Perpetual Ruminations

What?

It's been a while. Not much for time and a lot going on using up what little I seem to get. It seems at times, life kind of spins right out of control and all a person can do is hold on tight and try not to fall off.

Unfortunately, I seem to have lost my grip and fallen. I thought I had about hit bottom, but then yet another unpleasant surprise comes along and I find I landed on a sink-hole, not rock bottom. As of yet, I have no idea just how much of a setback this is going to be, or much of anything else.

That seems to be the worst, not knowing. Hopefully today will provide some answers---and some good news.

I just got a call to explain things and it's not quite as bad as it could have been, but it's still a good kick in the gut when a guys already down. I suspect there will be other repercussions as well, but I should be able to contact everyone and manage through the worst of it.

Without going too far into it, I'll provide a short explanation. We live from payday to payday, and with the new health insurance laws, aren't even managing that at times. Because of some medical problems, we ended up short on wages for half the summer and most of the fall, which has put us even further behind. Even so, we tried to stand fast and work our way through this, hoping that in time we could clear up our credit again and get back on our feet.

But, for the time being, there is no credit; we get paid every two weeks and we have to make do, no matter how difficult. Even if we could find credit, we are strapped and would have no means to make another payment. So, what happens? We end up owing the IRS for taxes, not enough was withheld. On top of that, a fine for not having medical insurance for the first three months of the year, which they conveniently tacked on to our amount due.

We arranged to make payments; while still fighting the fine, we figured it better to get things started and prevent further penalties. We were found to be exempt from the fine, but so far nothing from the IRS indicating any change in what we need to pay them. Hopefully soon.

With this added payment, we find ourselves in a situation where it's difficult to afford to eat and keep gas in our one running vehicle, but we have managed. We stretch each dollar as far as we can and keep as much money in our bank account as possible to last up to the next payday, just in case we need milk, bread, or gas. Monday, we had two-hundred bucks left to last the week, with only one payment set to come out, automatically.

Yesterday, I tried to use my debit card and it would not authorize. I knew there was still more than enough money in the account, but the bank was closed, so no way to find out what was wrong. Once I got home, I logged in to see the balance. -$17.00!

There was a transfer amount out that I had not made. My wife and I have a dual account; joint checking. So, not only did someone withdraw all available funds, they did it before a couple pending weekend transactions went through. If it had been done through one of our cards, we would have been able to recover the funds and everything would be fine. But, it was an electronic withdrawal and no way to recover anything until we find out who made it.

The bank was great in helping to get us information and is tracking the money to see who took it. For now, the account is locked, but with a negative amount, there will be overdraft fees unless we can get the balance over $0.00 by four this afternoon.

Our direct deposit comes on Friday, but with the account locked, we won't be able to access it except taking funds in person with our ID's. It's a mess and it's not over yet.