It finally happened, the day I have been running from for years, the day that I have done everything in my power to avoid has finally occurred: I am no longer able to contribute to the economy. I am not going to the movies, eating out, buying clothing, going on vacations, socializing, or adding money (beyond buying gasoline and basic groceries) to the local economy. On paper I am middle class, but the reality is I am barely hanging on.
How did this happen? I thought you were a teacher? I thought you were a professional? What did you do with all that money? All valid questions. I will attempt to answer them and not make this into a giant pity party. As a teacher, I have seen my costs go up while my take home has not. I recently got another job, but it is not enough. I accept my role in this, but it would have been easier if things were not stacked against success. If it was not for my parents, I am sure that I would be worse off and not hanging on at all.
The truth is I was terrible at money management when I was younger (and so was my husband apparently), I believed that I would always make enough money to pay my bills and if one job did not work, then I would get two or three jobs. At one point I had four jobs, but that was before children. I would not be in my current financial position if I did not have children, but I would also not have the only sources of daily joy either, so I am not willing to give them up or rewrite my history to exclude them.
There are several important factors to my situation:
1. student loan debt
The student loan debt held by many around my age is a true crisis in America. There are thousands of us out there who do not qualify for loan forgiveness, breaks in percentage paid, or help in anyway. Remember how all the banks got super low interest rates so they wouldn't fail? I can't get a lower rate and I can't refi my loan now due to my creditworthiness which was destroyed by my student loans. My loan has doubled since I took it out; compound interest will do that to you. Hey, I never claimed to be a math whiz! When I graduated from college, I entered the work force when the Baby Boomers were just hitting their stride; there were no jobs. I worked multiple jobs, but never made enough to pay on my student loan that just got deferred or a forbearance until I was in a better financial situation. When I got my teaching job, I thought I would have more time to start paying back, so I tackled credit card debt and then looked into loan forgiveness programs. I was "lucky" enough to have my first student loan discharged six months before the beginning of one loan forgiveness program's start date so none of my loans would be forgiven. I work at a title one school so another program said they could get me loan forgiveness for working there; however I needed to have applied for it in the first five years of teaching. The program didn't exist in the first five years, so no dice. Another program allows for forgiveness of my loan after 10 years of on time payments, but I missed out on this almost immediately because my loan was sold to another company without my knowledge and I was already two months behind before I realized that my deferments had expired. So now I am in debt rehab where I must spend money I do not have to get the nearly $20,000 of fees they added to my loan removed. I will spend 10 months doing this and in the end be back down to the amount of money I started at, the thousands of dollars I have paid in going only to finance charges. The best part is that now that I have been rehabbed, the amount I must pay back each month will be based on 15% of my gross income which will result in an even higher amount than what I am paying now. But hey, it will be a weight loss opportunity since I don't qualify for food stamps but will not be able to buy food either.
2. daycare
I must have daycare for my son. He is not of age to go to public school so he must go to a full-time daycare that will accommodate his severe auto-immune condition. Again, I do not qualify for anything, so I will be paying $145 a week for his care. The good thing is that they will feed him so my food bill will be lower. The daycare has been very understanding of my situation and has allowed me to get behind and then caught up every so often with my bill, and did I mention they will feed my son at no additional cost?
3. family members with severe food allergies/ conditions needing specialized food
My son has Eosinophilic Esophogitis (EoE) which is a severe autoimmune disorder making him allergic to most food. There is a special formula he must drink, but he has been having trouble with it lately so I switched to one he could digest better but the insurance will not cover it. My food bill is 50% higher than others with the same family size because specialized food and formula is much more expensive. For example, a loaf of bread that is half the size of regular bread cost $8 a loaf, but it is one that he can eat, so I buy it. My daughter and I must eat gluten free and my husband is diabetic with Grave's disease. I went grocery shopping the other day and spent $200 on basics that would have been less than $100 for those without food issues.
4. increased cost of health insurance
One of the ways we had hoped to cut costs was to have my husband's company pick him up on their heath insurance, but then he started losing weight and we had to get loads of tests done. My insurance would have covered it all, his does not. We now have almost $500 worth of medical bills to pay (and growing), but I know it could have been worse. My district also increased the cost of my insurance because I have a family plan, but if I did not have the insurance, my son's condition would have bankrupted us a year ago. Any savings we got from my husband changing insurance has been eaten up in the lack of coverage that we must now pay.
5. the electric company's winter gouging
Last winter when the polar vortex hit, the cost of electricity sky rocketed, but only for those who went with another provider besides the local company who has great lawyers so I will not mention them by name. Those who did not shop around continued to pay a low rate, those who had tried to save a little money and went with another company, had electric bills nearly 5 times higher. My bill went from $150 to $550 in one month even though I used less electricity than the previous month. I tried to switch it back but there is this wonderful law in PA that prevents you from being able to switch back any sooner than 40 days. When it was all said and done, two months of electricity cost over $1,000. Calling the PUC didn't help, where others were given help (mostly the elderly, which is fine) those of us who were not on a fixed income were not given a break. If I could figure out how to get off the grid for no additional money, I would. There is a solar power company that does install for free, but they do not operate in this part of the world.
6. credit card debt
I admit it, I used credit cards too freely in the past. I don't use them at all now, but I am struggling to make minimum payments at all. I can't even get a consolidated loan, my credit is destroyed. On the bright side, NO ONE will steal my identity!
7. extended family care
This is perhaps the biggest drain on my family. I have had so many surprise bills related to my husband's family. Andy took on bills from his father's estate, for his mom now that she is in a nursing home, and his brother. By him, I mean us. Time and time again we have been faced with a bill that we did not know existed. Right now I am looking at about $2,000 worth of bills that are at a critical point for non-payment that were not shared until now. It is because of these bills I am sitting here typing. There is no where to go, no more juggling to do. I am damned if I do or don't.
Thank you for reading my cautionary tale. It is how a well educated professional can no longer contribute to the economy, the American Dream no longer within reach. At least we don't have debtor prisons in the United States, yet.
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