Public Laundry places frequently are cost efficient, when you got a lot of clothes. I use them for washing my sleeping bags. I don't have a bed. I sleep on a foam mattress on my floor. Sleeping bags are great but cleaning them is costly. Toss them in a 55-pound loader. Toss in five bucks in quarters and wash them. Sit and watch other people do laundry. One of the things that you adapt to is not separating lights and dark clothing. Toss in a bar of Felz Napa, some Borax and and extra rinse.
Vinegar used in the rinse cuts the suds and leaves your items with no static cling and a fabric softener when you toss them in the dryer.
Some things get carried home wet and hung out to dry on the balcony or on the door hinges, especially in the winter. Adds humidity to the air from the heat. Don't waste money on heat and laundry. Wet blankets tossed over a door add great humidity while drying. Save money on drying. I like coat hangers, the plastic ones. All colors. They are cheerful. Clothes pins are great for keeping socks together, especially the plastic, but they have to be strong. Wooden ones are the best. Also good for hanging socks and undies on coat hangers to dry.
It cost me twenty dollars in quarters a month to do laundry. I hate laundry. I hate wasting good time, watching part of your life twirl around in the washer and dryer sucks.
The laundry place has nice flat screen televisions. High Def. Closed captioned is only used on the Cartoon Channel.
When I was there all they had on was the Food Channel. Disgusting. Looking at the food being prepared, and knowing you and the children often have to go to bed hungry to save the money for laundry. Yeah, cheer me up some more. Took 4-hours and $20.00. I wish I could earn that much with all the time I spend waiting.
When you live on "the line", you are middle aged, out of work, disabled and have to live on subsidy and government and a bit of SSI/SSD, you have a lot of time. Like you don't have anything else you can do.
On the line there are two types of people. "Citizens" and "Other". The "other" most times are ignored over-looked or spit on or used by "Citizens". We may often be Hired help for them so they don't have to get their hands dirty. We are "Maids, Hired help, snow plowers, handy persons...those Miscellaneous People who they over look unless of course you are needed.
"Others on the line are often looked upon by the citizens as crooks, criminals, con artists or often too lazy and off the books to ever be 'Citizens'. Citizens have good jobs, nice homes and don't mix with "others". Perhaps you get lucky and some "Citizen smiles back and says have a great day!" Yeah, right.
Some fortunate "Others" like me live in subsidy housing. I call them "Property Pimps". You may have an apartment, but it is a prison without bars. They have "open warrants" to just come into your place anytime day or night. You gonna have Visitors you notify the office and they make up the passes for your friends. Name, address, phone, email and Valid Drivers Licenses. Must be issued two day before you expect company. If you are going to have visitors on Saturday and Sunday or after 7 p.m. You have to notify the office so they can get the passes ready.
Use to be 'easier', buzz the buzzer, Security door opens and lets you in. Sign in at the desk with details of Who you are seeing, which apartment are they in, your photo I.D and Drivers' License, the reason for the visit and when you must sign out when you leave. The Security and Cameras are everywhere. Welcome home.
On the street Refrigerator boxes are considered "Condos". In 'subsidy' you have less rights, few advocates and rarely treated nicely. Subsidy rats like me are over-looked, forgotten. Its a harsh world of two types of People.
I use to be a "Citizen". Watching it fall apart and not being able to even retain a little dignity makes me tired. Now that I am one of the "Other" types of people, I learned an awful lot about myself, spend a lot of time waiting, waiting and waiting, trying and failing, changing your plans, be open-minded. If it keeps failing changing your approach. Evolving into an almost hard down prisoner of life.
"Andrew Vachss" is my current favorite writer. He tells it like it is on Poverty Line. If you haven't got the guts don't read his "Burke Omnibus: Strega, Blue Belle and Hard Candy.
Citizens need to read his writing, but they probably just don't have time.
Massages, hair appointments, therapists, dentist,soccer, tennis lessons, the gym, business meetings, good meals, TV. Internet. "others" mow the lawn, clean up their dog crap, trim the hedges, clean the kitchen, bedrooms and bathroom. When I could I did some "Maid" work. Hard, Merciless, Floors, Internal and External Windows, clean the rugs, do the laundry. Hands are always dry, cracked, chapped and callused. Never once did they ask me to even share the very meal I was making for them. Oh, and their dry cleaning and laundry. Only Lands End clothing and Victoria Secret clothing and undies.
Poverty line has Dentists. They are the ones who barely make it through dental school and work in clinics. May take up to a year to get your Dentures. Going to the Dental clinic. More wasted time.
Poverty Line has lots of time. Welcome to the University of Hard Knocks. Someday I dream of becoming a "Citizen" like I use to be. I'll work for cash, less than five bucks and hour to just stand, watch and wait. I couldn't even get that for sex on the street. I collect bottles and cans and lottery tickets that people throw down. I sign them and put them in the "Second Chance" Lottery. Maybe get lucky and win $4.00. that will go for my new Jaguar when I become a Citizen again. I like Vachss. I like Hemingway and Vonnegut and Tom Browns Field Guide to Surviving in the Wilderness.
Poverty Line is a Wilderness at times. There are Hunters and there are Prey.Being both at the same time when you walk out the door is a big risk. Sometimes you don't make it back home. Home. Home-place. Safe, Secure and Free to be...not in my neighborhood. Citizens beware...Poverty Line CAN happen to you.
We "others" are the Used up Citizens. Lost the Job, middle age, lots of jobs that don't pay. In my subsidy it is sad.
We have a few Physicians who got laid off, sued and lost their license, we have registered paralegals, we got M.B.A.'s we got C.S.W's we got former Executives who got laid off. We got new releases from Prisons who have a better chance of getting hired than we do. We got Internet Porn, unlawful sales of tobacco, booze and "burny" (magic white powder).
We got people who faced something that changed them Mentally, Emotionally, Physically and Spiritually. We got Depression, Recession and Oppression and Age Discrimination. We keep on fighting and advocate for ourselves we know things "Citizens" (like Vachss uses the word) would never think was possible. Not in America.
In RH Subsidy here where I call " my temporary flop house", it is cluttered with my things. I don't feel like it ever be a home. Once it did. Then the rules changed again.
If my subsidy Landlords can come into my home anytime without my permission. I don't consider where I am at a home. It is a landing pad or launching pad. It is a cement prison rather than a refrigerator cardboard box under a bridge. I am one step up on the Line. Big deal...it took me a long time to get it. I should be grateful. We got more rules than the Vatican.
Oh, and don't worry the office staff and their handlers the "Poverty Pimp Landlords" let us know when need to bend over and smile. That cardboard box won't have cameras and visitors passes and magnetic locks which can lock you down and out at any time. Explain to me how this place could even closely resemble home?
Poor people don't have friends....they have acquaintances or voluntary family. Finding voluntary family is hard, even when you are Living on Poverty Line. Time goes by and you learn to recognize discrimination and intolerance in all of its' subtle form even from others who are living day to day just like you. AA has a saying "we are the people who do not mix". Come spend some quality time on Line. We don't mix because some of us got lost and never found our way back to being good "Citizens". We got lost in the mix. We crossed an invisible line which changed our lives forever. We adapt, keep plowing away. Often "Hard Liners" like me get critical and have a voice and brain and know how to use both of them.
Next Up: Chen's Story. Look for it soon. It is still in progress. She will let me know just when to Blog it. You'll love it.
Vinegar used in the rinse cuts the suds and leaves your items with no static cling and a fabric softener when you toss them in the dryer.
Some things get carried home wet and hung out to dry on the balcony or on the door hinges, especially in the winter. Adds humidity to the air from the heat. Don't waste money on heat and laundry. Wet blankets tossed over a door add great humidity while drying. Save money on drying. I like coat hangers, the plastic ones. All colors. They are cheerful. Clothes pins are great for keeping socks together, especially the plastic, but they have to be strong. Wooden ones are the best. Also good for hanging socks and undies on coat hangers to dry.
It cost me twenty dollars in quarters a month to do laundry. I hate laundry. I hate wasting good time, watching part of your life twirl around in the washer and dryer sucks.
The laundry place has nice flat screen televisions. High Def. Closed captioned is only used on the Cartoon Channel.
When I was there all they had on was the Food Channel. Disgusting. Looking at the food being prepared, and knowing you and the children often have to go to bed hungry to save the money for laundry. Yeah, cheer me up some more. Took 4-hours and $20.00. I wish I could earn that much with all the time I spend waiting.
When you live on "the line", you are middle aged, out of work, disabled and have to live on subsidy and government and a bit of SSI/SSD, you have a lot of time. Like you don't have anything else you can do.
On the line there are two types of people. "Citizens" and "Other". The "other" most times are ignored over-looked or spit on or used by "Citizens". We may often be Hired help for them so they don't have to get their hands dirty. We are "Maids, Hired help, snow plowers, handy persons...those Miscellaneous People who they over look unless of course you are needed.
"Others on the line are often looked upon by the citizens as crooks, criminals, con artists or often too lazy and off the books to ever be 'Citizens'. Citizens have good jobs, nice homes and don't mix with "others". Perhaps you get lucky and some "Citizen smiles back and says have a great day!" Yeah, right.
Some fortunate "Others" like me live in subsidy housing. I call them "Property Pimps". You may have an apartment, but it is a prison without bars. They have "open warrants" to just come into your place anytime day or night. You gonna have Visitors you notify the office and they make up the passes for your friends. Name, address, phone, email and Valid Drivers Licenses. Must be issued two day before you expect company. If you are going to have visitors on Saturday and Sunday or after 7 p.m. You have to notify the office so they can get the passes ready.
Use to be 'easier', buzz the buzzer, Security door opens and lets you in. Sign in at the desk with details of Who you are seeing, which apartment are they in, your photo I.D and Drivers' License, the reason for the visit and when you must sign out when you leave. The Security and Cameras are everywhere. Welcome home.
On the street Refrigerator boxes are considered "Condos". In 'subsidy' you have less rights, few advocates and rarely treated nicely. Subsidy rats like me are over-looked, forgotten. Its a harsh world of two types of People.
I use to be a "Citizen". Watching it fall apart and not being able to even retain a little dignity makes me tired. Now that I am one of the "Other" types of people, I learned an awful lot about myself, spend a lot of time waiting, waiting and waiting, trying and failing, changing your plans, be open-minded. If it keeps failing changing your approach. Evolving into an almost hard down prisoner of life.
"Andrew Vachss" is my current favorite writer. He tells it like it is on Poverty Line. If you haven't got the guts don't read his "Burke Omnibus: Strega, Blue Belle and Hard Candy.
Citizens need to read his writing, but they probably just don't have time.
Massages, hair appointments, therapists, dentist,soccer, tennis lessons, the gym, business meetings, good meals, TV. Internet. "others" mow the lawn, clean up their dog crap, trim the hedges, clean the kitchen, bedrooms and bathroom. When I could I did some "Maid" work. Hard, Merciless, Floors, Internal and External Windows, clean the rugs, do the laundry. Hands are always dry, cracked, chapped and callused. Never once did they ask me to even share the very meal I was making for them. Oh, and their dry cleaning and laundry. Only Lands End clothing and Victoria Secret clothing and undies.
Poverty line has Dentists. They are the ones who barely make it through dental school and work in clinics. May take up to a year to get your Dentures. Going to the Dental clinic. More wasted time.
Poverty Line has lots of time. Welcome to the University of Hard Knocks. Someday I dream of becoming a "Citizen" like I use to be. I'll work for cash, less than five bucks and hour to just stand, watch and wait. I couldn't even get that for sex on the street. I collect bottles and cans and lottery tickets that people throw down. I sign them and put them in the "Second Chance" Lottery. Maybe get lucky and win $4.00. that will go for my new Jaguar when I become a Citizen again. I like Vachss. I like Hemingway and Vonnegut and Tom Browns Field Guide to Surviving in the Wilderness.
Poverty Line is a Wilderness at times. There are Hunters and there are Prey.Being both at the same time when you walk out the door is a big risk. Sometimes you don't make it back home. Home. Home-place. Safe, Secure and Free to be...not in my neighborhood. Citizens beware...Poverty Line CAN happen to you.
We "others" are the Used up Citizens. Lost the Job, middle age, lots of jobs that don't pay. In my subsidy it is sad.
We have a few Physicians who got laid off, sued and lost their license, we have registered paralegals, we got M.B.A.'s we got C.S.W's we got former Executives who got laid off. We got new releases from Prisons who have a better chance of getting hired than we do. We got Internet Porn, unlawful sales of tobacco, booze and "burny" (magic white powder).
We got people who faced something that changed them Mentally, Emotionally, Physically and Spiritually. We got Depression, Recession and Oppression and Age Discrimination. We keep on fighting and advocate for ourselves we know things "Citizens" (like Vachss uses the word) would never think was possible. Not in America.
In RH Subsidy here where I call " my temporary flop house", it is cluttered with my things. I don't feel like it ever be a home. Once it did. Then the rules changed again.
If my subsidy Landlords can come into my home anytime without my permission. I don't consider where I am at a home. It is a landing pad or launching pad. It is a cement prison rather than a refrigerator cardboard box under a bridge. I am one step up on the Line. Big deal...it took me a long time to get it. I should be grateful. We got more rules than the Vatican.
Oh, and don't worry the office staff and their handlers the "Poverty Pimp Landlords" let us know when need to bend over and smile. That cardboard box won't have cameras and visitors passes and magnetic locks which can lock you down and out at any time. Explain to me how this place could even closely resemble home?
Poor people don't have friends....they have acquaintances or voluntary family. Finding voluntary family is hard, even when you are Living on Poverty Line. Time goes by and you learn to recognize discrimination and intolerance in all of its' subtle form even from others who are living day to day just like you. AA has a saying "we are the people who do not mix". Come spend some quality time on Line. We don't mix because some of us got lost and never found our way back to being good "Citizens". We got lost in the mix. We crossed an invisible line which changed our lives forever. We adapt, keep plowing away. Often "Hard Liners" like me get critical and have a voice and brain and know how to use both of them.
Next Up: Chen's Story. Look for it soon. It is still in progress. She will let me know just when to Blog it. You'll love it.
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