I Need a Little Help*

Hello friends in bloggerland. I haven't asked for some financial help in a while, but I really need it now.

I got an eviction notice today. I have until Saturday, Oct. 22, to move out. Problem is, I have no place to go. I could move in with my Mom, but that would involve alot of humilitation; suffering through alot of smug, self-righteous I-told-you-so's. I can't bear the thought of that. Of course, I can't bear the thought of living on the street either. I'm so distraught, I don't know what to do.

For those of you who don't know, I was fired from my job in August and have been working only part-time since then. I found some fairly decent paying jobs in the newspaper, but they were all a 30-60 minute drive away. I don't mind commuting, but driving that far for a $7-$8 an hour job with the cost of gas being what it is, well, it just didn't make sense. So, I've been working in my best friend's antique store.

I have been trying other things as well. My friend lets me put my crocheted bears and baby blankets in her stores(she has two) for free, but they haven't sold like I thought they would. I've also been doing alot of babysitting for a child who goes to the day care I used to work at. Her mother, "Jane", has said I can clean her house for $30 a week, and that her neighbor also needs a housecleaner for about the same price. I was to tentatively start this coming Monday, but I might not have a home then.

I was looking forward to cleaning house for "Jane". I actually started to form a plan in my mind. After talking with "Jane", I figured I could clean three houses on Monday(the store's closed on Mondays) for $90, then clean one house on Tues-Fri for $30 each; that's $210 a week. Then I could still work in the store Tues-Fri for $80 a week. In total, I'd be bringing home $290 a week, $1160 a month. I could live on that.

I liked this plan. The more I thought of it, I actually started to feel a little bit of hope that things could get better for me. I was looking forward to Monday, then I came home from work today and found that damn eviction notice taped to my front door. There went all the wind in my sails. The family curse had struck again.

The curse seems to be stopping anyone from helping me, too. I had a page on a site for needy people called savemesites.com. I received only one $1 donation during the three months my page was up. I also joined a couple of financial aid groups on Yahoo!, but they proved useless too. The only consistent responses I got from the Yahoo! groups and savemesites were from con men. It's disheartening to see all the people willing to exploit those who're down on their luck. And the contempt the scammers have for poor people's intelligence is amazing!

For example, one guy--I assume it was a guy--in one of the Yahoo! groups e-mailed me and the other group members that he had just won the lottery and wanted to help the first 100 folks who contacted him. So far, so good. Then the creep had the nerve to ask for $5 from everyone who wrote him!!!! He claimed he'd won the lottery, but he needed $5 from poor people??!! Gimme a break! I was a little mad at the moderator of that group for letting such an obvious scammer post such an obvious scam. I'm not a member of that group anymore.

Then there was the UK national lottery scam.

I got an e-mail informing me that I'd won the UK national lottery, even though I'd never entered it. I was told to e-mail my ticket number to a Mr. Andrew Gordon Furness, who'd then send me my claim form. Well, I did a Yahoo! search of Mr. Furness's name and, voila!, scammer! Didn't this guy know he was on Yahoo!? Didn't it occur to him that I might be smart enough to check? Shees!

And I can't forget the Nigerians. They started it all with their poignant, misspelled, e-mails telling me I was discoverd to be the heir of a man who died in a car wreck--or was it a plane crash?-- with his entire family, and would I please wire them some money so they could transfer my inheritance? NO!

See what I mean by disheartening?

So that's why I'm asking for a little help from any kind and honest people out there in cyberspace. I'm not looking for hundreds of dollars from just a few folks. I know that times are hard and most people can't afford to give more than a dollar or two, and that's fine. If 1,000 people put just 1 or 2 dollars each in my tip jar, I could save my apartment and have time to get my house cleaning business up and running before next month's rent is due.

Please, I'm not a bum who won't work. I'm not an addict who'll spend the money on drugs or alcohol. I'm just an ordinary person who's down on her luck and doesn't want to stay there. Will someone out there please help me? Thank you in advance, and God Bless You!