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[–] Jutack 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago 

right now is currently my familys worst financial situation. We are 2 months behind on our bills and within a 2 month period we wont have enough money to buy food.

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[–] boltsand 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

That's rough buddy. Have you checked out local food banks? Some grocery stores give away or have deeply discounted food that's already prepared from the deli at the end of the day. v/frugal might be able to guide you more about stretching what money you have left. Good luck man, I hope things work out.

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[–] King-Calf [S] 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Sorry to hear that! I was behind on bills all the time and eventually evicted from my apartment. This was back in 2007 though. Hope things get better for you and your family

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[–] Ihadacow 0 points 5 points (+5|-0) ago 

Right now is probably my worst financial situation. I was very ill for the past year and couldn't work. I literally have $0.24 in my bank account. I love with my mom though so she's been taking care of everything.

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[–] King-Calf [S] 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago 

wow, I lived with mom and pops until I was 27. I was evicted from my apartment and I was constantly overdrafting. I remember celebrating when my bank account reached $0.00

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[–] boltsand 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago 

Parents can be a real life-saver. Sorry that you were/are sick. Are you going to be able to return to work anytime soon?

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[–] Ihadacow 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

I'm hoping to be able to go back in the fall.

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[–] bobroland 0 points 13 points (+13|-0) ago 

In terms of the bottom line, from age 21 to 27 I was homeless, and living as a hitch hiker. Not a dime to my name, no assets, and I wasn't sure on any day if I would eat or not.

Thing is, that kind of poverty doesn't hurt. You're living carefree and life is good.

The hardest poverty is when you're supporting a family. If you, as an individual misses a meal, you'll live. You can't look at your child and tell him or her that she can't eat that day.

Four years ago, after my divorce, I was in those shoes. The money I made went to child support, but five days a week I was providing for my son with literally no money. I sucked up my pride and went to food pantries, and money I did have went to flour, eggs and butter. It's amazing how far you can stretch a food budget if you have to. I would find a chicken that was about to be thrown out and make a weeks worth of meals with it. (Roast chicken one day. Sandwiches the next. Fried rice with bits of chicken the day after. Chicken Pot Pie to finish it off. Five dollars to feed two people for five days.)

In the meantime my ex is stopping at Starbucks and going on as if nothing happened.

Worst year of my life.

Things are good today. I have a great job, I have my finances under control...but that specter of poverty still keeps me up at night.

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[–] SybilVimes 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Please say that you have full custody and no child support payments.

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[–] DonnaLuscious 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

I'm currently in mine. I got a credit card, bought a new camera with it thinking "well it's just $500, I can pay that off" but then a few weeks later my computer crashed and I had to buy a new one. So there's another $1300 on it. THEN I made the horrible mistake of getting a retail credit card for some instant savings baloney. After that I just got careless, going out to eat regularly and not really thinking that $8 at a fast food place here, $40 on a date there, or a $3 snack at a gas station here would add up. I hit around $4K credit card debt and have $6K (thankfully not any more than that) in student loans.

My solution was to treat myself like someone who didn't deserve a credit card, because quite frankly I don't. I cut up my cards and buckled down on my extraneous spending. Now as soon as each pay check comes in I IMMEDIATELY pay as much as I can feasibly muster on the cards and still have grocery/gas/etc money. I'm down to about $2300 on those cards. It'll be a rewarding day later this week when I can get that number back down below $2K.

The APR on both is a little high (I mean they were my first 2 cards) so I want to get them paid off quickly. I guess I had this idea that I had to spend money to build credit, but I sort of deluded myself and went overboard. I like getting new things :(

I was warned credit cards are slippery slope. I guess I did what a lot of Americans do and blinded myself to how deep I was actually getting. We have this culture of living beyond our means and even though I logically know better, I still fell into it.

TL;DR I got some credit cards and used them irresponsibly. But I'm working on it!

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[–] King-Calf [S] 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Sounds like a bunch of the same shit I did. I was working two jobs that barely paid the bills and going to school (College) at the same time. I also had a girlfriend that required us to do normal relationship shit like go on dates and pretty much do anything that required money. I was also taking care of my friend who had a difficult time holding onto a job and had a problem with alcohol. I remember using checks to buy groceries with the hopes that they wouldn't cash them in until my paycheck hit my bank account. I eventually got evicted from my apartment and had a fuck ton of overdraft fees and credit card debt. Luckily I managed to turn that around. It took a while though.

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[–] gramman74 ago 

1 year, lost my job due to cutbacks and lack of sales. Worked shitty jobs, my family helped some. I am an electrician. Even being licensed and having verifiable work experience,took me 300 days to find a job in the field I'm trained. I was only unemployed about 25 days.

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[–] Bkow 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Right now. I'm in a one bedroom apartment that costs me $1058 for rent alone. My car payment is $600, and with all bills included I'm losing about $2300 a month. I currently make around $1600 after taxes. My wife used to make less than $1000 until recently. Now she works full time and brings home about $1400. It's been that way for the past year and a half. I swear it gave me gray hairs and cut my life expectancy considerably due to financial stress. It has definitely affected our credit.

[–] [deleted] 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago 

[Deleted]

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[–] bobroland ago  (edited ago)

Glad for that happy ending.

Poverty has a real way of showing you who your friends are, that's for sure. I lost my best friend of six years over being unable to come up with a hundred dollars for a filing fee with our business. We use to carry hundreds of dollars in markers with each other from poker, but six months of me being poor changed that. It killed a friendship and a shared dream.

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[–] Tacometropolis ago  (edited ago)

I was starving for quite a while (about a 6 month period). Went down to about 135. Today I weight around 200, and people still tell me I'm thin. Didn't realize what kind of shape I was in at that point, just knew I was hungry all the time, and didn't have food. Thing is I didn't have to be.

I was going to grad school at the time, and living with someone. I ran out of money. Lost my job, and had nothing to replace it with. I could have asked for help from my family, and eventually I did, but I was too proud to do so for quite some time. Once I did, things got better fast. I bought some groceries, moved back home, got a job, apartment, and then a few months later 2 better jobs. Haven't stopped working since.

I still basically hoard food (freezer, and canned stuff). I'm careful with my money almost to the point of irrationality, but it definitely taught me pride is dangerous.

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