I basically survive on my financial aid and babysitting job. By doing this, I've gotten really good at budgeting my money and actually not spending it on things I don't need. I live for free at my parents' house and help with bills when I can. When I decided to go back to school I knew there would be challenges, but I have a roof over my head and food to eat and I'm grateful for that. Sometimes it is not easy to live here, especially when your younger brother also lives here and does not work or contribute to the household chores. It got really difficult last year when my mom lost her job and couldn't find it for a while, so the bills were piling up every month. He had to go through foreclosure on the house and I think the lights were knocked out a couple of times. But somehow we always manage to get through difficult times like these. Some days, to save on gas, I'll stay at my boyfriend's house since he lives and works right down the street from the MCC. I will also be staying at my brother's house who lives right on campus. It's so easy to wake up and walk to school and it saves me a lot of money. Good thing those two boys are there, if it hadn't been for them I probably would have stopped going to school. I feel like small generosity like that helps support me