Donate to Keep Jenny Trout's Family Afloat

I'm Jenny Trout, USA Today Bestselling Author who can't pay her bills.

Times are tough for everyone, but lately, it feels like times are being extra tough on my family in particular. Earlier this year, a shakeup at his workplace resulted in my husband having to choose between staying in his position and potentially losing his job, or taking a guaranteed position that pays about half what he was making before. Because we need health insurance (and because I recently came off my own, nearly year-long job search), we played it safe. We could make adjustments.

And then, he got sick. Not dire, mortally ill. Just a chronic illness that resulted in a lot of missed work and some super expensive tests. Then, he got injured. Not in a "my whole body part came off" way, but in a way that, again, is resulting in a lot of missed work and expensive doctor appointments, soon to include tests, physical therapy, and potentially short term disability (which pays even less than what he's making now).

Then, the cars started breaking down. We're currently on my car's third breakdown of the year, which we cannot afford to fix. Not being able to fix it means adding thirty extra miles to our commutes, sometimes twice a day. We're spending more on gas every week than it would probably take to get the car fixed, so we're never going to catch up.

Luckily, we received a generous gift earlier this year, which caught us up some. And that coincided with a huge downturn in my book sales, which halved my income, spiraling us right back down.

It feels like we can't catch a break. In the past few years we lost thousands of dollars in a Facebook hack, thousands of dollars on a move that didn't pan out, I've had two surgeries, and now, all of this. It feels like the universe is set on attacking us if we get even a little bit ahead.

There is no more belt tightening that can be done. Basically, we're down to bare bones here, and I'm desperate. After this month, our savings will be completely depleted, and what we're making right now will not pay the bills anymore. You know that statistic about being one bad month away from homelessness? Well, we've gone through about eighteen sequential months of those conditions. I'm trying so hard, but I can't get a third job. It's just physically impossible for me, and unless someone invents a teleporter, I just can't get where I need to go. And my husband can't get a second job, because he's in too much pain to even make it to the first one reliably. It might be months before they can get him walking correctly again.

I'm only posting this because I'm out of options. I want to be able to eat food. I want to be able to be able to have electricity. I want my car to be driveable. I don't want to have to declare bankruptcy because I can't make payments on our car (and then lose our jobs because we can't get to them without that car). I'm terrified, so I'm asking for help.

Photo of cats for pity tax.