“I am 32 years old, I earn PLN 6,000 and I raise my son alone. I can barely make ends meet” [LIST]

I am 32 years old and a single parent raising a toddler. I earn PLN 6,000 gross and usually, as they say, I’m a month away from running out of money. Well, I don’t laugh because it’s my everyday life. The truth is that I can barely make ends meet. I know it’s not the lowest national wage and that people have it worse. But others have it better too. My life is a series of expenses. Every day I wake up afraid that something will happen again. That my adult car will no longer start, that the faucet will start leaking, that my son will get sick and once again I will have to leave PLN 200 at the pharmacy or that there will be a collection for a birthday present for a colleague from work again.

“Sometimes I have to put something down at the checkout because I simply don’t have enough money”

For me, every tenner matters, let alone a hundred. Because if you rent a studio apartment for half your salary, it’s really average. Thank God there are benefits, such as the demonized 800+, because I probably wouldn’t have made it to the end of the month. The prices of everything keep rising. I pay PLN 400 a week for stupid grocery and household purchases. It often happens that I have to put something down at the checkout because I simply don’t have enough money. This shame, these looks from other people… I can’t describe how a person feels when he has to admit in front of everyone that he can’t afford a packet of washing powder. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone, really.

‘I’m 32 years old, I earn PLN 6,000. and I raise my son alone. I’m barely making ends meet’ [LIST] Illustrative photo: shutterstock / Corina Linte

“Comments will soon start saying that I must have money for nails. Well, I don’t.”

Plus fuel for the car, which I can’t drive far anyway because I can’t afford it. The trips end with dropping my son off at kindergarten and myself at work, or doing some shopping along the way. There is no question of going to the lake outside the city, and the same about visiting the shopping center. Soon the comments will start saying that I must have money for my nails. Well, I don’t have it. I don’t visit a beautician, I only go to a hairdresser when I really have to, once every six months.

I try to be a good employee so I can get some bonuses or raises, and every once in a while I actually get them. Thanks to this, I can take my son on vacation or to an amusement park, buy him a better sweatshirt or a nicer toy. I would also like to be able to save money for his future. But I have nothing to do with it. Meanwhile, we use a lot of local groups where people give away things for free. Of course I would prefer to have new, “worn” clothes or unused items for the house. Unfortunately, I can’t afford it. If I manage to put anything aside, an urgent repair or illness comes up. And so on, Maciej.

Maybe someone can tell me how to live? How to get to the end of the month? After all, my earnings aren’t the worst, I don’t spend money on unnecessary trinkets and I don’t eat in pubs every week. How come I’m still on the verge of bankruptcy? Asia.