Although I have retired since joining this group... [View all]

[malokvale77]

I still consider myself part of the working poor. After all, I'm still working, just not for a paycheck.

The purpose of this OP is to offer a bit of encouragement with how I managed to survive in a state of poverty.

I married at the too young age of 16. I had both my children by time I was 19. My husband was adamant that I would be a stay at home mom.

After our first year of marriage we bought a fixer-upper house (work for down and $500 loan from his parents for closing cost). This was the start of my self education in surviving poverty. I had to learn how to do all the things you would normally pay someone else to do.

I learned how to:
tar and gravel a roof (that was what we had at the time).
prep and paint interior and exterior surfaces.
repair and replace plumbing fixtures.
repair and rebuild appliances.
track down and fix electrical problems.
do maintenance and basic car repairs.
refinish hardwood floors.
lay vinyl flooring.
tile floors and bathroom tub surrounds.
tape, bed, texture and repair wallboard.
replace and glaze window panes.
repair, repoint and lay brickwork.
wallpaper.
shingle a roof.
build, rebuild and upholster furniture.
grow, harvest and preserve food organically.
landscape organically.
control pests organically.
hone my sewing and needlework skills.
nurse and comfort the hurting, ill, dying and disabled.

After 18 years of marriage my husband divorced me for a trust fund recipient.

Except for a brief stint in retail (when my husband was laid off) I had never worked outside the home. I had to use all those skills mentioned above to gain employment or barter in kind. I have learned to survive in poverty.

I retired 12/30/2015. My SS is sparse but it allows me to provide a home for my SO and my disabled brother.

PS: I still live in the same house that me and my ex bought when I was 17 years old. I paid off and burned that mortgage in 2001.