There are people that find themselves totally broke from problematic events or circumstances: divorce, illness, civil lawsuit, business failure, investment losses, prison sentence, gambling or drug addiction, uninsured disaster, prolonged unemployment, home foreclosure, chronic overspending, and many others. As I write this, a neighbor’s brother is 61-years-old, and although he’s always been employed, the legal bills and alimony from a recent divorce have forced him to live on a friend’s sofa.
If there aren’t any relatives or friends to temporarily take you in, then what do you do? There are numerous online communities that share information about how to transition from surviving to thriving while getting back on your feet. There are strategies for:
Housing:
- How to find people that need house sitters for free housing
- Living in a car and bathing at a cheap gym
- Living in a cheap converted van or cheap RV on public land for free
- WalMart and Cabella’s allow free overnight RV parking for traveling
- Joining the military
Food:
- Food banks
- Food stamps
- How to forage from fields, forests, rivers, lakes – what you can and cannot eat
- Making the cheapest meals surrounding proteins like peanut butter or cheese or eggs
Income:
- Employers looking for people to do day-work
- How to earn cash today by selling simple skills (cleaning, chores, errands, handyman)
- Nearly free internet for online jobs
There are ways to cut expenses to the bone for: paying off debt, building up money for a specific purchase, surviving until pension or social security kick-in, or surviving on a small social security payment. I took a niece to play at a park with a lake one Sunday and noticed several people fishing off of a bridge, in what appeared to be their church dresses and suits. I started chatting with them and learned they save money by having a couple meals each week from the fish they catch on Sunday mornings.
Getting online for free at a library can provide access to all kinds of ideas and resources for your particular situation, and then next steps as your situation improves. There are numerous people that have been forced to start over from scratch and their collective wisdom and feedback awaits you in these online communities.