OK, so I still haven’t gotten around to customizing this new version of the blog. Oops.
Life has been hectic. A relative I hadn’t seen since I was a child appeared at my door to tell me an uncle I barely saw a dozen times in the last 30 years passed away and left me a bit of money. It wasn’t a fortune by any means, but enough to make a serious leap forward on my home repairs. It was also enough to disqualify me from disability benefits. I panicked! After a day wondering what to do, even considering burning the check and trying to pretend I never saw it, I decided there was only one thing to be done: report the income and hope for the best.
Sometimes I am amazed how much progress I have actually made. In a single day I called Social Security, my state’s Department of Health and Human Services, my credit union, my oil company, and two friends (to ask for help with transportation and advice on certain aspects of home repair). Can you believe that just one short year ago I would end up unconscious on the floor if I tried to make any one of those calls?
Leaving out all the gory details, the story seemed to be that I would not lose benefits and would not have to give the government all the money if I was able to prove that I spent most of it by the end of the current month. Panic! It was already the 18th!
Let the race begin! I had to wait 5 days (3 business days with an intervening weekend) for the credit union to release the temporary hold on funds from deposit of a personal check. During that time I scrambled to prioritize projects and make a shopping list. Immediately upon funds being available to spend, I visited my favorite building supplies dealer to place a somewhat large order: windows, siding, plywood, kitchen counter tops, some small items and tools needed to do the work. Now it became a race to see if funds would actually be taken out of my account in time to meet the deadline. You never know how quickly a debit card purchase will actually go through and result in funds being transferred.
Fortunately all went smoothly. On the 26th I submitted documentation on the money and how it was used at the nearest Social Security office. That was a very stressful trip but I got through it with some help from a friend. To date, I have been told two different versions of what to expect in terms of how much money I will have to give the government because I had this extra income. It is nerve wracking to have to spend several thousand dollars immediately in order to minimize loss of income one depends on for survival, without knowing how much of that income you’re going to have to do without or pay back! My best guess at this point, based on what I think I understand, is that I will have to pay an amount equal to about 15% of the money my uncle left me. That is manageable. I planned for that even though initially I was led to believe I would not have to repay anything. If it ends up being significantly more than that, I could be in for a rough go of it. I’m obviously going to have some anxiety until this all gets resolved.
Meanwhile, I have immediately launched into finishing a home repair and improvement project I had started a year and a half ago. I need that space completed because, among other things, it is my tool storage area. I really need my tools out of temporary storage in the living room before I tackle the major work to come!It promises to be quite a summer. Honestly, I’m not entirely certain I can do this much in one summer, given other critical activities such as continuing to work on my recovery.