No work again at the camp because of the kids going swimming. So I will be off to try and sell some furniture soon. It is sometimes hard for me to keep my days straight. I never realized this about myself but apparently I used television as a way of keeping track of the days. Since watching TV is not really much of an option for me, I sometimes get a little confused about what day it is.
I am out of some supplies that I use on a regular basis. Believe it or not one of your very best friends when you are homeless is baby powder. First it will help you stay a little less sweaty on really hot days, but it really helps with your feet. Apparently feet are a big issue with the homeless. You don't really take your shoes off that much. I am in a slightly different position since I sleep in a car and can take my shoes off, but I noticed the one night I spent in the homeless shelter that almost everyone slept with their shoes on. Part of it is that you spend a lot of your time being pre-occupied that none of your things are stolen.
You have so few belongings that they are so precious to you. It is difficult to come up with money to replace anything, so if you lose your shoes somehow it becomes a really big deal. I used to have many pairs of shoes. Too many actually. I guess it is a girl thing. I now own five. One of which I can't wear because they hurt my feet too much and another that is a pair of winter boots. I put many of the shoes that I had in storage when I originally moved out of my apartment, and when I couldn't pay the bill they sold everything.
Another thing that I found to very helpful is pair of socks that have the support in them. They sell these socks that I guess people who have circulation problems use and they help absorb the sweat, give some extra padding and sometimes when it is really humid you will find that you getting swelling. These help with all of those issues. The problem is they are expensive. Almost $15 per pair. I don't have that kind of money to spend on socks. So I bought one pair and wash them out as often as I can. Between the socks and the baby powder, my feet are in good shape. I still keep my toes polished. It is one of the ways that I try to stay "normal". It also helps pass some of the never ending time on my hands.
Another very helpful tool when you are homeless is having some knowledge of nutrition. You have to make choices about how you spend your food dollars. So you have to weigh what is filling over what is vitamin rich. In most cases you will go for the filling. But I do try and still eat things that are healthy. Once a month I buy some nuts to get protein. I try to drink some milk everyday. I don't always have the money to spend on it, but I try. Once a month I treat myself to some orange juice.
I try not to buy much fruit because it goes bad quickly. I did buy some peanut butter a few weeks ago, but it got really nasty from the excessive heat in my trunk. That is where I keep most of my food supplies. I don't generally have that much. Some cereal that Kim gave me and some things I have been able to pick up to my monthly trip to the food bank. I believe I mentioned before they have not been very helpful to me since they generally only have things that require cooking. Everyone once in a while I can get some canned fruit from them. Which is a nice treat while they last.
When you only about $5 per day to spend on food and you can't cook it becomes all about the choices that you make. Sometimes I get some stuff from the deli section of the Safeway. I got a 1/4lb of chicken salad for under $2 due to a sale. I had some crackers left over from another meal so it almost filled me up. There are many canned things that you can eat cold. Even most soups can be eaten cold. I will sometimes buy Campbell's vegetable soup and eat that. Not great, but once you get past it being cold, it isn't that bad. I don't have a can opener, so I can only buy cans that have pop tops. So my choices are limited in that arena. I have found a couple of grocery stores that have microwaves, my problem is that they are not nearby so it then becomes a gas issue. That seems to be story of my life now. How much gas I have.
Have a good day.
No comments:
Post a Comment