At my job they are doing this four day work week things to attract staff. When we are fully staffed in my department then we will transition to four day work weeks and get paid for five. Good deal, eh? I doubt that nursing will ever be fully staffed. I don't thing any health care facility is ever fully staff. But even so, I get paid six days for working five so I can't complain at all.
I'm so happy to be financially comfortable. I waited so long to be where I am right now. I think about all those years when we didn't know how we were going to pay the bills. Waiting for evictions, living in hotel rooms, going without phone service until pay day, sitting outside fast food places or convenient stores in my car so I could use the wi fi.
There was a hair salon and a realtor that were located across the street in our backyard in Englewood. They faced the highway but the back of the building faced our backyard you see. So if you were on the side of the shop you could connect to their free wifi. Jackie and Sean would sit back there and download free games on their devices. Sometimes I would stand there to send messages. When I would get tips I would go to the "dollar dollar" store and buy one dollar food items for the kids to snack on. 20 bucks meant 20 items and no tax on food.
I pawned my wedding ring to pay bills. Usually we bought it back but eventually we couldn't. So my wedding ring is gone. That is one regret of mine. I pawned any gold I had long ago. I had saved a quarter that had the year 1977 on it in my jewelry box for years and years. I had no real reason but I thought it was neat. Well, I had to spend that also. Everything we ever had was gone.
Sometimes I would steal small items from work like a roll of toilet paper or something to stick in my bag when we couldn't afford any. David would bring home furniture that had been thrown in the garbage from residents that moved out or passed away from his job at the assisted living facility. That was the only way we furnished our house after we lost everything after our previous eviction.
So many years we relied on Toys for Tots so the kids could have Christmas gifts. The kiddos were always a bit disappointed that they didn't receive anything they actually wanted but we didn't have any other option. Christmas is a sad and depressing time when you are poor. You want to give your kids the best but when you live paycheck to paycheck you don't have any extra money for that stuff. You have to pay bills and buy food. Poor people usually have poor credit and no credit cards. We haven't had credit cards in more years than I can count. Only in the last couple years we have been able to work on improving our credit.
Last year we received the child tax credit from the government to help us at Christmastime. I wish they were able to extend that but senate voted against it. I wish they could spend a day in the life of an actual poor person so they could understand how much that extra money helps. They don't know what it's like. In any case don't get me started on that.
Due to my four day work week pay and David's full time job, we actually can afford gifts this year! I got so many great things for everybody. I'm actually happy. I feel grateful for everything that we have. I'm just so happy to have a house and food and bills that are paid. I don't go hungry and neither do my kids. We all have nice clean clothes. We live well. I suppose I can't go bragging to people but it's just that everything has been so uncertain for a very long time. I can't remember a time when I could go grocery shopping without having to check the bank balance first. It' such a freeing feeling.
Do I deserve this life? No, I don't think I do. I feel very lucky I'm here. I'm so grateful every day.
