Hi, my name is Aspen/Sunny. I'm a queer artist who's been struggling with financial and housing insecurity, chronic illness and neurodivergence. I was trying to avoid asking for help again, but things have recently become too much.

TL;DR I am semi-homeless but staying on my friend's couch, I need to get my car back from a predatory company and I am trying to start a new career in trucking and better my station in life to avoid more situations like this. But I need a leg up in the meantime, because the effects of years of poverty are catching up and making things 100x harder than they otherwise would be. Thank you so much for your time, and for your support if you choose to help! The full story is as follows:

History:

In 2023 I left an emotionally abusive living situation and I've been struggling to keep my head above water ever since.

That situation put me in a lot of debt. Unbeknownst to me at the time I moved in, the house I was living in from 2020-2023 was full of toxic mold as well. In 2022, the whole household got sick with covid and since our immune systems were already taxed, all of us remained sick for months. As the only person in the house with credit cards it fell on me to support everyone during that time (a total of 4 people including myself), and I've never been able to pay that debt off. I have made repayment deals with the lenders to lower interest where possible, but it's still a significant amount of money.

This debt has only compounded since I left, because the environment was also so emotionally toxic I left without a plan. After this I had a situation with a roommate in Ohio that endangered one of my cats. While it was accidental, there was no accountability taken by them so I had to leave that situation too.

I was generously offered a rental in Florida and later set up with an office job. The office job helped, but paid the bare minimum for me to get by, so the debt has not gotten any better and several accounts have gone to collections. The owner ended up having to sell the house and and since my financial situation didn't improve much, I was unable to find a new rental in Florida to hold onto my job, and had to come up with a new plan.

During this time I was too stressed, scattered and short on money to take care of things like keeping my car's registration up to date. I think there were also mold problems in Florida unfortunately, as I was still struggling with symptoms that have since subsided since I left late this summer. So it was very hard to stay on top of everything and more debt was added, but I do feel confident enough in my health now to handle a new career.

I have a storage unit in florida that costs about $240, and about $700 in debt payments, plus groceries on top of that. It may not sound like a lot, but years of chronic stress has pretty much fried my executive function so it's a lot to stay on top of while freelancing for me.

My Plan:

I cannot continue with the amount of debt I'm in and the level of destruction my credit score has endured. At the moment I'm unable to secure and afford housing beyond staying with friends and would be homeless if I didn't have people willing to help me. It's an extreme situation, and so the solution also has to be extreme. I can't continue trying to live off my artwork as I'm very burnt out and the market is getting increasingly more precarious with the political climate.

My plan is to sign on with a trucking company that covers your CDL, and drive OTR for them. I have taken the ELDT course and have gotten medical clearance with DOT, and as soon as I resolve my current crisis I will be taking the written test and getting my permit with all the trucking-related endorsements, which will allow me to sign up with the company I'm looking at and finish the CDL process.

Because you live in the truck when you're OTR, any money you would otherwise be putting towards rent and utilities can instead be saved or used to pay off debt. The money is also much better than what I was making freelance or with the office job. It's stressful work with a lot of responsibility--and I still don't feel it will compare to the level of survival stress I have been under since 2020. However I have to get through the next few weeks, and the weeks of CDL training once I start with the company before I see any pay. I have been trying to keep afloat with commissions, but I find myself swamped again.

Current Situation/Immediate Crisis:

I'm currently staying with a friend in Wisconsin preparing for trucking school. It's been a long process as it's hard to get all your paperwork in order and even move your license to a new state when you're not living somewhere "officially". It being close to Minnesota, I drove to Minneapolis to spend Christmas with my family who I hadn't had the chance to spend the holidays with since 2019. I was towed out of my mom's parking space by a towing company that, from what her apartment management told her was not at all the company they contracted with. It's an illegal and predatory company going by two different names, with horrible reviews and a track record for seriously damaging cars and launching insults at people who come to pick up their cars.

They also towed Saturday morning, and are closed until Monday, so I will likely be looking at somewhere over $350 to get my car out on Monday (tomorrow) based on the reviews. I am hoping there's no serious damage to my car that I'll have to repair but a lot of the comments make that look like a high possibility. As much as I'd like to pursue legal action as this company has targeted many people, I don't have the time or money for small claims court, especially since I don't currently live in MN. I just need to start my new life and move forward at this point and hopefully get myself to a place where nothing like this ever happens again.

My outdated registration doesn't make it legal to tow off private property without permission from the owner, but may have made me a target regardless, so I could also use some help either updating my MN registration or possibly moving it to Wisconsin, but both are out of my means right now. Minnesota registration is very expensive, somewhere around $250 a year when I updated it back in 2023. Depreciation of my 10 year old car doesn't seem to have lowered the cost much. I'd need to update it for at least 2 years. Moving my plates to Wisconsin may be cheaper but I'm not sure by how much, and I would still need help.

Thank you so much for reading this and if you decide to help I'd be so grateful. Receipts for the tow company and DMV will be shown, and any extra will be used to stay on top of bills as I get through CDL school to avoid further driving my credit down.