r/poverty

I (38f) am in a really tough spot right now and just need a safe place to vent, get advice, or hear from anyone who has survived something similar.

I have a 10-month-old baby girl and I am currently 32 weeks pregnant with my son. I have been trying to find pathways to get a reliable, safe car so I can work, but my credit is ruined from a past marriage where my ex-husband's missed payments were documented under my name.

The hardest part is that I am working through a case with CPS right now. To be clear, I have been 100% clean and sober since November 3rd, 2025. (Four days after I got clean, I found out I was pregnant with my son). CPS originally became involved because of a relapse after my daughter was born, but right now the pressure is because I am struggling to find work. It is largely because I don't have a safe vehicle to transport two babies under the age of one, and it is incredibly difficult to find anyone willing to hire a woman who is 8 months pregnant.

I am so terrified that CPS is going to use my current lack of employment and transportation hurdles as an excuse to keep my daughter away from me or give her to someone else. I just need someone to point me in the right direction of programs, non-profits, or consumer resources that can help.

I have 8 weeks left before my son gets here. I am 100% not ready, and I have absolutely nothing for him yet. This isn't my first rock bottom, and I know I have the strength to pull myself out of this because I’ve done it before. It’s just not happening fast enough, and the clock is ticking.

I just want to protect my babies. There has to be structural assistance or community programs out there for situations similar to mine. I am fully prepared to work from sunup to sundown, I just don't really know where to look. I was hoping someone on here could share some known organizational resources or advice on how to navigate this specific barrier with a caseworker. I just want the chance to give my babies the life I never had.

Hello I know this is a lot to ask. My dad is homeless and lost his only mode of transportation in a car wreck. I'm trying to help him get an RV or somwhere to live. He's an amazing guy and I love him a lot. Anything helps. God Bless. https://gofund.me/b49d4b32c

My Dad

I am currently struggling to hand wash my clothing. I can wash the thinner stuff fine, but the big bulky stuff like blankets and jackets, I have no idea how to wash without hurting myself. Right now I don't have any clean blankets or many clean clothes due to the fact they aren't easy to hand wash. My one pair of shoes absolutely reeks, and I've tried soaking it in detergent but it isn't working.

So, how do you hand wash clothing? Tips, tricks? It takes many hours to even do a few things, and then there's the problem of finding a place to let it dry and hoping it is dried by the next day. I don't have a hair dryer or anything that would help dry it faster.

Any tips appreciated, I'm getting tired of having no clothing available or no blankets. I currently use a little bucket to soak.

I asked for ₹10k from around 30 people in my contacts. Would you believe that not a single person helped me? I clearly told them it was very urgent and that I would return the money after 30th May.

No one is there for you when you actually need them. Sab matlabi hain.😭

I’m coming down with something. Headache, sore throat, runny nose, feel like shit.
On top of that my foot has been numb, painful, pins and needles since Friday.
I just laid down to try and nap but I am crying and having a pity party because I have three days of warehouse work in front of me. I have to work or my phone will be shut off Friday.

Also 7yo has two baseball games this week. They’re so late, like 6:30. And I get up at 3am for work. 😩

I messed up. I never failed to pay my dues but I overspent the last 2 years. But just year, I experienced a significant medical event that landed me a 6 month hospital stay, and another 4 months recovering at home. I resigned from work to spare my employer the dilemma of having to decide whether to let me go or not since he couldnt quite figure out what he wanted. Fast forward into the present, I am still without work, and it seems theres no guarantee Ill get a job in the next 5 or 6 months. My checking account is down to its last $18.00 and my CCs are already 3 months past due. I just received an email from BOA today informing me that theyre closing one of my credit lines. Everything just went downhill since I got sick, but thankfully my mom helps me with my rent and food. I feel scared, lost and totally hopeless. Not sure why this happened to me, it cant be karma - I havent crossed anyone my whole life nor do I have enemies. Last time I went to an urgent care to get my blood samples taken for an upcoming medical procedure and I couldnt get out of the building because I couldnt afford to pay for the exit parking meter.... Im really considering bankruptcy but it feels so contrary to what I believe in.

I’m in a homeless shelter. I’m in a homeless shelter and I don’t know what to do. I’m in a homeless shelter and my mom still calls me everyday. I’m in a homeless shelter and I feel like my life is standing still

I think I always knew I was bipolar, from the moment when I was 17 and decided to crash my mother’s car into a pole. 7 times I’ve been taken to mental hospitals. Sometimes I lie and tell them I’m fine because a part of me wishes they were wrong. That I’m not bipolar. That I just had a bad day. But it always comes back. Everytime I stop taking my medication, every time I go manic and lose myself.
So that’s what brings me here. Mom is done with me. And I understand why. I’m too much. Too much to bare. All I want to do is go back to her. To be normal. To live a happy life. When I was younger being bipolar was a funny and maybe at times a dangerous characteristic of my personality. But it was just a part of being a college student. I have a master in social work if you can believe it. Things are different now, it’s becoming detrimental to my life. Why couldn’t I have been born normal ?
Tell me it’s possible to come out of a homeless shelter unscathed…tell me there’s still hope.

I’m 23. I’ve been working my ass and I finally have the best wage I ever had. I finally get 1,500 but the problem is… all my expenses add up to 1,500.

It’s;
Housing/utilities: €860
Internet/mobile: €60
Spotify: €8.99
Netflix: €13.99
Weed: ~€50
Groceries: ~€350
Pet food: ~€150

… how am I supposed to save up in this economy? It’s like you’re forced to burn yourself out or get extra money illegally. I signed up for the housing authority to help pay some of my rent but they would only give me a 100.

If I leave the country and go else where, I’d rather be broke but be able to do activities for free, like simply going to the park with my dog. Here you deal with expensive shit with tourists’ trash and constant construction DIDIDIDIDIIDI 💥 it’s too much. Malta you lost another Maltese… the island is only for the rich.

Any recommendations how to get better job or something? And please don’t say igaming, they were killing my mind, body and soul.

The amount of vitriol spewed against working people who - despite working a full time job - cannot make their ends meet - is insane.

It always seems like half the comments on any post trying to fix the problem are something like: “unskilled labor makes minimum wage, shocker”, or “if you wanted to afford healthcare and retirement, you should have worked harder and then companies would pay you more”.

While they whine and complain that their bonus isn’t high enough or taxes on their $150K salary is too high. “I worked hard for that”, as if low income earners don’t work even harder for less.

It’s so sick, and it’s clear that people just want a underclass of poor workers who will work their bodies into dust for the and then disappear once they need anything for themselves.

Bana life is so private mtu aezi jua nalala njaa 🥲😅

How are you supposed to be able to have normal conversations with people? People ask how I am, I'm going to be honest, and tell them the truth about my life, and they're going to run away. Or, I can lie and say I'm fine. I never feel close to anyone. Being poor sucks.

Have you been able to date or make friends while being poor? How do you do so? I have tried, but eventually I have to admit my problems, and again people will always run away.

For me, grocery shopping and clothes shopping. I can't wait to have a style I like, and clothes that fit. I haven't gotten to do either in years, and groceries, never often. I'm also excited for the day I no longer have to hear the words "late fee".

I am homeless. Im still paying off bills and am paying off loan debt including because I needed a wheelchair requiring payments and my furniture is in storage. That leaves me with very little to eat on monthly. I had been buying ramen noodle soups for my daily meal. For some weird reason my body started getting a weird reaction to my daily Ramen with digestive problems. This is not the first time so giving my body a simple break allows me to have my hot meal once again. Because I began suffering severe anemia, and mineral imbalances in the ER with cardiac issues so my Dr put me on supplements. She understands this isnt a choice. I've gone weeks on water alone. Years back I applied for food stamps and they offered me $50 so I figured it wasnt worth all they put you through for that. I'm sure in Trumps America that $50 would be much less in today's food stamps so I haven't tried. Im entering my water only part of the month. Hopefully I will get my bills payed down enough for some better options soon. And then yesterday the hospital rebills me again for a bill payed off in January and threatens to ruin my credit so I can't get an apt. How can we even get ahead? Its like the system is designed to pull you back even if you are trying hard to get back on your feet. Is anyone going through this?

Louisiana is pushing a bill that would make sleeping outside illegal. If someone can’t afford the fines, they could be made to do unpaid labor instead.

Is it just us or does it actually sounds more like punishment for being poor?

Homelessness usually comes from rising rent, job loss, mental health struggles, disability, domestic violence, or lack of support. None of that gets solved by jail cells, fines, or forced work.

And once someone gets arrested, life often gets harder: harder to find housing, harder to get hired, but way easier to get trapped in the same cycle again.

There’s also an uncomfortable history here. In the US, poverty has often been criminalized first, then used to justify cheap labor later.

If sleeping outside because you have nowhere else to go becomes a crime, what exactly is being punished — the act, or the poverty?

bought myself a coffee after the worst week ive had in a while and someone made a comment and i can't stop thinking about it. i track everything. i know exactly what i have and what i dont. im not reckless i'm not stupid i know my finances better than most people know theirs because i have to. last week was a lot. nothing huge just everything hitting at once and by friday i was so empty i couldn't even explain it and i decided to stop and get a coffee on the way home. a real one. not the instant stuff. just one coffee because i survived the week and i wanted one thing that felt nice.
and someone saw me with it. and said something. it wasn't even mean exactly. it was that tone. that specific careful tone people use when they want to say something judgmental but want to feel like a good person while they say it. something about how they thought i was trying to save money. said with a little smile.
and i just said yeah and changed the subject because what else do you do.

but ive been thinking about it for days now and i can't shake it. because that was accounted for. i knew i had it. i chose it on purpose. and somehow im standing there feeling like i got caught.

people with money treat themselves all the time and nobody says a word. but the second you're struggling you're supposed to be visibly miserable all the time or people act like you're not taking it seriously enough.

it was one coffee. i just wanted one coffee.

It was just a hobby filling up books with my thoughts was pretty aware at a young age learning people as the quiet person Let me rephrase . It was just the place for my thoughts, cause I never had anybody to vent to always writing down my frustrations, my struggles think I disagree with and addictions what goes on in the daily life nothing personal but it's very personal you know what I mean. Walking for days of pain locked away

Last month I've been eating once a day or not at all. Money is scarce and I don't complain because what good will it do. I'd be mad when I can look back on this and be thankful I over came it. Don't wish this on anyone. I only have money for room and board it's like why should I have to chose. I pay $600 a month in rent and I've lost at least 30lbs. My storage is behind terribly. I just finally understand how people just give up. Like why even bother.