We need more than just $1

They tell me, “I don’t have anything till my next paycheck and I’ve been using socks as toilet paper.” 

&

I was like, “Really, bro?  When you live right across the Dollar Tree and you could get four rolls for $1.25? Holy shit, bro, you just reminded me of the good old times.” 

    I couldn’t count on one hand the number of times I spent money when I shouldn’t have.  The difference between $249 and $250 is the difference between staying on the streets with $249 in your pocket because you couldn’t afford a dollar to pay $250 for your week at the halfway house.  

    Spending $2 on a meal and $10 determines whether we eat for 2 days or 10 if we’re on a $20 budget. 

I know it’s hard because I’ve done it. 

    I’ve used $3 for a box of crackers and Vienna sausages and for 3 days, at some point, that’s all I would eat: breakfast, lunch, and dinner….till I’m taking a shit with an indistinct smell. 

These are just one of the issues we face when we’re broke.  

Don’t forget, nutrition is fundamental to our overall daily functioning. 

[Keep in mind the people living on the streets taking in a fifth of alcohol on an empty stomach…..(food for thought) ]

    I told my best friend the story about the time I was sleeping at the Boulder Shelter, and had attained a job at a landscaping company right down the street, & how on my first day of work(no money) the shelter didn’t give out any food for breakfast.  I mowed lawns for the first 5 hours on an empty stomach and would be throwing up bile in front of a coworker without the decency to offer me something to eat.  

But was that really his responsibility or mine? 

    I lost the job two days later.  But if I would’ve kept it, I would’ve been making $15/hr, getting paid weekly, working 40hrs a week, while living at a shelter...Do I think I would’ve been able to save up and get out of there? 

Heck no. 

    To get out of the streets we need a big bundle of cash.  I’ve been on the streets with a stack.  I’ve had 2. I’ve had 3.  But nothing works better than 5 grand in your pocket. But even 5 grand isn’t a budget suitable to finding an apartment here.  In either state, doesn’t matter: Florida, Colorado, New York, California. I know shit is cheap in places like Idaho and Oklahoma but, bitch, who the fuck wants to live in states like that? You feel me? 

That’s why I didn’t give my bestie $10.  

Cause it doesn’t matter how much I give them cause I know it won’t be enough.  

Besides that, they made $28 the next day. 

They still didn’t buy any toilet paper. 

Just kidding. 

    You know, I’m a lot calmer now that I’m able to see things from a wider scope. I know I’m not that dumb but it took me a while to change the patterns of my behaviors while living on the street. The lessons I’ve learned from experience live rent free in mind because if there’s anything I hate wasting more than food, it’s time.  

I hate to waste time.  

The 28 days I spent in jail? 

Those days cost me a semester of school because I had gotten locked up right at the start of the semester and since I hadn’t logged into class, they withdrew me from my courses. I could’ve finished my AS this year. For some reason, that didn’t happen.  

Would I trade my experience from jail with completing my AS? 

No.  Because I could still finish it now.  

Besides— it’s essential to know what jail is like.  

That’s why it’s important to budget for toilet paper. They even have to do that in jail.  Why would you leave those details for the minute you realize you need them? 

You know that song by Sade?  Why Can’t We Live Together? 

If I had to tell you why, it’d be because of that.  

You tell me all the time it’s because you want to be alone.  

Just last night, your grocery bags broke and I’m just wondering how the fuck you got home.  

The most important thing to me when I’m living on the streets are the following, in no particular order:

• how I’m going to wash my ass
• how to get water
• what the fuck I’m gonna eat
• how much sleep I’m supposed to get

    When we’re broke, we’re in a constant state of survival mode— having money reduces these problems…learn to hold yourself together and not get caught with your pants around your knees…wiping your ass with mismatched socks.  lol. 

If you’re gonna ask for money, might as well make it $3k and not $10. Haha