The Rent is Late

Yes, as the title says my rent is late.  It was due today.  I should've gotten some money from the Ex's unemployment last week, but it hasn't appeared as of yet.  Whether it was delayed due to the holidays, or Ex not turning in his paperwork or what have you, it is late.  And now so am I.  The sad part is that I'll have to pay a $75 late fee, but guess what?  Ex doesn't have to pay any extra.  The money just has to appear sometime this month.  Any time this month.

This got me to sit down and write out a budget.  From now on I'm only going to count on his money for discretionary expenses, like food and clothes.  My rent is more than one paycheck, so I need to make sure to save the extra so I'm not counting on Ex to provide.

This is probably one of my first lessons in living single and single parenting.  His unemployment runs out in March, so he might not have anything to give me after that.  That will mean that I'm surviving on only what I make from then on.  That'll be tight, really, really tight.

Today after I realized that his money still hadn't come...I applied for food stamps.  I never thought I'd be here, but without the food stamps we can't possibly make ends meet without Ex's child support and my alimony.  Now I'll just keep my fingers crossed that we'll be able to get something.

I hate living like this.