Barely Getting By... Am I the only one?

[jaytee146]

Lo and I are now in a safe place... and I'm happy I don't have to worry about fob or my mom and her boyfriend arguing and fighting but it's come at a price...

After bills that leaves me with 63 dollars in which I have to try to make groceries and put gas in my car for close to three weeks. I'm living off my credit card that's close to being maxed out. and lo is running outta diapers. When we first moved everything was okay, but lately bills and other expenses have taking everything.. I actually asked for the government to assist me with food, and for a few months I recieved help, but after fob made one support payment, they cut that assistance off because based on his monthly obligations I no longer qualify for help. I've appealed but they say the same thing... Guy's I'm not sure what to do... at this rate In my freezer I have one pack of meat left... after that I'll take lo to my mother's to eat, and as long as she gets a little I'll be fine eatting canned veggies...

Am I the only one barely getting by? Please tell me it gets better? at this point I'm currently searching for a part time job to help out because I can't even picture next month working... I've asked for help from fob, and he told me to wait on support....

 

[JA1988]

Is there no other assistance you can get in america? Here we get 80 a month in child benefit as standars, I receive 240 a month in child rax credits, I work 16 hours a week so get 320 a month from that and then receive working tax credits of 280 a month to top up my income. Is there nothing like that in the us?? Could anyone in your family watch lo while you do a few hours work a week? So sorry to hear you are going through this.

 

[jackie2012]

I know this sucks right now i was in a similar situation with my first i had no help form anyone. i had no family FOB wasn't in the picture and didn't pay a thing for my son and i made to much for assistance and what i did get as far as tax credit and such wasn't much. after rent, daycare and bills i would have very little to buy groceries. There were many weeks where i had to go without because i only had enough to feed my son.
It motivated me to do something to make it better i had no clue what i wanted to do but knew i couldn't keep living like i was.
So i went down to the community college told the counsellor i wanted to get into something that had decent pay, a job market for it so i could actually get a job when i was done and i could get into right away.
So he suggested a course.
They helped me set up student loans and even though it was still hard i had to work as well as go to school just to make ends meet and we still struggled there were weeks i only got an hour or two of sleep and hardly any food. once i finished and got a job that paid more and i ended up really loving it was worth all the hardships.
for me the biggest step was deciding to make the changes and just jump in. I was scared i wasn't sure if i could do it. and when i was done i had to make the choice of packing up to leave our home to find work with nothing but two suitcases.

If i had to offer any advice i'd say pick your goals and work towards them start with a few small ones that works towards your ultimate goal and even though it feels like theres no hope you'll find a way because you have to. if you need to ask a church for help with food or diapers or go to a soup kitchen to get a meal do what you have to. and once you get to a goal you'll be glad you kept plugging through. eventually you'll get to a point where you'll be able to stand on your own two feet.

 

[jaytee146]

Thanks for the responses ladies... @JA1988 there is nothing else I qualify for as far as government assistance is concerned... sadly here if you don't work and have a child you get assistance with housing, food, and just general money, but if you work it's quite different.

@Jakie, going through all this made me see how much I missed nursing school so i've been in contact with an instructor that will hopefully keep me informed when the application process starts so I can get on the waiting list for night nursing courses.