I Grew Up Poor

I’m part of a migrant family. My dad went to prison when I was young, and my Mom has to work multiple shifts to support me, and my brothers. Fortunately, the Catholic parish supports our family and I am able to go to the parish school. My Mom still has to pay part of the fees and between that and the rent there isn’t much money left for anything else. The best clothes I have are my school uniforms and a good dress for mass. The rest of my clothes are from the parish clothing drives except for underwear. My underwear is very basic, comprising white bras and white panties but I don’t have enough for every day to last between trips to the laundromat, so I wear my underwear at least two days in a row. My Mom buys the cheapest toilet paper, it’s so thin I hate using it and give up after a while. I’ve started working a job on weekends so I was able to afford to save up for a phone but my grades are now slipping as I don’t have the time to study. My dad recently got out of prison and has come home, he hasn’t been able to find a job and he spends most of the time drinking and as a result is wasting away the little money we do have.