing list of people who believe that either the UN, the Sierra Club, or some secret cabal of bankers gave them EI and that we must all prepare to fight the New World Order before the aliens come and take us all away. OK, not all of them believed all of this, but they were all conspiracy nuts. I did not make many friends there. :(
Obviously, I am still trying to find some kind of network/support group, because I would surely like to be able to just talk to people who understand what I have to deal with. And if I find a group that has people based in Toronto, then maybe I could find someone who could share... but other than that, I've really no idea how to find someone.
Oh, most of us also cannot read newspapers because of the VOCs from the newsprint and ink, , and anyone who can would not be sick enough that they would need the kind of totally contaminant-free environment I need, so putting an ad in the local newspaper doesn't strike me as particularly useful either.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-13 04:15 am (UTC)All I have is good wishes that something will come through to give you what you need. *hugs*
no subject
Date: 2012-02-13 04:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-13 10:10 am (UTC)So that would be great, if she has any thoughts about what to do, who to try and talk to, progames to check out, etc.
Thanks.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-13 11:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-18 04:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-19 10:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-23 04:26 pm (UTC)Here's the information I've been looking at. I found the information a little light on some details but that may just be for information I was wanting. There are several Toronto offices so I've just included the contacts page. I hope this helps.
Contact information
http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/en/mcss/programs/social/odsp/contacts/index.aspx
Online information
http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/en/mcss/programs/social/odsp/income_support/index.aspx
no subject
Date: 2012-02-13 07:01 pm (UTC)