To move from homelessness to normal house-living, I had to acquire many, many things that the normal person never thinks of being without.  But of course, the homeless person is without them.

It posed a financial hardship.  For several years, I’d literally spent all my money on Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and smokes.  I had no savings.  The offer of normal housing was sudden, abrupt, and I was mandated to move out of the shelter that same day.

Moreover, I now had to pay rent and utilities, and had to figure out a budget; but there are all these things you can’t figure into your regular monthly budget; such as a hammer.  Once you get one, you’ll probably have that one for life.

Originally I kept records of all this things, where and when I bought them, and how much they cost.  But I lost some receipts, and lost a lot of data in a computer glitch the night before my laptop got stolen.  I remember that the can opener cost $10; the bucket cost $10 also.  The can opener was the most urgent purchase, and no one had thought of it.  If I had nothing else, I needed that to be able to open cans of food.

Here are the things that I either received as gifts, or had to buy:

Christmas gifts I asked for, over the years, at the shelters: Continue reading A long way up →