It’s been a few months, but I’m back. Haven’t written because there hasn’t been much to report, and the last few months have been REALLY hard.

I quit my job after Thanksgiving for something that SOUNDED promising. It was a state job, the pay was a little less, but it got me out of the call center environment which I have been doing for YEARS, and was MUCH closer to home (cut my drive down by about 40 miles a day!) so it seemed as though the positives were going to outweigh the negatives. Well, they hired 4 of us at the same time, for a full time 40 hour a week position… then there ended up not being enough work and we were lucky to get 25 hours a week. Meaning my paychecks were around $175-$200 a week, BARELY enough to even make rent, so all other bills were pretty much ignored. After 7 weeks they decided that there was no point in having us there and we got laid off. Somehow I managed to get lucky and found a temporary position to start the following week. I’m still at that job, but unsure how much longer I will be here, I’m filling in for a person that is out on medical leave. I’m TRYING to find a new full time permanent position, but with the hours I’m working (8-5) it’s making it really difficult to be able to schedule interviews, and I can’t afford to take much time off especially after falling so far behind in December and January. I’m STILL trying to catch up on the bills that I got behind on during that time.

I’m SO lucky that my best friend has been so willing to help me or I don’t know what I would have done. He’s been making sure that I have enough gas to get to and from work, and helping me out with little bits of money so I can buy some food so I’m not COMPLETELY starving. I’ve tried applying for food stamps but somehow according to the state I’m still making too much money… Not sure where they are getting that idea from since my monthly income the last few months has only been about $800 and my rent alone is $675. It’s so frustrating! I feel so bad that my friend is doing all of this for me and I have no idea when or IF I will ever be able to pay him back for it all. He keeps insisting that I don’t have to and not to worry about it, but I still hate being in that position, it’s not his job to take care of me. UGH.

On the brighter side of things I’m getting just over $1200 back on my federal tax return, I should be getting that next week. I owe the state $62 which I plan to pay as soon as I get the check, I have to pay back my mom $200 that she let me borrow, pay my phone bill that’s now almost 2 months behind, my electric bill that is 3 months behind and DEFINITELY buy some groceries. The rest (which should be around $700) I plan to just keep as emergency money. Once I’m caught up my income should cover bills with about $300 a month available for gas/groceries, which is definitely enough. Then I just need to hope that I find a new job before this one ends that way I don’t end up right back in the same hole. Fingers crossed!

Anyway, I better get off and do some work!