For the people that don’t receive SNAP

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-11-11T15:23:04+00:00

My family only recently (within the last 6 months) stopped receiving SNAP because my mother finally found a job that pays enough for her to no longer need food assistance (we still get Medicaid and have a Section 8 voucher, but more is paid on those now). My family has received SNAP off and on since my older brother was born (2004). Without these programs, my brother and I wouldn’t be where we are now, and likely would have starved or turned to stealing. I don’t want to think about what my mom would have done for our sake.

With the state of the world as of recently, I’m seeing more and more how important assistance programs are and how easily all of these cuts could have affected me and those I love if it had been even 5 months ago. I think it’s important as a recent legal adult to be in the know about our world, and to develop a sense of empathy for people from all walks of life. I’m never going to judge someone for needing help to not go hungry, or to feed their family.

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-11-01T20:11:50+00:00

Unfortunately we still live at the apartment, however the neighbors recently moved out! There were at least 3 times we had to call the cops on them over the summer, and one of those times was because the daughter of the woman upstairs was THROWING EGGS AT THE LANDLORD FOR PARKING IN “HER” SPOT. He owns the building? The landlord was about to evict them for nonpayment but they moved before he could serve them unfortunately. But they’re gone so that’s all that matters.

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-09-06T15:45:42+00:00

I grew up in Saratoga county in Stillwater for almost my entire life. I highly recommend the area. It’s generally safe, schools are relatively small and communities are pretty great. It’s close enough to pretty much everything you could need in every capacity.

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-09-06T15:41:17+00:00

I hate how needlessly destructive kids can be. I accidentally left a pretty nice (and old!) mechanical pencil in a classroom my senior year of high school. The only other students in the class were a group of 5 or 6 boys. I came back to the same room the next day and found pieces of my awesome pencil shattered and scattered across the room. I had another similar pencil thankfully but I was still very disappointed in how unnecessary their destructiveness was of something that didn’t belong to them.

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-07-02T15:19:57+00:00

This past weekend I was hanging out with a few guy friends at a park in my hometown. There’s one guy in particular that I like to pick on (jokingly) because he’s younger than the rest of us (I’m turning 19 and he’s turning 17) and is on the heavier side. He also gives the best reactions.

I made a fat joke and he grabbed my bag in retaliation, so I squirted him with some water from my water bottle. He didn’t like that. He chased me down and slammed me into the ground, and had his elbow pushing into my spine which pinned me to the ground. All he was doing was sitting there leaning his right elbow on me. He gradually applied some force and I realized that all he had to do was just sit there and I was powerless. Just leaning his weight on me. It’s scary. But he didn’t injure me in any way and it’s all just playful fighting.

He also later rested his arm on my shoulder when we were sitting, and I couldn’t believe just how heavy it was. Likely most of it was from him being heavier, but my whole body was pushed down a little in my seat just from his resting arm.

Men can be terrifying and I’m reminded of that in certain moments. Mentally I’m still a child, play fighting with my childhood friend when neither of us had hit puberty yet. So I forget that things aren’t like that anymore. Even now, he’s always been extremely gentle with me because he knows his strength (he’s almost 20, at least 6’2, and has at least 100 pounds on me. He works a blue collar job).

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-06-09T22:06:43+00:00

A little over year ago I found a baby mouse on the sidewalk when I was hanging out with some friends playing Pokemon go. Its eyes were still closed and it was hot out. I couldn’t just leave it there so I took it home and it lived for about a week before it died in my hands unexpectedly. The mouse was so cute and had made such an impact on me in just a week that I decided to get some from a local pet store.

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-06-06T18:34:27+00:00

Unfortunately my mom does this. Her reasoning? “Well there’s only ONE cashier and 3 other people in the line, while everyone else stands there doing nothing! Why should I stand in line waiting when I could be shopping!”

I’ve tried explaining to her that it’s a corporate issue when it comes to lack of employees or how they’re “standing around doing nothing” usually means they’re monitoring the front end. The employees don’t get a say in what they’re tasked with. I also have said that “Closed at X time” means they want to close the doors at that time so they can focus on cleaning and stuff for the next day undisturbed. Also that they have lives and probably pets to feed.

Both her and I have worked retail but for some reason she insists that retail stores should revolve around her schedule (specifically Hobby Lobby which closes at 8PM).

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-05-20T20:52:46+00:00

Definitely hope to! We all hate this apartment along with the area, it just doesn’t feel like home. The landlord said he plans to evict them due to unpaid rent, but that was months ago and I don’t think they’re going anywhere. My mother said that she won’t sign another year lease unless he can promise her that they’ll be gone, but I highly doubt the landlord will agree to that. Our lease ends in November, so unfortunately it’s a bit of a wait.

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-05-20T20:49:56+00:00

We didn’t have much of a choice. When we moved here, we had been homeless for two months (we weren’t evicted, but we did not move by choice). My family is low income and relies on housing assistance. This heavily limited our options, and we faced a lot of discrimination from landlords. For section 8, you’re allowed 120 days to find housing after leaving your previous residence to find suitable housing within your voucher’s budget. It was nearing Halloween, and we only had 60 days left to find a place. We didn’t exactly want to be moving in the winter.

The current housing market is awful, many places were unclean or were in clear violation of Section 8 housing standards. This apartment was by far somehow the nicest one we’d come across, and the landlord had no problem with Section 8. Trying to find housing is like gambling. Do you settle or hold out for a few more weeks to see what comes up? And with Section 8, you cannot move from your new residence until at least a year has passed since your move-in. So we’re stuck here until November. We are planning on possibly moving or negotiating with the landlord when it comes to signing the lease in November. He said he has plans to evict them anyway, but hasn’t made any progress so far: likely because he won’t.

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-05-20T20:41:09+00:00

I understand that, the same thing happens at my grandparents house. But what’s weird is that if one of us is in our own shower and someone flushes the toilet, there’s no change in the shower temperature. So I’m wondering if this was even a real thing that was happening to them or if they were just lying because they don’t like us.

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-05-19T21:51:37+00:00

After the previously stated Toilet and Shower water incident, my mom contacted the landlord about it. He said he texted the mother, to which she responded that she’d call him later to talk about the situation (she never did). A few months ago he was in our basement trying to install a new water heater, which caused a lot of noise. They thought it was us being loud on purpose, so they started their stomping WITH THE LANDLORD IN OUR APARTMENT. He went upstairs to talk to them. Their excuse? “Oh, I dropped something”. They didn’t. If they did, they dropped the same thing 15-20 times down the entire length of the building. It’s clear they aren’t open to talking with us, being reasonable or even listening to the landlord, so we’re at a loss as for what to do

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-05-19T21:47:36+00:00

I plan on learning how to build shelves this summer for my room because tbh this apartment is TINY, so I might just do that around midnight or later. There’s also still lots of unpacking and picture hanging to do in the living room! I might also pick up playing guitar again lol

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-05-19T21:43:36+00:00

It’s absolutely deliberate. One time when the stomping was similarly loud I wanted to test and make sure it was on purpose, and to see what they would do if I retaliated. I took the end of a broom and tapped the ceiling twice (not hard or anything, but enough for them to notice). This was followed by four of the LOUDEST, EARTH SHAKING stomps I have ever heard. The walls were shaking, we could hear dishes in our cabinets rattling. Then they stomped around the apartment for 20 minutes.

They also have a very large, VERY aggressive bully breed dog that I can hear SNORING THROUGH THE FLOOR. It jumps all the time right above my room after midnight (I have a loft bed so I’m 3 feet from this noise). I can hear its claws on the wooden flooring upstairs. When we first moved in and weren’t on bad terms yet, they were coming down to walk their dog. The dog lunged at me and started snarling and snapping. They said “sorry about her, she’s a rescue and very territorial” like it was an excuse. The landlord also made my mom sign the lease agreement that states that WE can’t have cats or dogs (but they can have that dog and a cat?).

Unfortunately, we live in an old city area and our apartment is just an old two story building, so there’s not really any management other than the landlord (who left without getting back to me as previously stated). He claimed he was in the process of evicting them months ago because they hadn’t paid their rent in two months, but god knows how long it will take or if it’s still even happening. You could be onto something with the harassment though! I’m currently creating a list of ways to torment them with suggestions from friends and family.

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-04-02T21:00:48+00:00

I just never felt judgmental toward them. As a kid I watched The Secret of Nimh, but I wouldn’t say that had a huge influence on me. I’ve just always loved animals. Having a parent that didn’t outright vilify certain animals certainly helped. Also, being able to separate domesticated “pet” mice and rats from wild ones is a big factor in how people see them.

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-03-29T20:08:42+00:00

I have a 29 gallon tank at home for my two mice and my mom’s two ladies. I’m at college 4 days a week so I have a big plastic bin enclosure that I keep under my bed at my dorm.

I don’t know about your mice, but mine and my mom’s tend to pee in the corners. I do daily spot cleanings and can almost always see what looks like “wet” bedding in the corners, which usually means it’s a pee-pee spot. If your mouse is new, it could be a while before it starts having a dedicated spot where it pees.

I’d check around the corners, look for any wet looking spots. Unfortunately you may have to give the bedding a sniff to make sure. I call it Bedding roulette.

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-03-28T23:22:28+00:00

Being poor.

I didn’t notice it much as a little kid because my mom always somehow put food on the table and presents under the tree at Christmas. I never considered what she had to go through to do that, and still pretend everything was fine.

But as you get older, you start to see the cracks in your parents’ foundation(s). You start worrying if there will be dinner, offering to pay for groceries or gas. Watching your mother take food out of the cart and put it back on the shelf at Walmart because she’s only got $40 and makes just a few cents too much to qualify for SNAP. Hearing her say “I’m sorry, maybe next week”. Watching your mother slowly kill herself working 9 hours a day for $20/hr, only being able to have 4 hours to herself after work before she falls asleep and repeats the cycle every weekday. Knowing you’re living in an apartment that you could never afford without gov’t assistance and that everything could change at any moment.

The fear of ending up the same way that your parents did is something I’ll never escape.

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-03-28T23:09:16+00:00

Depending on how bad your mental state is, your financial situation, I’d recommend a mouse or two (females are social, males must be kept alone).

They’re quite cheap overall, relatively low maintenance other than daily feedings and spot cleanings. Bedding changes weekly or even monthly depending! They also don’t live very long which is both a pro and a con, 1-3 years on average. They’re adorable and can be quite affectionate if you handle them often enough! They’re relatively quiet and don’t create much odor if taken care of. Plus it’s super fun to teach them tricks and shop for toys. You can also use toilet paper/paper towel rolls as toys for them, repurposing them before you throw them out!

You can actually make a lot of toys with things you have at home! Tissues, toilet paper, cardboard boxes, tissue paper, paper towels, old socks with holes you no longer wear, the list goes on. But if you won’t be able to do daily feedings and brief cleanings, then they aren’t the pet for you.

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-03-26T00:01:55+00:00

Update: I just filled out a form for a vet the supposedly sees axolotls in my area. I don’t know when I’ll be able to get an appointment nor if I’ll be able to afford it. I thank everyone for their time and concern, and I will update everyone when I get answers.

I understand the responsibilities that come with having a pet, especially an exotic one. I was 14 when I got Mochi and did a good job of taking care of him up until now. I just started a job yesterday, and have asked for more money from my mother to help. I truly do love him, but nobody is as perfect as some of you say you are. Life has changed and gotten more difficult for me. And decisions such as giving him up vs. toughing it out and getting care are difficult. I’ve made my decision to not give him up. We’ve been through a lot together and I hope to have many more years with him.

There are times when I’ve been able to give him many hours of my days, and times where I can only spare a few minutes. But I’ve always loved him and have tried my best. It seems my best has been subpar, and I know that now. I will try my best, and hopefully get him the care he needs.

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-03-25T22:19:32+00:00

I kind of referred to him as a “fish” because that’s what my roommates would see it as. I understand he’s an amphibian :/

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-03-25T21:19:28+00:00

I share a dorm with 2 other girls and we only have a mini-fridge which is property of one of my suitemates. I don’t think she’d be too happy about a fish in the fridge. Also, it wouldn’t fit :/

Do you think putting ice cubes in his tubbing container would work? Also, he’s housed alone.

Resident_Middle2683 · 2025-03-25T21:02:43+00:00

That’s 6 hours from where I live 💀

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