Tessie D

I’ve been at the dairy for a little over a month now. The work isn’t hard, and I enjoy it.

The office gets a little lonely in the afternoons after I’ve gotten all my work done for the day. The good news is that I’ve been able to read a lot in the afternoons, and the city library is very good, with a lot more books than the library back home.

Checking out books is just about all I can afford to do right now anyways. The money I’m making on the dairy isn’t nearly as much as when I was waiting tables.

And, I’m making it okay with my bills. I make $5.00 an hour, which is a little more than minimum wage. At 40 hours a week, I’m making about $1000 a month after taxes. I pay $300 a month for my room and utilities and then $100 a month for gas and car insurance. That leaves me about $600 a month for groceries and savings. It’s really not too bad. Sure, I don’t have health insurance and, coincidentally, I have a terrible toothache and probably need to see the dentist. But that’s a problem for another day. Because today, I have about $500 in my checking account and $100 in my savings, which is better than I’d been in while.

Besides, I could get a second job, maybe something on the weekends. I’m just hanging out at the house reading, so there’s no reason why I couldn’t work more. Maybe I could wait tables here, and it’d be different than how it was before. Then I’d have the stable paycheck during the week and the cash on the weekends.

Maybe this is some sort of test from God. I’m learning how to be happy and content with less money. I’m learning how to find the joy in austerity. I’ve been unhappy with no money, so maybe the test is to find a way to be happy instead.