99%.

I am an intelligent, responsible, college educated 25 years old making only a bit more than minimum wage at a daycare. I’ve been working since I was 15. I have nothing to show for it.

I got a Bachelor’s degree thinking it would provide advancement and financial security in the future, but instead I cannot find a job where I can even begin to afford to pay back the student loans. They are very close to defaulting.

After a botched surgery in 2009, I lost my job, maxed out and lost my part-time health insurance, lost our savings, and maxed out my credit cards trying to keep our basic bills paid. My perfect credit was ruined in a matter of months.

I have over $100K in medical debt and about half that in student loan debt, added to the $15k in credit card debt.

I desperately need a check up or follow up appointment to check on the surgery from 2009, but I am already hundreds of thousands in medical debt.

My husband lost his job about 6 months after I did, and we had to move out of our first home we had together and move in with his mother while we got back on our feet. We finally have a tiny place of our own again, but we are still not back on our feet by a long shot. We barely make ends meet.

We husband now drives over an hour to work everyday where he makes about $10 an hour and spends most of that on gas.

We have indefinitely put off trying to start a family because of our life situation.

We go weeks without groceries and there are days there isn’t enough gas in our cars to get us to work. We eat sandwiches and Ramen noodles everyday.

I am deep in debt that I see no way out other than bankruptcy, there are no job prospects in my area, and there seems to be no hope. It’s gotten to where I am even considering joining the military (if they’d take me) in hopes of finding some financial stability for our family.

We don’t want an extravagant lifestyle. We simply want to live comfortably with a roof over our heads, food on the table, and an honest paycheck for the work we do and the education we have.

We are very fortunate to have family that helps us make ends meet when we simply have no money left, but it shouldn’t be like that. I don’t want a hand out. I want to earn my living for myself.

Almost 3 years ago, we were both employed with excellent health insurance, paying all the bills, had money in savings, no credit card debt, no medical debt, excellent credit, and only a little bit of manageable student loan debt.

How all of that has changed.

I have lost all hope of ever living debt free, buying our own house, and slowly I am losing hope that we will have children. If we can’t feed ourselves, we can’t feed a child.

I am angry. I am depressed. I am in despair. I feel like a failure.

I am the 99%.

occupywallst.org