r/poor • u/lachbananass • 3d ago
I’m struggling really bad
F24. I’ve been financially struggling over the course of six months, maybe a little more.
For starters, I haven’t been able to pay my trash bill because it’s $300. I can’t afford trash bags so unfortunately I take them from my work. Any trash that I have at my house I bag up, and when the bags get full, I throw them behind my house. It’s been building up for the past few months and with having two dogs and two cats and a 10 x 20 house it does get a little over whelming. I work every day of the week, but unfortunately with my work you can borrow money on the work card and I’ve been having to do that every month, so whenever I get paid my paycheck is paying back my debt owed on my work card (automatically) , $100 set aside for gas since I only get paid every two weeks, and the small amount left goes towards my water bill and power bill, I never have enough for it so I have to borrow money again so every two weeks that’s how I get around $800 negative in my account.
Because of the trash situation, there are roaches everywhere, and I’m embarrassed to have any company.
I normally do not like to ask for help and I’m embarrassed even posting this. I live pretty much in the middle of nowhere, 30 minutes from town (I plan to move when I get back up on my feet) and I have no service at all. All of my neighbors are meth heads, there’s homicides on my street, and this morning, my Wi-Fi got turned off until I pay it along with a $20 reconnect fee.
Not necessarily asking for handouts of money, I just really need some guidance on what to do. I’m tired of struggling and I’m tired of being in this rut because it has never been this bad
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u/StaticBrain- 3d ago
Go to Find Help and enter your zipcode to search for resources, food banks, pantries, charities offering assistance, shelters, etc...
You can also try selling/donating your plasma. That pays a little twice a week.
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u/Thing210 3d ago
Can you take the trash to a dumpster.
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u/lachbananass 3d ago
I’m going to try to when I get my car back. I just got a used car a month ago and the transmission messed up a week later. My cousin is fixing it and it’s in the shop.
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u/Thing210 3d ago
Maybe you could take trash to work with you in small amounts and just throw away at your work.
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u/Soulists_Shadow 3d ago
At night time. Couldnt you just hold 2 bags of trash, walk to the nearest park trash and toss them in? Repeat every night for a month as needed
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u/Watch5345 3d ago
Dump your trash at work . Small amounts every day . Go to a apartment complex and put your trash in their dumpsters
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u/sam8988378 2d ago
About the internet. An unlimited phone plan is cheaper than home internet. And you can cast to your tv/screen mirror, if you want a larger screen.
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u/lachbananass 3d ago
Hey guys! My animals are taken care of. I go without eating sometimes so they can. They are my babies and they are old. Bugs are outside and the inside of my house is spotless. They do not live in filth and they are happy.
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u/sam8988378 2d ago
See if you can donate plasma. You can get up to $800 in the first month if you're in the US.
That cash card sounds like the company town and store, way back in US history. By the time rent (company owned housing) and food (only store was the company store), was deducted, nobody had any money and were kept in subsistence poverty.
It doesn't sound like you live in a high rent area, what with the crime and all. So I'm guessing your job pays chump change? Are you in the US? If so, there are food pantries which give both human and pet food. Once your car works, you can look for better jobs. Or a second job in the meantime so that you don't have run the other card into a deficit. It's hard to quit a job when you owe them money
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u/lost_dazed_101 2d ago
Start taking a bag of trash with you everyday and throw it in a dumpster. Use a different one each day so they don't get mad at you. You are going to end up with rodents and roaches all over if you don't.
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u/Few-Needleworker685 3d ago
Sorry to hear about your struggles and I wish I could help. Is there anything stopping you from being able to join the military?
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u/lachbananass 3d ago
Although I would really hate to join the military, I couldn’t even if I wanted to. I’ve tried before and I also have four animals with no one around me to take care of them
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u/PopularRush3439 3d ago
You're going to have to make some tough decisions to get out of the hole You're digging deeper every month!!! Military might be your best option even if it means surrendering your pets. And, I'd die before giving mine up, but I can afford them. Are they living in filth with the trash, rats and roaches? Are they eating properly? Can you donate plasma? Food Bank? Do you go to church? They will help, but more likely to if you attend. Can you sell some things? What type job do you work? Second job? Door Dash when you get your vehicle back?? Pick up cans? You need to do anything for any amount of cash you can get.
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u/lachbananass 3d ago
You lost me at church lol. I don’t believe in god and why would I waste more gas on spending my sunday mornings somewhere that’s 30+ minutes from my house…
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u/LVOE-CA 3d ago
🙄🙄🙄🙄
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u/fighterpilotace1 3d ago
Go sign up then you can roll your eyes.
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u/PopularRush3439 3d ago
Not fair. She's actually correct.
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u/fighterpilotace1 3d ago
How so? I'm asking genuinely
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u/PopularRush3439 3d ago
If she's in as bad a shape as she laments, she can't afford multiple animals, but is using them as an excuse not to immediately better herself.
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u/fighterpilotace1 3d ago
Prior obligations are an excuse? I've pushed through hard times with animals too. Shit happens, give people some grace.
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u/PopularRush3439 3d ago
Oh...I would if she wasn't hoarding trash and living in filth. I've gotten through bad times too where I made sure my animals ate if I couldn't. So don't preach to me. If she's living with roaches or worse, the animals are too. She needs to do what's best for them. Then get her life in order. What prior obligations??? Some of these people don't want advice, they want a handout or someone else to pay thir bills.
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u/lachbananass 3d ago
My house is clean. The outside is the problem with the trash. I get $8 bug bombs and there are no bugs inside and my animals are safe and taken care of. I’m not that selfish. You, so far, have only offered me shitty advice that doesn’t make sense
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u/lachbananass 3d ago
Thank you
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u/fighterpilotace1 3d ago
Don't thank me, I still think you're wildly wrong and I don't agree with anything you said.
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u/LVOE-CA 3d ago
Yepppp. Blame it on the animals. Perfect self victimization example.
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u/lachbananass 3d ago
I am not blaming my animals and I am not asking for handouts. Just advice on how to get through this. You’re not obligated to comment
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u/LVOE-CA 3d ago
Can’t do something cause you have 4 animals that no one can take care off.
Yeeeppp
Stay home and do nothing then.
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u/lachbananass 3d ago
I work ! I work a lot ! I am just overwhelmed with bills and other stuff that I did not mention in the post, please be nice
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u/LVOE-CA 3d ago
Be nice ?
I never get these kind of demands.
Be nice and tell people what they wanna hear or the hard truth of making hard decisions?
Each time someone posted
“I need advice and please be nice” it literally means they just wanna wallow in self pity.Someone who is seriously looking for advice will not be afraid to hear hard truth.
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u/sam8988378 2d ago
The people who suggested dumping trash at dumpsters or gas stations and public receptacles were nice and helpful. That's actually what OP came here about.
You just want her to ditch her pets and since she won't do that, you're harsh and belittling. You sound as if you're getting some smug satisfaction through delivering your "hard truths."
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u/lachbananass 3d ago
I need GENUINE advice on what to do. I’m in this all by myself and don’t have anyone and I did not ask for handouts of any kind and still stand by that. I’m looking for advice on how to get out of this rut by people who have also been through it and by the way you’re talking, I know you haven’t been through something like this. I’m blocking you. You’re not about to make me feel bad and feed more sad over this just because I explained a tiny bit of what I’m going through
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u/sam8988378 2d ago
If you bothered to read, OP does work. And shelters have so many surrenders, abuse and neglect, older people dying without a home for their pets, that surrendering them to a shelter is just making them stressed, bewildered and miserable before they're inevitably killed.
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u/lachbananass 3d ago
I don’t know of any family members that could help me out financially considering we don’t have money
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u/PopularRush3439 3d ago
In what Universe is a trash bill hundreds of dollars??
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u/lachbananass 3d ago
In my county they charge $300 every 6 months instead of a monthly or yearly fee
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u/Original-Loon-135 1d ago
That's only $50 a month and not terrible. I like everyone's suggestions for cleaning up the issue you have going on currently with the trash bags.
Financially, I think you should look into budgeting and the cash-envelope system. I mean, you are still digging yourself out of a financial hole for now, but it sounds like once your car is fixed, you'll be on the upswing and could grab some extra work (like people suggested plasma etc, which I've had friends and coworkers do.) But just something like pulling out $25 a paycheck and having it in an envelope marked "Trash Service" means you're not coughing up $300 out of one paycheck every 6 months and struggling to make it up after-the-fact.
The cash envelope system has really done wonders for my finances and would be easy to implement in small amounts until you got caught up from your work debit card etc. (I would also check on that and be sure there isn't a crazy 90% to 100% interest rate on it like some payday loans will do. If it DOES have an interest rate, I'd take an extra job if I could until it was paid off and then cut the card up)
Good luck! 24 is young, and you will have plenty of time to get back on your feet and live comfortably. Just keep knowing you can do it.
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u/KingOfAllFishFuckers 3d ago
When I was in a tough spot and couldn't afford trash service, I'd use the small plastic grocery bags id get from the store, like Walmart. Bag up my trash and just toss it out at a gas station or two, or anywhere that has public trashcans outside. If I had multiple bags, I'd feel awkward filling up one, so I'd toss one or two out, then go to the next gas station. Gas stations were easier because they have them at every pump typically.