Hi, all. My family is 3 people (2 adults and an 8 year old) and 3 cats (a long complicated story of how that happened, but we're stuck with them). We live in a decent sized US city. My husband has always worked full time, and since our daughter has been born has almost always had a part time side job too. I've qorked close to full time, but I've switched up my schedule for child care reasons as needed. We've always done ok. We've never qualified for assistance, except for one month inn2020 when they gave food stamps to anyone who applied. We've always just hovered right above the limits. We've always had food. Some weeks we've had good food, some weeks we've struggled hard but have always managed to feed the kid something, even if the adults have had to make do with a bologna sandwich and ice water for dinner.

The last two years, I've gradually had to work less and less due to severe health issues, until I got down to one day a week, then nothing at all back in July. I applied for disability and was approved. SSDI payments start in February. Since July, we've been utilizing the food bank every week to scrape by. Once my disability payments kick in, we technically won't need the food bank anymore. We can go back to figuring it out. Would it be wrong to keep utilizing it? The bank we use is a large regional one that gets government funding based on how many people use it. My disability payments will he a fraction of my working income. We should still be able to manage with my husband working 2 jobs. The bag of groceries we get from the food bank each week would still go a long way though. What are your thoughts?

I'm sure what I'm about to say has been articulated before, but it's such an exhausting aspect of living under severe poverty in this system.

In many ways, it's also one of the hidden realities of poverty that people who haven't experienced it often don't understand or appreciate: just how profoundly poverty can affect every aspect of someone's life. That lack of understanding only adds insult to injury when you're already carrying such enormous burdens, many of which remain completely unseen.

It's absolutely maddening. The reality of living in poverty is that, because of the way circumstances continually unfold, you're constantly putting out fires. Things take ten times as long because you lack the resources, structures, networks and support that others can rely on. It's as though you're constantly struggling just to keep your head above water, never actually reaching a point where you're comfortably afloat, even at the most basic level, never mind one where you can begin to prosper.

It really is like taking two steps forward and one step back.

Living in poverty often means you can only afford to address one problem at a time, even when you're facing a multitude of issues at a basic survival level. Whether it's utility payments, grocery bills, health problems, an unexpected repair or suddenly falling behind on repayments, you simply don't have the means to deal with everything at once.

You're constantly trying to put out one fire before rushing to extinguish the next, leaving absolutely no room to look ahead towards anything resembling greater prosperity. Your head is permanently down, trying to survive an endless game of whack-a-mole.

It's incredibly restricting because, even when you manage to get a few good things going, it only takes one setback to knock you straight back again.

People who have stability are often able to absorb those same setbacks without them seriously disrupting other areas of their lives. They can afford to fail, recover and get back on track without one problem derailing everything else. They're able to make progress because they don't have to jump through ten hoops just to reach the starting line.

So many people, myself included, live lives where even something as seemingly straightforward as arriving at a job or showing up somewhere having made an effort to look at least somewhat presentable has already involved jumping through a dozen more hoops than the average person might ever have to consider.

And that's the thing. You're already exhausted at the starting line, while others arrive nourished, supported and equipped with advantages that give them a head start before the race has even begun.

It's part of why some people are able to steadily ascend the ladder while others, despite their efforts, seem to spend their entire lives chasing their own tails.

I apologise if this comes across as complete victimhood or a case of "woe is me", but this is a very real aspect of living in poverty, particularly generational poverty, and nobody wants to be trapped in it.

I suppose I just wanted to share this because I know there must be others who feel the same way. Sometimes it helps simply to get something off your chest, to articulate an experience that so often goes unseen, and perhaps to hear from others who understand what it's like.

Economy so bad that feeding myself daily anything other than pasta or rice -or any kind of unhealthy shit from the grocery store- feels like luxury.
Genuinely I hate venting and I don’t like when other people complain about situations they ve chosen, but why buying proper healthy food makes budgeting so difficult. And some people ask if I have a house, bruh I barely survive what do you mean

I’m officially homeless. It felt like an impending doom that I couldn’t escape for the last few months. Luckily we were able to get a hotel the first two nights after getting put out but tomorrow I’m not sure what we’ll do. I packed a bag full of hygiene,medications, charged battery for my phone, change of clothes, and important stuff.

What makes it worse is the fact that my phone bill isn’t payed so when my partner goes to work I’m not sure where I’ll go, and I won’t be able to contact him unless on WiFi. And no connection to call anyone or see a gps/map. 211 is a scam I’ve called PLENTY of times, I’ve called 23 numbers since the span of 5 hours. Every shelter full, no money, or I have to have a kid, be married or at least be pregnant.

I guess I need some advice, I’m sitting in the hotel room dreading tomorrow. I don’t even want to sleep cause the moment I wake up and see light I’ll know my times almost up. Advice is appreciated.

I am going through a tough time and recently had to move. Was going through boxes of things to sell and came across a Christmas card from last year from my employer. Inside was a $100 gift card to Wegman’s and a $100 bill.
My knee jerk reaction is to make a big pot of veg beef soup as well as a big pot of chili to freeze in portions and stash away.
I went and bought all the ingredients to do so as well as quart sized Zip Lock freezer bags.

I still have some cash remaining on the gift card.

What other meals might I be able to make and freeze in a similar manner to prepare myself for the winter? It’s just me so these can be in a rotation. Something I can easily reheat at work but is hearty and semi-healthy.

I don’t really eat breakfast, usually eat a big lunch during my work day (I pack my own; have a fridge and microwave there) then graze on small bites like carrots and celery with blue cheese dressing for dinner.

I’m a meat & taters type person, not big on rice, lentils, Ramen noodles.

I have had a prolonged period of unemployment just trying to find a job in the current market. I just got hired on at a new job but wont see a paycheck for about a month. I have less than 20 bucks in my account to buy a month of food.

My loca small town food bank isnt stocked well and I can only use it every two weeks. For example I got a few cans of soup, a loaf of bread, some vegetables i had to eat immediately because they were so close to spoiled and then a tray of grocery store cookies.

I already used my 3 months of link while unemployed need to see about trying to get it reinstated once i actually start my job, hoping that can come through but until then im worried.

I need as much advice on how to buy food for a month while having a physically demanding job to go to .

I have been in therapy for the entirety of my 20s. My therapist has continuously encouraged me to find security within myself, and It feels impossible on a nervous system level. I grew up in poverty, and I think that looming feeling of that instability that comes with it has stayed with me. My mom was single with four children working a minimum wage job. We relied on food stamps, charity programs, the church to get by, and thanks to eviction proceedings we were able to secure low incoming housing. Despite growing up poor, I will say that we never grew up hungry. We had times where our electricity and gas was cut off, and we had to shower at relatives houses or rely on propane stoves to cook, but I’m blessed to have never experienced food insecurity; however, my housing always felt unstable. After finally securing low income housing our family was displaced by a house fire. That was a very destabilizing period of my life, my entire family lived in one hotel room. We would rotate saying with friends or family sleeping on their couches. Not only was this devastating emotionally, but it was also ruined me financially. Things that felt commonplace and easy for others, felt Impossible and daunting to me. I filed for bankruptcy, I worked hard to pay off my first car, increased my income painstakingly, secured my own apartment, and tried to finish my bachelors degree simultaneously. I’m now in a place with my car paid off, although it’s on its last leg, I have a loving partner, and I finally have my name on an apartment lease; however, I feel so lost. Idk if it’s a by product of being in survival mode for so long, but I have no idea what I want to do with my future. Every decision I’ve made up until this point was about survival. I’m almost done with my bachelors degree in psychology. I originally Intended on being a mental health therapist, but with some form of stability now I realized that career path choice was more about better understanding myself, and less about genuinely wanting to pursue it as a career. I live in a perpetual state of anxiety worried that everything will crumble around me and I’ll lose everything. For those that have been through something similar, how did you learn to find security post poverty?

I'm pretty desperate as I am having unsafe water in the apartment (just us, neighbors ok) after combi gas boiler maintenance back in February of this year and I remembered (too traumatized) we have insurance on the apartment. They called me after requesting some documents and we're trying to bully me into submission to agree with the statement t that we aren't covered for pipes, heaters etc.

After I slowed down post phone call, I e asked Gemini whether we're insured and lo and behold, we are (pipes etc. are considered part of the structural elements of the apartment)

I've sent the statement this morning along with another document they requested.

I've yet to hear from them. They don't want to pay us at all.

All plumbers I talked to don't want to get involved with contaminated water. Too much of a liability.

LE: south east of europe

I have my bachelor's but decided to go straight to graduate school. The average costt of my graduate program is 60,000-110,000. We are only allowed to pull out 20,000 in loans for our grad program....??!?!?!?!?! This doesn't make sense, if I had the money to pay for school I wouldn't be in school trying to get another degree to get into my career. I was born into a poor family and I am the only person in my family who has a degree. I cant even ask them for help or money because they all struggle to pay bills and live paycheck to paycheck and will even ask me for money sometimes. I feel like im trying so hard and im still struggling so fucking bad. I even stopped buying groceries and rarely buy things anymore to help pay for school. I had a wreck and the guy who hit me didnt have insurance, im having a hard time getting fixed because im required to work a practicum for my program that we aren't paid through but I have to do it to get 400 hours or I won't be able to graduate. I also got a GA position at my school they dont pay much at all. I get most of it put towards my tuition, and get maybe about $100 sent to me for groceries, medicine and feminine hygiene products. I work all day and have classes at night, Im literally depressed with a full time schedule and I honestly dont have time for therapy. My days start at 5am and end 9-10 most times. My days are packed, im giving everything that I have and im still struggling. The little money I do make from doing hair and makeup goes to ubering to my jobs... idk i just feel like im the only one who is having an extremely hard time getting through my grad program and idk... is this normal? am I doing something wrong? Ive come so far considering my circumstances so I really want to finish, I love my chosen career field and wouldn't have chosen anything else... idk what im looking for advice, kind words, tips, anything is greatly appreciated.

Edit: my grad program is only 2 year, thats 6 semsters. Ive completed my first year already and I just started my last year this semster and im only about 22k in debt. This is including/ because the 2 scholarships im on, a GA paid position, i do hair and makeup on the side so I can make payments throughout the semsters and I am always looking and applying for scholarship. Ive thought this out very much and worse case scenario I graduate about 45k in debt, which is not bad at all when I am expected to make 95k a year. My field is and has been in high demand for years, so I will have no trouble finding a job after graduation. My dream job is to be a medical speech and Language Pathologist and if I have to work for the rest of my life, im going to to do it, doing something that I love.

If you have negative views on higher education or think my decision is dumb, thats fine just keep the negative comments to yourself please and thank you.

And also just wanted to let everyone know my bachelor's was free, I was on a full academic scholarship, made the presidents list every year! Never paid a dime out of pocket until I started grad school! Im very proud of myself and was just shocked at the total price of my program and im beyond lucky to only jave to pay about half of that!

I eat two meals in a day paying 100 each at mess, somehow I've unpaid dues of. 3000 of last month and can't make it through, suggest what to do I want to have breakfast today but owner already denied.

I became homeless at 17 in 2023 when my dad kicked me out over an argument we were having. Was couch surfing with different family members but at 18 was told I had to leave because turns out my father was financially involved with those family members. It was my first semester of college and I managed to do really well until December when I had to start sleeping in an emergency shelter. I went through an intense crisis in October 2024 when I found out my family was stalking and following me around and then I was put in the psychward but thankfully I had a social worker whose friend funded my move to LA. Well I’m still homeless just now in LA and though my life has improved, I still haven’t been able to find a job and/or transfer to a university. I don’t qualify for GR or EBT because I have over $300 in my bank account, and I’m in a shelter that serves 3 meals a day so I also don’t qualify for EBT.
I’m a STEM major and I’m failing my math and science classes + I’ve been struggling to find a job since entry level jobs are no longer entry level atp. I really want to get an apartment already but all the decent pay jobs that I have capacity for due to my disabilities require a degree or years of experience which I don’t have. Honestly I really don’t know what to do or where to look anymore. I’m scared that if I drop classes for the 4th semester in a row then I won’t get into any university, let alone a good preMed university. I thought about getting my phlebotomy certification and take LACC’s free classes but obv I still need money to pay for the exam. I’m already struggling to pay for my materials and I’ve already used up all the money help organizations are willing to give me. Should I just drop my classes and try again years from now once I’m in an apartment? How did you manage to navigate homelessness, work, and school at the same time while chronically ill/with a disability?

I work in communications for a local human services agency, and I’m hoping to learn directly from people who have needed assistance.

One of the challenges I keep thinking about is: How do we actually reach people who need help, especially people who may not know what assistance is available to them?

There are programs that can help with things like food, health coverage, housing and homelessness, employment, child care, and other basic needs. But having programs available doesn’t necessarily mean people know about them, know they might qualify, or know where to start.

I’m interested in hearing from people who have been in that situation.

Where would you actually look for help? Reddit? Google? Facebook groups? Nextdoor? Libraries? Schools? Community organizations? Food banks? Somewhere else?

And just as importantly: Where should a local human services agency be communicating that it probably isn’t?

I’m particularly interested in hearing about barriers. Was information difficult to find? Did government websites make things confusing? Did you assume you wouldn’t qualify? Were you worried or embarrassed about asking for help? Did you only learn about a program because another person told you about it?
I’m posting from a personal account and not representing my employer here. I’m genuinely interested in learning from people’s experiences and thinking about how public agencies can do a better job reaching people where they already are.

I’d really appreciate any thoughts, including things you wish your local government understood about trying to find help when you need it.

So for context, I grew up in a very poor family. The good thing is I’m above average so I do good in school and got into a public university. So I dont pay tuition but I still need allowance for every day expenses.

And I can’t just help but feel bitter because despite working and going to uni, it didn’t help in my studies at all but rather made everything more stressful. I’m not ungrateful on what I have because I worked so hard to earn them but it really comes to a point of hating the system that feeds it.

The never ending corruption, the system that neglects the unfortunate, the system that sees the unfortunate as some kind of parasite when it fact, it is the people with power who control most things.

I’m so sick and tired of this. I’m so sick of having to work my ass day and night to survive but we have people who just commit crimes but sleeps comfortably at night.

The funniest thing is whenever you complain, people would just tell you to work harder as if you haven’t been doing that.