Quote:
Originally Posted by widowlost
I'm there with you. we have no car, no cable no computer only a straight talk phone my daughter and i share. We bought the phone on black friday for $35. We eat from a hot plate and toaster oven to avoid the gas bill
. My daughter just started getting tanf of $234 And she's enrolled in an intern program but she has to wait for acceptance. If approved she will make $7.20 an hr. In the mean time we have a $200 lot rent and a $237 trailer payment plus a $88 light bill. So we play the very stressful shuffle the money game. We can't afford laundry soap or toiletries. I just washed a load of laundry with some dish soap. Its beyond embarrassing to call my mom whi never lets me live anything down and ask for fem products when stress allows that to happen. I grew up poor but never like this. I feel trapped here with no car and we are far enough out the bus doesn't. run past five and that's 2 blocks away that i can't walk. I get medicaid but can't afford the co pays. We get foodstamps but rarely have a ride to the store so often have to eat from the conveinience store by the house and yes it becomes an obsession because its all u have. When i do go to the store i buy everything to cook from scratch. In fact on the list this month was 7 lbs of beans and 4lbs brown rice even though beans make me swell they are better than nothing. I'm getting ready to make a big batch of homemade refried beans and homemade tortilla shells to treat the kuds to bean burritos. I price match all store ads at walmart I get to have a tbone steak with my daughtet for my birthday. since a store had them for $3.99 a pound
Was able to find a one pound package of two. But i still felt guilty spending that much on meat for my bday. They had chicken thighs this month at a budget store for .84 a pound and pork roast $1.18 a pound and hamburger $1.77. That's what was on sale so that's what meat we eat for the month. I was trying to diet but no matter how i sliced it we just couldn't make it so now I'm doing just portion control. It is what it is
waiting on a hearing decision. God i pray. Again I've never been this poor
I don't even feel like myself anymore because i feel so helpless and desperate. And i think the hardest pill to swallow is all the people who i use to drive everywhere, who i loaned large amounts and even gave money too. They wouldn't so much as give me a ride to the store and avoid me like the plague. Yeah i feel lonely and I'm sure you do too. I hope things get better for everyone
I wish i could win the lottery and save us all but i can't afford a ticket anyhow.
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Widowlost,
Honey, if I knew you'd win the lottery, I'd mail you a dollar for a ticket!!
First off, good luck to your daughter. It's good that she's trying to make progress despite your situation, but wow, that wage is insulting even for an intern. May I ask where you guys live? Wage differentials between states astound me.
Misery loves company as the saying goes and while I'm certainly not glad to read about the situation you're in, it is good to know I'm not alone. As others have posted, I just can't believe that in our country which is supposed to be so fabulous and the "Land of Opportunity", that there are stories like ours. What happened? It's not as if we sat as pre-teens dreaming of the day we'd have to wash clothes out in a bucket and hang them on a rigged up clothesline in our ramshackle house to dry, right? It's frigging laughable to me when I hear the Powers That Be babbling on about the "middle class" this or that... Christ, I'd LOVE to be middle class. Right? Cry me a river about your middle class.
I just don't know. Something's got to give.
PS: About the fleas, yes I'd read about Dawn and figured vinegar would work because we've been putting it on our bites and when we have it on, we've noticed no fleas jump on our ankles. I'll give that a try. A dear friend is going to send me some flea treatment (advantix) next week. Thank God for friends eh? Now if I could figure out why one of the furballs has crapped in the bathtub 3 mornings in a row when the litter pan is clean in in plain sight!
PSS: I hear ya about having to swallow your pride and call mom for help. Are there any churches near you that might lend you a hand with non food stamp products?
__________________
"We meet ourselves time and again in a thousand disguises on the path of life." ~ Carl Jung

My Lilah
Her "Glamor-Shot"
Still beautiful at age 9