Furiously treading water.
I haven't been posting much because I don't feel the urge to add to the numerous blog posts about the sucktacular economy. In light of a recent wave of non-friend and anonymous comments, I'd like to say a few things.
My partner has been out of work for two months. There is no unemployment check because his last two jobs have been contract positions. He talks to several recruiters a week, does 1-2 phone screens per week. So far he has had two face-to-face meetings but no second interviews. I've applied to every restaurant and store within walking distance. I am competing against people with retail experience and college degrees for entry level jobs.
We have no savings, having exhausted them during the last period of unemployment and during his last contract job he only made enough to get caught up on everything and pay bills through the end of March. I've sold everything of mine of value and hope he sells the china to a local jeweler I found that will buy china. (I got a quote from Replacements for the lot, but the cost of shipping is prohibitive.)
Our gas has been off for a month now, so we have neither hot water nor heat. I am getting along without hot water, but most of the month was unseasonably cold (we got snow at the end of spring break) so I have been sluggish at doing anything that entails me not staying warm. Our internet access may be turned off any time now since the bill was due a week ago. We have a power disconnection notice dated April 7th and our rent will be late after April 3rd. We do not have enough to pay either of those things; we can't afford to fill up the car with gas right now. We have been living off what we have in our kitchen for a month, less a few things I've picked up on clearance (dented cans and boxes) and dried rice and beans bought in bulk. (The kiddo gets animal protein, milk and fresh fruit in school lunch.)
Once our internet access is off, I will be checking mail once a day from the library, which is four and a half miles round-trip and open Tuesday through Saturday. Tomorrow morning I will be waiting at a ministry-operated services agency when it opens in hopes they can help us with the electric bill. It is first-come, first-serve, so I expect to be there until at least noon with no guarantee of assistance, although I am hoping to get a bag of groceries -- theirs include milk, eggs, and tortillas, all of which sound wonderful. After that I will be volunteering at the school, which is the one place that I can go and do something productive outside of the house.
tl;dr? We're out of work, broke, and exhausted. This makes me have little patience for people I don't know leaving condescending and/or rude comments because I am in the process of settling something with Their Online Friend. I'm pretty sure Jesus would not do that.
My partner has been out of work for two months. There is no unemployment check because his last two jobs have been contract positions. He talks to several recruiters a week, does 1-2 phone screens per week. So far he has had two face-to-face meetings but no second interviews. I've applied to every restaurant and store within walking distance. I am competing against people with retail experience and college degrees for entry level jobs.
We have no savings, having exhausted them during the last period of unemployment and during his last contract job he only made enough to get caught up on everything and pay bills through the end of March. I've sold everything of mine of value and hope he sells the china to a local jeweler I found that will buy china. (I got a quote from Replacements for the lot, but the cost of shipping is prohibitive.)
Our gas has been off for a month now, so we have neither hot water nor heat. I am getting along without hot water, but most of the month was unseasonably cold (we got snow at the end of spring break) so I have been sluggish at doing anything that entails me not staying warm. Our internet access may be turned off any time now since the bill was due a week ago. We have a power disconnection notice dated April 7th and our rent will be late after April 3rd. We do not have enough to pay either of those things; we can't afford to fill up the car with gas right now. We have been living off what we have in our kitchen for a month, less a few things I've picked up on clearance (dented cans and boxes) and dried rice and beans bought in bulk. (The kiddo gets animal protein, milk and fresh fruit in school lunch.)
Once our internet access is off, I will be checking mail once a day from the library, which is four and a half miles round-trip and open Tuesday through Saturday. Tomorrow morning I will be waiting at a ministry-operated services agency when it opens in hopes they can help us with the electric bill. It is first-come, first-serve, so I expect to be there until at least noon with no guarantee of assistance, although I am hoping to get a bag of groceries -- theirs include milk, eggs, and tortillas, all of which sound wonderful. After that I will be volunteering at the school, which is the one place that I can go and do something productive outside of the house.
tl;dr? We're out of work, broke, and exhausted. This makes me have little patience for people I don't know leaving condescending and/or rude comments because I am in the process of settling something with Their Online Friend. I'm pretty sure Jesus would not do that.