Super General Advice (the thread for advice without making a thread)

aha pretty sure that these are the exact pair i have lol

 

I think this is the set I have? Not necessarily completely wireless, but the body sits around your neck so the cables are less likely to get caught on anything.

 

Thanks a bunch! honestly both types are good for this situation. I’ll poke them over more once I get paid next week.

 

Spoiler: Coronavirus/SSI Payment Related Stuff Inside

So I've just discovered that I'm probably going to be receiving my dole-out of $1,200 from the TrumpBucks headed my way at the end of May. However, I'm very worried because I don't know how this IRS payment interacts with SSI, which I'm currently receiving payments for.

For those unfamiliar, SSI says you can't have more than $2,000 in your account at the end of a month. It also wants you to report non-SSI payments to the Social Security office within a fairly tight window. If you exceed the $2,000 amount at month's end, you won't get your check for the next month, and ??? happens (I honestly don't know what else but it probably involves things that will take Effort and Calls to resolve).

When I get my SSI payment, it's going to push me over $2,000 in my bank account between my income/savings unless I can manage to rapidly spend hundreds of dollars by the end of the month, probably within a 3-4 day window. What I don't know is the following:

A) Do I need to report the $1,200 payment being received to my local Social Security office, or will they already know since it's a federal payment coming from the IRS?
B) Will this count against my maximum allotment? Do I need to rush and spend several hundred dollars to make sure I avoid complications with my check? How long do I have to spend it?
C) Do I need to report this to my food stamp office? I didn't get a physical check; it was a direct deposit, so I'm afraid they're going to ask for physical proof and I'll need to wait for a bank statement...plus it'd mean I have to go out in the middle of this pandemic, and that's frightening on its own.
D) Can I only use this money like I would normal SSI payments, i.e. spending it exclusively on things related to better myself and my immediate surroundings, or am I free to spend it as I wish?

Thanks for any help. I'm completely in the dark about several of these things and trying very, very hard not to mess up.

 

I am not a lawyer and I don't have direct experience with SSI, but what I'm finding is that since it's structured as a tax refund, it doesn't need to be reported as income. You have 12 months to spend it before it will count towards your assets for SSI or food stamps. You don't need to report it to the food stamp office. And as far as I can tell, you can spend it on anything.

Sources*:
https://www.freshebt.com/blog/covid19-coronavirus-stimulus-payment/
https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/post/coronavirus-economic-impact-stimulus-payments
https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/system/files/file-attachments/COVID-19_Stimulus_Check-Eng.pdf
https://howtogeton.wordpress.com/will-disabled-people-get-stimulus-checks/
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/6409

*some of these are state-specific, but it looks to me like it's true in every state. If you want me to, I'm happy to do some searching for your specific state of residence!

 

If I could rate your post everything (short of Witnessed) I would, I'm so grateful. Thank you so much, that helps and relieves my stress immensely. For what it's worth, my state of residence is Indiana, though from reading through these it looks like you're probably right. I was just scared the government was going to do things the dumbest and most stressful way possible, which in my experience is usually the case.

 

No problem! I've been following along on commentary about how the stimulus is being rolled out and how it interacts with SSI and other government benefits, so it was no trouble to look up

 

(Eta: i found some, still have to check if they are the right style of snaps to work with Lunapads tho)

Heyo, does anyone know about a non-Etsy source for snap extenders for cloth pads/liners? I can order from etsy but I've gathered they're not great for their sellers.

I don't think Lunapads/Aisle or Gladrags sell them right now.

Thanks!

 

I don't have a non-etsy source, but I can tell you that at least in some sub-industries of Etsy, it's pretty common for a seller to use Etsy as one of multiple sales channels, so if there's a shop you're interested you can check out the shop details for links or Google the shop name and see what you find. Etsy is getting increasingly exploitative, but it's also one of the only platforms that drives traffic adequately, like, at all, so it's not an unsound business practice to try to find new customers through Etsy and then funnel them to a selling group on social media or a self-hosted e-commerce site.

 

My kitty isn't doing well and I have literally no money. Can someone let me know if I need to beg/borrow to get my cat in to see a vet anyway, or if this will go away on its own/there's something I can do at home?

Spoiler: the problem

His appetite went down over the past few days to the point where he only ate a literal handful of food yesterday, though he did eat more today. Just now I noticed he's got a... lump of some sort? On one side of his jaw. I checked and it isn't anything wrong with his mouth, at least not on the inside. (I was worried he might have chipped a tooth or something, since he like biting things like my rings) He's been low energy and sleeping a lot, but hasn't been crying so I can't tell if he's in pain. He has been purring, but since as soon as I put a hand near him to check he pets himself on it I don't know if it's good purring or bad purring.

 

I would err on the side of taking him to the vet, since cats don’t show when they’re in pain very obviously. maybe try calling a couple vets in the area with a brief description of what’s going on and your financial situation and see if they’d be willing to make an over-the-phone estimate of how serious it is?

 

how does one write out "if X number is less than 128, add [Y or Z or Q] until X equals 128 or more" as a proper mathemathic equation?

 

do you mean with logic symbols, like https://images.app.goo.gl/gCVarSV3vYSAsbpd9 ?

 

sort of? like, the kind of formula you can type by hand... x + x = y * z / q and so on. idk very much about this kind of thing...

 

There's not really a way to do "if" statements in algebra like that. (There probably is in logic symbols like rats linked, but that would only be understandable to people who also know logic symbols)

 

x < 128

x+y = 128?

There is a way to put a = and a > or < together to say 'equal or bigger/smaller than' tho idk if that's 'proper' math. it won't give you a solid results but more like a grouping of possible results.

 

Mathematical function and "function" in a programming sense of a series of commands that Does Thing when conditions are fulfilled are not the same thing. Can you give more context?

 

there's not really much context I can give; it's just a little formula for my own reference. I thought it would be nice to write it out as a proper equation instead of just as a "if x = less than 128, blah blah", but I guess I'll have to do with a half-baked one instead. it's not anything important, anyway...

 

If it's for you then it's easier tbh, then it just has to be understandable to you! Doing "x<128 => x+y ≥ 128" will get the point across I think (that is meant to be an arrow between the two equations)

 

Anyone here know anything about cars? Mine just started shaking and I guess sputtering I don’t know enough about cars to tell you what the differences in sounds are. It was running just fine until I started slowing down to around 40mph then it started shaking and not wanting to accelerate. Like I have to push the gas down all the way to get it to switch gears.

It’s a 2009 smart car with 57,000 miles on it, and the oil was changed less than 2,000 miles ago. Up until now it’s but running pretty much perfectly. I’m just wanting to see what the potential issue might be before I try and get it to a mechanic once they open.