I am so screwed…
Hello all, I don’t do this whole Reddit thing so please bear with me here as I try to explain everything 😭
My boyfriend and I (23m/20f) are both in our very early twenties. He is incredible and provides as much as possible where he can, but right now we’re in a crazy roommate situation that has pushed us into a three month eviction standoff. While he is an amazing provider (and in normal circumstances we would be totally fine), he isn’t providing ENOUGH which is entirely not his fault, he’s working as much as his jobs will let him and I feel genuinely terrible about that.
My roommate (20m) has made this entire process incredibly difficult and I won’t get into the specifics of the situation at hand, but it has been very financially taxing. All of my furniture was damaged, my car broke down and got towed during all of this, roommate messing with all of our food the second it goes into the kitchen so we have no way to cook or eat most of the time even after spending hundreds a month in grocery bills, etc etc(All of this started because my roommate and my bf weren’t getting along over something my roommate started, and because I didn’t block my boyfriend and stop seeing him my roommate got mad and tried to evict me over it…)
We cannot afford the pettiness. We cannot afford to keep replacing things we just bought and we’re keeping so much food and living supplies in our bedroom it feels like a depressing stock room we can’t get out of. Our cars are both shot, they broke down right after we got the thirty day notice pretty much back to back, so my boyfriend is ubering back and forth to work (around $50+/day, 6 days/week). I lost my job in the middle of all of this with all of the stress and calling police and meeting with lawyers and I don’t qualify for unemployment. My mental health has seriously declined and I have physical health issues that were already worsening before, but the stress all of this is really starting to worry me and with no job comes no health insurance. I can barely walk 40 feet ahead of me without almost collapsing and I don’t know how much more I can do.
With this, we are restricted to my boyfriends income. We cut out all unnecessary spending and are down to just Ubers to work and home, essential groceries (no snacks, no fun drinks, no extra food just enough to make minimal meals for the week, cheap boxed meals at that), and our phone bills. We are not paying rent at this time because the eviction has already been started so my PM company cannot accept it and my roommate has the utilities in his name (we live in Lou, KY so LG&E was easier to keep to one person and just split, he’s primary leaseholder also) and hasn’t spoken to us or even seen our faces living in the same house so I’m not giving him money he hasn’t asked/sued me for. If he comes to me nicely and requests back payment I would have no problem working that out as we have also been here and used the utilities. We also have a cat but she only costs maybe $50 a month at best so she’s not really factored into the money saving equation.
We don’t qualify for loans or government assistance and from a legal standpoint this eviction isn’t worth fighting (all of the details added up make a harassment case AFTER the fact much more likely), except to keep it off my record. I’m still going to the court date and I’m still pleading my case but I don’t expect anything to come of it, especially as I’m not from here and Louisville public justice system seems to be about knowing people from what I’ve dealt with being here so far (it’s like that where I’m from, too. I don’t mind it’s just annoying for my case).
We went from having over 2k saved and being ready to move the following few weeks to now being evicted with time running out in just 40 days (we have a month at least until court so prayers) to our cars breaking down and it completely killing our funds to have to find other transportation and still survive. We’re paycheck to paycheck and I’m still seeking employment, I’m working with a mental health professional about work restrictions so I can comfortably get back to working without a medical emergency so it’s not for lack of trying but being disabled without the credentials (I moved states so getting things caught up here in Kentucky has been a nightmare having no insurance or est doctors) makes it really tough. We can’t cut anything else out and we’re down to the wire where we are now. I’m a little scared and we don’t have family support to lean on as we both come from less financially well off backgrounds (and we don’t expect anyone to hand us money, it’s not their eviction).
I really honestly just needed a ramble to get everything out because sitting and stewing with it is only leaving me with more questions. Picking this apart and leaving some much appreciated advice would be so so appreciated, but a thought and a prayer will also do. This isn’t my first time being poor so cutting down to food pantry groceries and dollar store toilet paper has already been done and I’m more than okay with that, but it’s my first time being poor and dealing with a housing crisis like this one so I’m not sure…