After homelessness

[supertom]

I face a situation where i will be homeless, im 20, $6000 in debt(student fees),

I want to know if anybody here has worked themselves up from being homeless?? and what advice they can offer me.

thankyou

[RT Wolf]

Where are you? You can find specific resources based on location. Have friends/family you can bunk with for a bit? Do you have a plan for getting back on your feet?

What kind of student fees are they? Do you plan to pay them back or are you planning bankruptcy? If you are, will the bankruptcy remove them?

And yes, many people have. Steve has said he was kicked out of his place and was essentially "homeless" though as I understand it he and Erin moved in with someoen else for a bit. I've done a bit of work with Covenant House here in Toronto and have seen first hand youths and kids who ended up homeless, were taken in and became successful.

[lifetimelearner]

Originally Posted by supertom

I face a situation where i will be homeless, im 20, $6000 in debt(student fees),

I want to know if anybody here has worked themselves up from being homeless?? and what advice they can offer me.

thankyou

no family ?

[sbdiane]

You could live in your car and work your debt off with a job.

[FireSoundManipulate]

I traveled around performing 2 years ago and came back to a city where I had several friends. I had 50 dollars, which i made busking the day I arrived back in town. My car's tags were out of date, my liscense was suspended, and had no insurance, so car was not an option. I luckily had a bike.

To work yourself up, hopefully you have friends, or several friends and you can bounce from couch to couch. or maybe you have a car to sleep in. if not there are ways to build shelters.

If you think you'll have trouble finding a job most cities have several day labor temp places. I would advise going to every other temp labor place first and seeing if they have something, but if not hit up a labor ready, sometimes the work is hard, sometimes it's easy, but you have to sit in the office for several hours before they find work for you, and after an 8 hour day (12 hours if you count waiting) you might be lucky to walk away with 50 dollars. but that's something to start building towards getting a homebase etc.

You may also want to look into food not bombs, there an anarchist based collective that gives food to homeless people. They have been known to let people crash their houses (i was friends with kids who ran a fnb house theres alot of squatters and travellers that run through our city and people were always crashing in and out) so if you can find some of them in the city you plan on being they could perhaps hook you up with temporary shelter.

The stresses of being homeless really really, one more time, realllly suck. It's hard to get your mind focused on more than "what can i eat, where am I going to sleep" it's especially stressful to only have 30 dollars to your name, know that you aren't going to get a paycheck for another two weeks and have to go to work, a 2 cliff bar a day diet isn't that sustaining :P

So i've pulled myself out of homelessness a few times. Sort of goes with gypsy vagabond performer lifestyle sometimes (when not done right lol) It's easy to see how some people give up and buy a drink instead of cheap food and looking for a job.

I would recommend talking to your school and seeing if you can accumulate more debt, learn more knowledge, and have them pay for you a place to stay.

peace
and best of luck

[TonyToneTone]

Originally Posted by supertom

I face a situation where i will be homeless, im 20, $6000 in debt(student fees),

I want to know if anybody here has worked themselves up from being homeless?? and what advice they can offer me.

thankyou

Take out student loans and fill out a FAFSA for some government funds. Those should at least cover your butt and food until you get some more cash.

[suzuki_sx29]

Im 21, I've been homeless for about 2 years. At first, it was an act of desperation, then it became my 'norm'. Eventually I got into drinking and smoking weed heavily, and it became kind of a forced decision; basically my habits decided my direction in life, as i lost jobs as quickly as i got them and wasted every dollar I had. Anyways, I've recently quit the party scene, and gotten back in touch with my goals. I think it would be kickass if we both kept updates on here as to our progress throughout this new year. Good luck to ya, man..

[supertom]

Thanks for the response everybody i really feel like I have connected you every poster.

I wish to stay in contact with suzuki.

[Lauxa]

I keep posting stories from Violent Acres blog on here, but hey, she kicks @$$ and actually has a relevant story so here goes:

Violent Acres » Blog Archive » Drastic Measures to Reduce Debt

Good luck.

[codesmith]

if you know you are going to be homeless in x months, why not quit what youre doing now. get a full time ****-kicking job, save money for bond and rent? sounds like youre just lazy.

how can you even get yourself to a situation where you know months ahead of time you will be homeless? didnt you realise more than a whlie ago, that soon you will realise you are going to realise you will be broke? i am sure you would have envisaged something like a year ago at the least.

wheres family and friends ?

doesnt your country have welfare?

[Zwynd]

Originally Posted by codesmith

if you know you are going to be homeless in x months, why not quit what youre doing now. get a full time ****-kicking job, save money for bond and rent? sounds like youre just lazy.

^ what he said.

Op, many years ago I was basically homeless (if you don't count sleeping in shelters) and from the ground up I went through welfare, put out probably 20 resumes a day, had many interviews and in a week landed a full time job which was much higher than minimum wage.

Right now I'm possibly in a similar situation as the OP in that I have a few months before I may be homeless again (wonderful at manifesting...) but since I have the warning I'm taking the advantage of the extra time.

I'm working on stabilizing my career and getting all my papers and such (taxes, health, etc) in order so that scary day won't even come because I have all the money I'll need, a warm home, and so on.

If it hits you at once THEN you've got a problem but if you have months or even weeks in advance then you're just sitting there like a deer in the headlights...

YouTube - Austin Powers 1- Stoooooooooooooooop!

[hunter]

Supertom,

congratulations on not being in denial, and trying to prepare. People like you work their way out of homelessness. People who wait till the day they become homeless, are the ones who run into trouble.

I've been homeless twice. I'm a domestic abuse victim that fell through the cracks terribly and ended out in regular shelters not DV ones. I suffer from uncontrolled seizures and memory loss due to my traumas and have to rely on SSI as my income and a section 8 voucher to pay most of my rent. I did make it out of homelesness but not on my own. I'm still in the system.

Once you KNOW homelessness is inevitible, it's best to jump in while you still have some resources. If you can, buy a pair of good, lightweight hiking boots and a smaller sized backpack with an internal frame, so the weight sits on your hips not your shoulders. Make sure you have a decent coat. It's important to be able to blend in public as much as possible so you can hang out in bookstores, malls, libraries, theaters and museums, and to be able to walk to them.

Head for a city. If you have depression or another minor condition, but are homeless, you often easily are able to apply for a disability transportation pass, that will bring transportation costs too about $20.00 a month.

Find a shelter near a major library. Find soup kitchens and a place to get your mail other than the shelter. Stay out of the shelter as much as possible. Do not make friends there. Socialize while eating at soup kitchens, but do not extend friendships outside of them. Do not jeapordize your places of shelter and food with relationships gone bad. Be polite, but on guard with staff, too. Many of them are not mentally well, moreso than their clients.

Understand the effects of sleep deprivation, so you don't get scared when you start falling apart. A radio with noice canceling earphones are a must!!! Many of the other clients have uncontrolled schizophrenia and will yell at an invisable person directly over your head. You must be able to block that out. It's a bad night when you get it in stereo, from both sides.

Things will get worse before they get better. You will need to learn all sorts of new coping skills and it takes time to learn where the resources are. For the first month, just try and survive, not start working your way out yet.

Imagine you are still a college student, taking notes for a project. Stay above it all if you can instead of forming a new identity of yourself as a homeless person. Homeless is not who you are, it just describes your current address. You are entering a new subculture with it's own rules and way of doing things. Be respectful and do not expect things to run like middleclass, white America. Again be respectful and LEARN what you can from this subculture of fascinating, wonderful people.

Do not lend or borrow money. I only gave away small amounts of money when I could spare some, but NEVER loaned money EVER.

I had lots of rules for myself about socializing and money, that people did not take as a personal insult, because I was consistent and my rules were not about individuals.

Apply for food stamps. Use them to buy protein to supplement the carb rich food at the soup kitchens. Extreme stress (elevates bloodsugar) and walking 10 miles a day will increase your needs for protein. Deli meat is the easiest source of protein. You will CRAVE proteins.

Good luck! You are entering an adventure that will change you forever. Read the March 3, 2008 article on hopeless situations. It'll help.

[Celeste de Kai]

I was homeless for two weeks this August just to see if I could do it.

My advice on the issue is... don't.

While it was a tremendous growth experience and I definitely don't regret it, it was also a literal agony and it nearly broke my mind within the first week. And trust me, it only gets worse after that.

Looking back I'm honestly really surprised that I even survived the whole thing.

So... yeah. If you can avoid it, do so. If you can't avoid it then drop whatever it is that you're doing and do something else in order to avoid it. But don't go homeless. Most people never get a chance to recover after hitting rock bottom.

[suzuki_sx29]

Hunter: wonderful, wonderful, wonderful reply. Very good points and advice.
Celeste de Kai: In retrospect of my first couple weeks, actually couple months, being homeless, yeah it DID suck. A lot. I wrote a lot of very depressive poetry at that time, and cried myself to sleep probably about every other night. It was rough. But I kind of look back on it as a rite of passage in a sense. I personally think it took more of a man in myself to live that way than it would of to pursue the common society's way of life- an apt or house or to just live with my parents.

[hunter]

Week 3 or 4 is crisis time. You learn to adapt after that. Often during the crisis you end out hospitalized and the clean bed, safe place to store your stuff and regular meals give you the opurtunity to reevaluate and problem solve, before you hit the streets again. Many people bounce back from the shelter and hospital for the first few months, while they learn new coping skills and where to find resources.

It's very important to learn to self-soothe and to aquire the props to do so. A deck of cards to play solitaire. A bag of Dum Dum lolipops will soothe those around you as much as you. Art supplies. Notebook. Poetry instruction book. Many people find an overwhelming urge to be creative, even if they have never experienced it in the past. Children's art and writing books are good to start with. Sudoku Puzzles are popular. A harmonica. Be aware that hospitals take away wire bound notebooks and pencil sharpeners, and radios with cords. Twistable crayons (or other plastic, not wax crayons) are your best bet for portable, non flakable, no smudge color that doesn't require a "sharp" and contains all the basic color wheel colors. I like composition books with graph paper pages for a notebook. Mechanical pencils don't need to be sharpened.

Throw away phones are used mostly as pagers and voice mail, if you cannot afford to use the minutes. You can use a free phone to check the voice mail instead of the cell phone itself.

Finding a free place to get mail isn't hard, but splurge on a P.O. box for $42.00 for 6 months if you can to ensure that you can forward your mail. The post office will not always forward mail from high volume shelters, after you move on and essential papers can get lost, never mind your lack of privacy.

Due to safety issues with my ex, I could end out homeless again in a moment's notice. I'm still problem solving to ensure my next time will be smoother than my last fiasco, attempting to relocate to a larger city. Instead of giving up, I'm preparing for the reality of a city that doesn't even have enough shelters, and relies on drop in centers with just chairs, even for disabled, domestic abuse victims.

For now, I live in danger. Yes in an apartment, but...I cannot stay here permanently and expect to recover from my Post Trauma issues that really are not POST yet. I've learned I cannot depend on DV services, but need to do this on my own. I now look at my last attempt as a scouting mission, not a failure.

[rawxstasy]

Hunter,

I commend you for going as far as you have!! I am amazed. I was in two abusive marriages but I never experienced homelessness. My first marriage I was living in Indonesia and after years of emotional abuse I left. His family threatened to have me assasinated. Had me followed. Called the police on me. Tried to get me thrown into prison. A friend helped me escape to the US. After all that and childhood sexual abuse I had PTSD pretty bad, but was able to overcome it. I did seven years of therapy but I found that EFT works much faster and is alot easier - and CHEAPER!!

YouTube - Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Introduction

Good luck to you.

[rawxstasy]

Hunter,

I commend you on your progress! I suffered from PTSD for many years. I lived in Indonesia for 12 years in an emotionally abusive marriage. When I tried to get a divorce, his family threatened me with assassination, had me followed, tried to get me thrown into prison. A friend helped me to escape. After all that and childhood sexual abuse, I ended up with PTSD. I did seven years of therapy but I found Emotional Freedom Techniques to be faster and cheaper in overcoming the PTSD!!

Check on youtube, there some good videos on the technique by "Magnustapping".

Good luck!

[supertom]

I want to stay with my mum i love her more than anything else, im a only child and closing me would just kill her but that means giving up on every dream I have. My family is well-off but I cant live like this anymore, something has to give. for some people are strong enough and have the resources to cope but im not so good

[loveandlight]

If you have parents that would be willing to take you back in for a while so you get back on your feet...why would you refuse the help???

You said you're 20, right? There is absolutely zero shame in going back to living with your parents at age 20 if you are facing a crisis like this. What are you talking about, giving up on your dreams? You can't even buy a drink at a bar yet and you are talking like this?! Give yourself a break. No success or dream is accomplished without stumbling a little bit, especially at first.

Look, some young punk might make it sound like you get a badge for being homeless but you don't. It breaks a person. It's extremely scary, not to mention dangerous, and don't forget traumatizing. You think living with your parents for a little bit will be giving up on your dreams? Try sleeping in the streets for one night. Don't do that to yourself.

I have known many people throughout my years who had to go live with their parents again because they were in a financial crisis, or they had to flee an abusive relationship, or they got a divorce and the spouse took everything, or they got cancer, the list goes on, and they were all older than 20.

The point is that they stayed for a couple of months and got back on their feet. Yea it would have been nice if none of them faced any of those situations but this is Planet Earth and reality we are dealing with. They're not losers for accepting help in a dire situation when they desperately needed it just because it came from family.

And for the record, the taboo surrounding moving back in with your parents is a social mores or custom, not a universal standard. In many Asian, Hispanic, and some European cultures, you never move out of the house. You see 4 generations under one roof and this is social norm. I'm not saying you should move back in for good with your parents, of course not, but it's not the end of life if you need a couple of months to get back on your feet, especially this early in the game.

Child, I ain't even gonna take this any further and I'll be damned if I don't call out any idiot suggesting homelessness to you when you are only 20 years old and have parents who will take you back in. Go move back in with mama for a couple of months and save up a rent payment!

[suzuki_sx29]

Originally Posted by loveandlight

Look, some young punk might make it sound like you get a badge for being homeless but you don't. It breaks a person. It's extremely scary, not to mention dangerous, and don't forget traumatizing. You think living with your parents for a little bit will be giving up on your dreams? Try sleeping in the streets for one night. Don't do that to yourself.

I hope youre not refering to me as a young punk lol...

[Dagan]

hi super tom,

i'm not sure if its been mentioned i havent had tome to read the responses but read a book "Richest man in Babylon", a great book which describes basically the same situations.

i myself have recently also struggled with a similar situation. i left home by choice to pursue a better environmet to follow my dreams. however i have relied on friends for help over the last few years (if you cannot do the same, try looking at back packer or comunity housing) while saving and starting a few business projects. and now i am looking to support myself 100% as well as move my goals forward.

Stay positive. put as much energy as posible into your goals and how you are going to get there and remind yourself about where you want to be everyday. whatever the obstacle it is possible to overcome this. it takes time and alot of work and even more motivation

and again read "richest man in babylon" i garantee it will help!

[JeepMan]

A home is a state of mind. Many people have houses and apartments and somewhere to lay their head, but are they good homes? Is it a physical dwelling you are after? That is easy. There are plenty of shelters available for anyone who needs a bed for the night.

I skimmed through some of the responses. There seems to be an even mix of genuine support verses negative attitudes.

I support you on what you feel you must do. There is nothing wrong with not knowing where you will be by the end of the day. Live your day, follow your intuition, and trust the Universe and where you are led. Just live "right here, right now." That is what is most important. Not 2 months from now or what happened last week. Right here, Right now.

Your intuition (or God or whatever one chooses to call this Higher Power) will guide you.

[lifetimelearner]

Originally Posted by rawxstasy

Hunter,

I commend you for going as far as you have!! I am amazed. I was in two abusive marriages but I never experienced homelessness. My first marriage I was living in Indonesia and after years of emotional abuse I left. His family threatened to have me assasinated. Had me followed. Called the police on me. Tried to get me thrown into prison. A friend helped me escape to the US. After all that and childhood sexual abuse I had PTSD pretty bad, but was able to overcome it. I did seven years of therapy but I found that EFT works much faster and is alot easier - and CHEAPER!!

YouTube - Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Introduction

Good luck to you.

all I can say is wow
I am so glad you are okay

[lifetimelearner]

Originally Posted by supertom

I want to stay with my mum i love her more than anything else, im a only child and closing me would just kill her but that means giving up on every dream I have. My family is well-off but I cant live like this anymore, something has to give. for some people are strong enough and have the resources to cope but im not so good

what are your dreams?