repairs on older home

I am a disabled 64 year old person who worked until 1992 and had a work injury. I paid taxees until a few years ago and lost my husband to cancer. There fore I do not make enough money to file. Is there a stimulas check for helping repair and old home. I have had to take a loan to do the important stuff.Please somebody tell me how the stimulas can help me

Reply to
rashton
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Try to find an agency in your county for elder affairs...council on aging, or whatever they call themselves. Your county welfare department might be able to give you leads. My county has a special phone number for reaching a central information source for help on a wide variety of needs. The point is, there are many agencies and foundations which provide assistance for elders and disabled. If you belong to a church, ask your pastor if there are members who might be willing to help with repairs. If you're not a member, ask a nearby church anyhow. My area also has an annual "paint, clean-up" day which has many volunteers. Nobody can help if they do not know of the need, so it takes some guts to get going. Let us know how it goes, and good luck. If you have major needs, like a new furnace or a new roof, call around to get estimates and discuss payment plans if they are even remotely possible. Be careful about whom you approach, and make sure they are reputable.

Reply to
norminn

There must be church run and other volunteer groups in your area that could assist you. Habitat for Humanity might be a place to start. I would tend to trust them more than any government run organization.

TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

Rashton, there may not be one specific to you needs but read below:

I snipped some but it's all good info Normin.

Rashton, there's lots out there you may not know about and for smaller jobs (like a bad step that needs fixing, a few loose tiles someplace, even help with painting or a screen that needs rescreening) there are people who bond together and work by 'word of mouth' to help out. Be leery of contractors with long term payment plans. Calculate the real cost then the cost they want from you per month til paid off and you can find a 50% or more interest rate with some of them. Habitat for Humanity is a great one if you live in an area they work within. Google for them and their web page will show areas and an email you can tell them where you live at to see if they can help (they will want to know what you need done). They are reputable.

My Mom (age 78 but very hale) helps folks like you. I do things and my husband does as well. (If you live in Virginia, email me at the address above and tell me what city and I will see if either of us has contacts there, I am in Norfolk area, Mom lives western end of Virginia). Now Mom and i can't do everything, but you havent said what you need. There is even a chance if you post your general city and state, another here might be willing to email you with reputable folks local to you that may be able to help. Organizations and churches are a good bet too as some of the small odd jobs i do, come from pastors who call me to see if I can fit in one of the things I do well (much of it cosmetic but not all).

In the past year for example I've done or been part of doing:

- 5 wood wheelchair ramps (2 from scratch, 3 repairs to existing ones)

- 2 cement ramps (1 a repair, one poured from scratch)

- ? repairs to cement or wood steps to houses (side, front, back)- lost count

- 5 rescreening jobs (2 could use metal holders and just needed fresh screen) 3 needed new screens - made wood frame ones to fit

- 3 house paintings with minor structural repairs (replace some hardiboard etc)

- 3 cosmetic wallpaper jobs as part of mold repair finishing

Neither I nor any of the folks on these jobs make or ask for any money past that of materials and even when asking for materials, we tend to be able to scrounge up among friends much of what is needed. Bag of cement here, a few PT boards there, adds up. Us freebie folks (grin) *may* be pretty specific in materials, for example I will only work with wallpaper types I know how to hang well. Oh and none of us are insured (but none of us in my group would even dream of that being 'your' problem if something happened and in fact have signed forms several times about it before starting a job. Habitat for humanity especially).

It's out there, you just have to look for where it is. Most of my work has been within 1/2 mile of my house. Neighbors chatting over fences, passing the word along.

Oh Husband's list in past year? He's helped with about 1/2 of those and he also does quite a few things I do not nor did I help with. Basic plumbing, toilet removal and replacement (or just new wax seal if still can get it off to do that and no other damage), clogged sinks with PVC elbows, gutter cleaning, minor exterior brick mortar repairs (cosmetic level mostly, he's not a brick layer), tree trimming if still minor and not near power lines (preventive mostly levels), sapling removals, doorknob lock or deadbolt replacements, and furniture repair (loose legs that have become a hazard etc).

It's there, just like Normin says.

Reply to
cshenk

Local and county gov. in my county offer substantial financial aid to elderly and disabled, but have also been known to run out of money. Times are getting tougher, too.

Reply to
norminn

My older female neighbors bribe me with cakes, cookies, and other goodies to fix things for them. I am of course glad to help!

Reply to
Bill

Here in Swannanoa, NC (a suburb of Asheville), if you register with Warren Wilson College, the students come out periodically to help people with fixing and painting at no charge. Some of the local churches and organizations and schools also offer the same thing. Why don't the original letter writer check with the local churches or schools and see if they offer any service like this?

Reply to
Sanity

If you haven't spent the loan, hang onto the money for a while. You need to be very cautious taking on debt...that is scary for a disabled person. It might help in the advice area to know, generally, the nature of repairs needed and what kind of area you live in - city, suburbs, rural? Also, would you be able to do simple repairs or exchange any kind of work for work - child care, sewing, crafts, etc.? Do you know your neighbors, exchange favors with them?

Reply to
norminn

Many military installations have groups who will occasionally have community help days. Also check with your local courts to see if they can provide help through "community service" sentencing.

Reply to
Red

Heh!

Heard a story about a lady living in a New York apartment. She made friends with a single man in the same building who had a toolkit. Whenever she needed a "honey-do" she invited him for dinner - but to bring his toolkit. Their internal conversations went like this:

Him: "She's a miracle worker. For the cost of the right kind of thirty-five cent bolt, I get a rack of lamb dinner."

Her: "He's a miracle worker. He can put up a towel rack so it won't fall down and all I have to do is add a couple of potatos to the pot."

Then then had sex.

Reply to
HeyBub

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