Hi =)
Single mom of a gorgeous 3 year old boy here! We have been tent camping through the winter in Texas.
I lost my business due to Covid a few months back. I applied for Unemployment and was accepted at 147 a week. I brought our expenses way down to only 200 a week.
And we were getting along just fine until the most recent snag in our unemployment. When the CARES Act extension was signed, I was prompted online to make a new claim, big mistake. I did that on Sunday Dec 27th and then Monday the 28th a PR came out telling people not to do that.
So we haven’t had our unemployment for 4 going on 5 weeks. My claim was denied (as expected, I was self employed) and now it is in the appeals process. It should only take another week or two to get straightened out. But we have to leave our current campsite on Thursday and I fear we will have to stay in the car to save everything we have to cover food and gas.
Part of our downsizing was to do tent camping down in Texas. The Texas State Parks are very safe and vary in price. They run 14-30 a night plus a daily fee of 3-8. I bought the 70 dollar annual pass so we don’t pay the daily fees and get our second night half off. I also went through and mapped out the cheapest sites so we are staying at 14-18 a night. These campsites include electricity to run our heater and keep our electronics charged. With the pass we have also visited other parks for free. For example we stayed at Bonham (15/night) for camping but had a day visit at Eisenhower (25/night) so we are really having a good time.
My son is too little to understand we are in a scary spot. He wakes up with a smile and giggles all day! He loves the outdoors and has loads of toys. So we are good…but need a little help to bridge the gap for unemployment to come back. I have learned some coding and have tried to drum up business from old clients. I also have had a lot of success day trading but have had to cut into the principle so much that it’s worthless at this point.
Our weekly expenses come to 200 a week. Our minivan is paid for and campsites run 100ish for 7 days. We do our laundry on sunny days.
I have never been in need before and am truly mortified that I put my son in this situation. He was conceived through fertility treatments. I have made a ton of money over the years. But my business failing threw me for a loop. I just kept throwing money at the problem not setting aside for this emergency.
Thank you for reading and thank you for being on this site at all. Every dollar helps! Seriously! And will be used judiciously. My son will never be in this situation again. This part really sucks but I am thankful to learn this hard lesson now before my son is old enough to understand.