Being Completely Broke

[TGTheodore]

Well, after 18 months of unemployment, I've finally experienced it.

I'm actually broke. No money, no stocks, bonds, secret emergency stashes, major assets.

The food cabinet and refrigerator are almost completely empty.

Now, some people frequently SAY they're broke, but they have savings, IRA's, 401k's, and the like.

This is new to me.

I don't like it.

Anyone else ever been here?

--Ted

 

[Miss Chicken]

When my husband walked out of us he took all the money we had except for $20 I had hidden away for an emergency. As he left on his pay day we didn't have much food in the house.

Luckily I was helped out by the City Mission (they gave me a food voucher) and the Housing Department told me that I wasn't responsible for the rent until the house was signed over into my name which took about a month.

I had to wait 8 days before I received an emergency check from Social Security.

 

[Amaris]

Well, after 18 months of unemployment, I've finally experienced it.

I'm actually broke. No money, no stocks, bonds, secret emergency stashes, major assets.

The food cabinet and refrigerator are almost completely empty.

Now, some people frequently SAY they're broke, but they have savings, IRA's, 401k's, and the like.

This is new to me.

I don't like it.

Anyone else ever been here?

--Ted

Many, many times.
We lived in a car in the dead of winter when I was a child. We had it bad.
So I do know how you feel and empathize.

J.

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Ouch, J. We were very poor and often cold, but never had to live in a car.

When I was 24, I was suddenly fired from my job (for having a black girlfriend ) just as I got back from vacation. I had spent all my money and had about $25 in the bank. I did have about $3000 in my IRA, but it was inaccessible, of course.

In desperation, I took a data entry job at St. Margaret's. In three months, I had moved to a better position and ended up being there more than eight years until the place closed. To make a long story short, I've been in health care now for 24 years, in various positions, and gradually came to be pretty well off. So I guess the moral of the story is: When you hit bottom, you can bounce.

 

[JoeZhang]

I went bust with about $100,000 worth of debt about ten years ago - I took a chance on a business idea and got it wrong.


Eventually I got it right.

 

[GodThingFormerly]

I relocated to the United States from Australia in 1996 and initially lived rather comfortably from the income supplied by the Sydney rental properties my parents left me. Unfortunately the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis drastically lowered the value of the AU$ relative the US$ (thank you, George Soros ), so by late 2000 I was seriously considering a return to Oz because servicing the mortgage on my Westwood, CA. condo as well as my UCLA graduate school tuition fees became virtually impossible even with the help of a moderately well paying janitorial (i.e., orbital debris analysis) position at The Aerospace Corporation. It was only an unexpected and exceedingly generous job offer from a co-ethnic at Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems in Sunnyvale, CA. along with the restitution of my ancestral Rijeka, Croatia shipyards - or what was left of them after sustained RAF bombing during WWII followed by five decades of mismanagement by communist criminals - in early 2001 and their subsequent lease and reconstruction by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems that gave me the financial security to remain in the US. Anyway, from one TGT to another, you have my sincerest sympathies.

TGT

 

[iguana_tonante]

along with the restitution of my ancestral Rijeka, Croatia shipyards - or what was left of them after sustained RAF bombing during WWII followed by five decades of mismanagement by communist criminals

So your family is originally from Rijeka? Cool. I have some friends over there, I may pay a visit there sometime soon.

 

[GodThingFormerly]

So your family is originally from Rijeka?

Kinda sorta, and thank you for not calling the city "Fiume".

TGT

 

[FrontLine]

Ive been there many many times and its terrifying.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Kinda sorta, and thank you for not calling the city "Fiume".

Actually, I was half tempted to call it so just for the funnays, but then I deliberated that maybe that wouldn't be funny at all from your point of view. Borderlands changed hands lots of time in the past: no need to keep kicking each other in the shins for that. Good neighborhood and all that jazz.

 

[Jan]

I've been there. In my early 20s I moved across country with one suitcase and very little money. By the time I got an apartment and paid deposits and things I had about $75 left and most of that was earmarked for public transportation to find a job. Luckily I found one quickly but after bus fare and basic household items (pan, fork, knife etc.) I was only able to buy a loaf of bread and a package of hot dogs to last me until payday in two weeks (at the time I hadn't a clue how to cook rice or beans which would have been a better choice). I didn't say anything to anybody but I think my new co-workers guessed because they'd regularly share their fries or snacks with me. With my first paycheck I splurged and got buns and catsup for those hot dogs!

I've been close many times since but that was the only time I really felt poor because I was missing so many basic household items.

Jan

 

[Crusher Disciple]

Oh, I was so there this month. Overdrawn, medical bills piled up and more to come. I've been so depressed that I was suicidal. I felt like the world's biggest failure.

But I'm lucky- I do have a steady (government) job and will get a paycheck at the beginning of next month. I have lots of beans and rice stored up.

I totally understand how you guys feel. I've been there and my heart goes out to you. I just got lucky in my situation.

 

[jamestyler]

I can empathise deeply. I've been there and it certainly isn't pleasant. I learned to love rice and 8p noodles from Tesco. I was lucky to have my mother to help bail me out - even though I refused to let her until she gave me a guilt trip.

I can see myself getting close to that point again with business being down across the board and am frantically trying to hunt down another job to fight against it and get some more stability.

What are unemployment benefits like in the US? I only know the UK system (which is becoming increasingly unreliable) and am a little curious.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Well, yes and no. I haven't been so bad off that I lost my home, but I only live on a little more than $10,000 a year, even though I have two jobs, which really isn't that much when you factor in rent and bills. Basically, after paying those two major things I only have enough left for some basic groceries, sometimes not even that. When I was an undergraduate I had to use some of that money for tuition as well. Now that I am a graduate student my school expenses are covered through a university grant, thank goodness, so I don't have to worry about that.

Walking into my apartment you wouldn't think I make so little because I have some nice things, like an HDTV, a new desktop computer, and a nice couch and furniture. All of these items were gifts...I can't even remember the last time I bought something "fun" for myself. I feel lucky to have family and friends that are very generous and would be there for me if I truly needed them financially.

However, I prefer to do things on my own, and haven't asked my parents for any money since I went to college. They did help me get a car, because we had a deal that if I paid for my own education they would pay for a nice used car. So I have a '99 Beetle now that I am truly grateful for.

I'm also proud to say that I have no debts and never have. I don't even own a credit card. Of course, I also have no benefits and no time to do anything because I am always either working or at school. If I didn't know that there was a light at the end of the tunnel I would go crazy. But I get by with the knowledge that this will only last another year or two, and then I will have my Master's degree and will be one step closer to my actual career.

So I'm in a weird place. I know people who make more than me (though not much more) who always seem to be over their heads in debt and can't afford rent or bills so they have to go live with their parents or with a friend. I make very little in an area that is NOT cheap to live, but I still have a home to come to and food in my cupboards. Maybe I am just really good at managing money? I have always been really frugal, so that helps. Also, I have no children, and that is a BIG help.

So I don't know...when forms ask for income level and all that it certainly makes me think, wow, I must be really poor. And sometimes I find myself eating Cup Noodles and hot dogs. But when I look around my apartment I don't feel poor...I feel lucky and like I live comfortably. Hmm.

 

[Gertch]

Well, after 18 months of unemployment, I've finally experienced it.

I'm actually broke. No money, no stocks, bonds, secret emergency stashes, major assets.

The food cabinet and refrigerator are almost completely empty.

Now, some people frequently SAY they're broke, but they have savings, IRA's, 401k's, and the like.

This is new to me.

I don't like it.

Anyone else ever been here?

--Ted

Yeah, I've been there. Plain spagetti (or with sauce if you can score some ketchup from fast food place), taking old cigs apart to try and get enough to make one.

Then I found out that a church was giving out baskets of food to those that needed it. That really helped out until I got a call from a temp agency for a temp job at a plastic factory.

So while it might not be the glamorous, there are day jobs and such you can do to keep food on the table.

 

[Mallory]

When I first went on disability my income dropped by 50%, with both my daughters and my wife in college and my high school age son at home. Between that huge loss and the medical bills things were pretty ugly for a few months but we managed to make it through somehow, albeit with a radically changed lifestyle. It'll take years to recover financially from this but, barring further disaster, we will. Right now we're surviving, no luxuries but we've got a roof over our heads, no one gets cold and we manage to eat OK.

Food is still the one thing we struggle with. Fortunately we get help from the Food Bank and the church and occasionally six months worth of food stamps when we can get them. And during the school year my son gets a free hot breakfast and hot lunch at school every day which helps.

Life isn't great, but I'm very grateful for what I do have.

Good luck TGTheodore, I hope things turn around for you soon.

 

[nevermore]

Now, some people frequently SAY they're broke, but they have savings, IRA's, 401k's, and the like.

I have never had any of these things. I have always had a job, but with the exception of the past 3 years or so, those jobs have provided only subsistence wages and I don't use credit cards, so I literally lived "broke" after utilities and rent for the first half of the decade. It helped that I only eat one meal a day anyway, but I do suggest rice and beans as you primary source of sustenance. Better for you than Ramen, and if you make it from the basic ingredients, not much more expensive.

Also, learn to wait tables or bartend or barista. Immediate cash income + shift meal = good stop-gap.

 

[GMac]

Just once (whilst I was waiting for my unemployment benefit money to start) - it's only time I've ever been overdrawn at the bank and had to rely on the generosity of family & friends to keep a roof over my head. Didn't last very long thankfully, although it was another three years before I got a job.....

GM

 

[sidious618]

Wow, sorry to hear about it, man. I can't give you any advice sadly but I wish you the best of luck.

 

[TGTheodore]

Amazing stories. Good advice from all.

I, too, have very generous friends and family, but I just can't ask -- unless it's almost too late. Even then ... it's hard to ask. It doesn't get easier.

I have a roof overhead (at least another month), a nice computer and a little tube TV. So I'm not out yet. My unemployment just covers the rent and food, so I do the "rotation" thing with my other bills.

Things will get better. It's just that I've never been this close to being complete down financially before. At my age, it's really scary sometimes.

At least I've been writing and composing like a maniac with this time. (I just completed my third score for a stage musical). Looking for backers. This time I'll include a little money for myself in the budget.

To others in similar situations, hang in there. It's all part of that one interesting chapter in our biographies.

--Ted