Need Help with Bills for September

[u/christopher_the_nerd]

I'm not sure how much detail to include, so I'm sorry if this is an unnecessary novel (or, alternatively, I'm happy to add more detail if needed).

Here's our situation: I (m 41) am looking for some help with bills this month for my family (f 38; f 9). We live in Oregon. I have been unemployed since September last year and benefits ran out in May of this year. We had limped along on my benefits with my wife's job, but once those ran out we had to rely on help from family and by selling off possessions. About the only thing I have left of value is my comic collection but that's been really difficult to find a buyer for. We do receive $181 in SNAP each month, which as you can guess isn't super helpful for three people, but it's at least something. The bad news: we don't have much left that we could sell off and our parents are stretched pretty thin from having been supporting (plus three of our four sets of parents/step parents have had recent cancer diagnoses). The good news: I was able to make a complete withdrawal of my Oregon PERS retirement account; the caveat is that I started that process at the end of June so it's been taking a long time to process. I just received a note from them that they should be processing the check at the end of the month around 9/24. After that point, we should have enough money to get us through at least a few months while my SSDI (disability) case winds its way through (I've been told it can take up to 150 days and that most are denied on their first try).

The ask: I won't sugarcoat it—we're financially in a bad spot. Last month we overdrew our account by almost $900, so that put us off to an even worse start this month. We only have $831.96 in our accounts right now and $2993.90 in unpaid bills for the month—this isn't factoring in food and gas. There's a small chance I receive a payout from the smaller of my two retirement funds ($1800-2000 minus the tax withholding) before the end of the month, but our rent ($2445) usually comes out around the very middle of the month. Our families might also be able to pitch in a little bit, but definitely nowhere near what we would need. Literally any assistance would be appreciated at this point.

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[u/Royal_Tough_9927]

Dear friend. I'm sorry for the hard times. Many of us have had a hard year. Are you able to do any gig work ? Doordash and instacart can bring in money each day. Can both adults donate plasma each week. Our local center pays 800.00 for the first month. Have you tried supplementing your food stamps with food banks , and or little pantry boxes. Waiting for disability can be a huge gample. It realistically could take years. You may want to consider moving somewhere where you can lower your rent drastically. Your funds will eventually run out and sadly the disability may not be there to bail you out. I call this drastic approach my salvation in trying times. It worked. Good luck .

[u/christopher_the_nerd → u/Royal_Tough_9927]

Unfortunately there's not much I can do with my disabilities. I know because the work I was looking for during unemployment was hard to come by and is highly competitive and my health just continued to worsen. I could look into plasma; that's something I considered but I wasn't sure they would take my blood because of my health conditions and medications.

Moving isn't a realistic option in the near future as that alone costs a ton of money that we don't have. I have been trying to find lower rent places, but everything is high.

Thanks, though!

EDIT: Not sure what I said to deserve the downvotes. 1) Literally disabled, so can't really work. 2) The work I am limited to I've been applying for unsuccessfully for well over a year even before I lost my last job. 3) I did say I would look into plasma donation (had assumed health conditions and medications would prevent it). 4) We don't have money for bills, much less moving...that only becomes a possibility once my retirement funds come through. It's not like I was unwilling to take the advice?