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Me and my sister put up 400 each month to contribute to the rent. I work in a grocery store. My sister has a struggling small business. My father gets his money (800) from SS at the end of each month. I currently have 110 dollars. My sister has less than 40 dollars in the bank. My father has less than 20 dollars.
My sister has put up 200. She was supposed to get another 200 but her client has gone AWOL. This seems to happen a lot to her.
So far i've put up 300 for the rent. This weeks check is going to be less than my usual 300-something due to everyone's days and hours being cut, probably just a 100 dollars or less. Enough to help me pay rent. Or it would have. Yesterday I was given a written warning from the Union. Apparently when you are hired at this store you are automatically made a member of the Union. Information never shared with me. The Union was mentioned to be in a conversation with an older employee; she urged me to join them for the benefits. This implied that I had a choice. Apparently not. And since i'm in the state of California I can't resign from the Union without getting terminated from my only source of income. They want 150 from me by the 23rd of this month (Wednesday, Next Week).
That would subtract 50 from my 110, and my entire check for this week. And they want 25 each month. Not bad...for someone who isn't barely getting buy like me and my family are.
We just received some bills. One is the Internet Bill, which I have always been responsible for paying. The other is the Gas Bill, which I and my sister also have to pay now.
The Internet Bill is 52.13. Adding that with the Union Dues/Fees it will leave me penniless until the 25th. My father has the gas bill, but it is unopened. He is laying around on the couch being depressed and anxious about opening it.
My sister gets 60 bucks from one of her clients today, so if it's under 60 it will be able to be paid.
The worst part is that we have a second mailbox. Which is probably full of more bills that me and my sister may not be able to pay for.
My father is also suffering from acute bronchitis so a lot of my money goes to that. I barely even have money for gas.
I thought we could make it. But my hours being cut in combination with union dues and my sister being unable to come up with the rest of her rent money have done a number on us.
There is a lot of other non-sense afoot that causes crushing stress (my father keeps mentioning suicide as an option for example).
You need to find a new job preferably one without a union if you are being paid that little the union is of no benefit to you. You need to start a plan on developing marketable skills. Also look at various social welfare programs.
That is the only advice we can really give to you.
Get a second job ASAP. You and your sister both. You father should also see if there are things he could do to earn some cash on the side - checking out the 'Etc' jobs on Craig's list is one place to look.
One job that can put cash in your pocket on the first day is waiting tables. Some places will give you free meals as well. Pizza places are great to start - limited menu, decent tips, and mostly evening and weekend shifts.
Once you've brought in some additional $$ and caught up, then start considering how you can build up your skills to get better paying work.
Here is some information about the types of expenses they will provide a grant for
Generally, Modest Needs helps qualified individuals / households to afford two specific types of expenses:
Unexpected or emergency expenses that an individual or family living paycheck-to-paycheck could not possibly afford without a short-term hand-up.
Examples of expenses of this type with which Modest Needs has helped in the past include everything from the cost of medical care not covered by insurance to the cost of repairing or replacing a major appliance to the cost of required work tools or uniforms to the cost of legal fees to complete an adoption to - tragically - the cost of burying a family member that has unexpectedly passed away; and
Monthly bills that an individual or family living paycheck-to-paycheck cannot afford to pay at the time of their application because of a documentable extenuating circumstance.
For example, if you were required to take unpaid leave from work because your child was ill and now cannot afford the cost of your auto insurance, or if you were in an auto accident and cannot afford this month's rent or mortgage payment because you had to pay a deductible to repair your car - under these kinds of documentable emergency situations, Modest Needs would consider paying a regular monthly bill on behalf of your household on a one-time basis.
Me and my sister put up 400 each month to contribute to the rent. I work in a grocery store. My sister has a struggling small business. My father gets his money (800) from SS at the end of each month. I currently have 110 dollars. My sister has less than 40 dollars in the bank. My father has less than 20 dollars.
My sister has put up 200. She was supposed to get another 200 but her client has gone AWOL. This seems to happen a lot to her.
So far i've put up 300 for the rent. This weeks check is going to be less than my usual 300-something due to everyone's days and hours being cut, probably just a 100 dollars or less. Enough to help me pay rent. Or it would have. Yesterday I was given a written warning from the Union. Apparently when you are hired at this store you are automatically made a member of the Union. Information never shared with me. The Union was mentioned to be in a conversation with an older employee; she urged me to join them for the benefits. This implied that I had a choice. Apparently not. And since i'm in the state of California I can't resign from the Union without getting terminated from my only source of income. They want 150 from me by the 23rd of this month (Wednesday, Next Week).
That would subtract 50 from my 110, and my entire check for this week. And they want 25 each month. Not bad...for someone who isn't barely getting buy like me and my family are.
We just received some bills. One is the Internet Bill, which I have always been responsible for paying. The other is the Gas Bill, which I and my sister also have to pay now.
The Internet Bill is 52.13. Adding that with the Union Dues/Fees it will leave me penniless until the 25th. My father has the gas bill, but it is unopened. He is laying around on the couch being depressed and anxious about opening it.
My sister gets 60 bucks from one of her clients today, so if it's under 60 it will be able to be paid.
The worst part is that we have a second mailbox. Which is probably full of more bills that me and my sister may not be able to pay for.
My father is also suffering from acute bronchitis so a lot of my money goes to that. I barely even have money for gas.
I thought we could make it. But my hours being cut in combination with union dues and my sister being unable to come up with the rest of her rent money have done a number on us.
There is a lot of other non-sense afoot that causes crushing stress (my father keeps mentioning suicide as an option for example).
I don't know what to do.
Ugg, I'm so sorry about your situation, I remember being young and lean in every sense. Had the choice of eating canned green peas or green beans for dinner on more than one occasion back in the day.
#1, get your dad help now, doesn't social security have medical help? He needs to be on meds because anyone making suicide statements needs help. If it gets bad, call 911 and they will take him to the hospital.
#2, look for a new job. Not seeing how the union is "helping" to take care of you when you make so little money and then have to pay them to make little money. Call centers are always pretty entry level and although not very fun, collections pays pretty well (since nobody wants to do it).
#3 have a talk with sis and see how this business venture is really going. Is it going to grow? If it's not panning out maybe she needs to refocus.
#4 Can you qualify for any assistance or reduce spending? Utility companies have assistance for low income, maybe food stamps or food pantries could help? You may need to cancel cell phones, cable and the internet. The internet is free at the library (and so are movies) and although that would be inconvenient, it would put $50 back in your pocket immediately. It's amazing what you can really live without.
Bottom line, you have to take some action to improve things. Asking strangers what to do won't change the circumstances but hopefully give you some good ideas.
For near term, while looking for a job, drop the internet and the union. If the job pays so little that the union dues are hurting, that union is doing nothing for you.
I find it sort of odd that it took you 7 months to find a job at a grocery store, which is always hiring. What other sorts of places did you apply to? What sort of job experience do you have? A second job is a start, but you still need to be looking for a real job while working at the grocery store.
Sounds like your sister should figure out how to make her small business work (how do you lose track of clients and you're that underwater that you can't even bring home $60?) or find real work.
Have any in-home sales experience? PM me if so.
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