Downsizing One's Life Dreams
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My name is Rima Regas. I am a writer. Some of you will recognize me from my comments in various newspapers. This GoFundMe is strictly for the purpose of purchasing a recreational vehicle for my family to live in. We have been homeless and living in a hotel for the past year and three months and, without jobs, are unable to move out of this living arrangement and into a permanent home. Your generous support will help us get out of this untenable situation we are in and onto a path of stability. The only thanks I can promise to give is my continued dedication as a writer on my blog .
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I never thought I’d go public with my own precariat story, at least not until I had an ending for it. We’ve been homeless since December 2014 and need your collective help in successfully putting an end to our current state of distress.
On rare occasion, I have written publicly about how our family was affected by the Great Recession. While I’ve always had a keen interest in politics and economics, there is nothing like personal circumstance to hone one’s interests.
The Great Recession hasn’t been easy on us. In fact, it has ended up being far more brutal than the tech bubble of the early 2000’s. Brutal in the early 2000’s was, living in a house with our then toddler and no power or water for half a year while neither one of us could get work. But we survived. The difference, today, though, is that the Great Recession has stretched out over more years, when both my husband and I are older, less attractive prospective workers than we were during the bubble, and most importantly, when we can no longer hang on.
It took the help of a lot of friends to survive the tech bubble. We were just coming up for air when the Great Recession hit. We somehow were able to coast during most of this recession, between my husband’s unemployment benefits, the five startups who hired him for a time, until they failed or just didn’t need him anymore, reaching the 99-month limit on unemployment insurance, and the catastrophe that hit us at the end of 2014 when my husband’s one and only client took three months longer than contracted to pay him.
That is when we stopped being able to hang on and were kicked out of the home we were living in. Life has been hard since, with us sinking every penny we have been able to scrape together into a hotel room, stuck in a vicious cycle neither one of us sees an end to. He, applying for jobs no one ever considers him for, and me submitting pieces for publication in media outlets whose interests don’t seem to mesh with my views. We are homeless and stuck in a rut.
I started a separate GoFundMe campaign to make a go of my blog as an honest to goodness American small business. I may be poor, but I still think and read as voraciously as I ever have, right? Why not put all that energy into a creating a news magazine? And, indeed, since starting the blog, I’ve written more than 700 pieces and promise to write at least as many over the coming election year. With the help I’ve received thus far, I’ve tripled my number of followers on social media and I’ve greatly increased the number of reads on the blog through the placement of Facebook ads. That is why there is a separate GoFundMe campaign from this one.
So, after some thinking and looking around, we figured that living in a house on wheels would be cheaper over the long run, especially since we now can’t rent a home after a recent eviction. Here comes the downsizing of dreams part… Forget home ownership. Forget buying a condo. Forget even renting an apartment. We are trying to buy an RV. We can’t keep up this crazy hotel life. We can neither afford it, nor can we stop to save up, and do something else. We have this dream and I need your help to make it a reality.
The RV below is an available 1993 Fleetwood Bounder 34c that could be a home and office to my family .
The average apartment in Southern California costs $1500 a month. On top of that, you have to pay water, electric, and other utilities.
Most RV parks offer long term berth rentals for $600-800 a month, and most of the extras in a rental are included, like water, electric, even internet access.
It’s been a few weeks since I started this fundraising campaign and while I’ve had some success, I’ve not been able to reach my goal. Very sadly, I’ve had to spend the funds I’ve collected thus far on hotel stays as the last of our savings and income from work have dwindled to zero. Our outlook is bleak for the foreseeable future, with no opportunities for work on the horizon.
I am still hoping to raise enough money to purchase a used RV, at which point my monthly income will support our most basic needs. Thank you for your continued support and patronage.
Rima Regas
- - -
I never thought I’d go public with my own precariat story, at least not until I had an ending for it. We’ve been homeless since December 2014 and need your collective help in successfully putting an end to our current state of distress.
On rare occasion, I have written publicly about how our family was affected by the Great Recession. While I’ve always had a keen interest in politics and economics, there is nothing like personal circumstance to hone one’s interests.
The Great Recession hasn’t been easy on us. In fact, it has ended up being far more brutal than the tech bubble of the early 2000’s. Brutal in the early 2000’s was, living in a house with our then toddler and no power or water for half a year while neither one of us could get work. But we survived. The difference, today, though, is that the Great Recession has stretched out over more years, when both my husband and I are older, less attractive prospective workers than we were during the bubble, and most importantly, when we can no longer hang on.
It took the help of a lot of friends to survive the tech bubble. We were just coming up for air when the Great Recession hit. We somehow were able to coast during most of this recession, between my husband’s unemployment benefits, the five startups who hired him for a time, until they failed or just didn’t need him anymore, reaching the 99-month limit on unemployment insurance, and the catastrophe that hit us at the end of 2014 when my husband’s one and only client took three months longer than contracted to pay him.
That is when we stopped being able to hang on and were kicked out of the home we were living in. Life has been hard since, with us sinking every penny we have been able to scrape together into a hotel room, stuck in a vicious cycle neither one of us sees an end to. He, applying for jobs no one ever considers him for, and me submitting pieces for publication in media outlets whose interests don’t seem to mesh with my views. We are homeless and stuck in a rut.
I started a separate GoFundMe campaign to make a go of my blog as an honest to goodness American small business. I may be poor, but I still think and read as voraciously as I ever have, right? Why not put all that energy into a creating a news magazine? And, indeed, since starting the blog, I’ve written more than 700 pieces and promise to write at least as many over the coming election year. With the help I’ve received thus far, I’ve tripled my number of followers on social media and I’ve greatly increased the number of reads on the blog through the placement of Facebook ads. That is why there is a separate GoFundMe campaign from this one.
So, after some thinking and looking around, we figured that living in a house on wheels would be cheaper over the long run, especially since we now can’t rent a home after a recent eviction. Here comes the downsizing of dreams part… Forget home ownership. Forget buying a condo. Forget even renting an apartment. We are trying to buy an RV. We can’t keep up this crazy hotel life. We can neither afford it, nor can we stop to save up, and do something else. We have this dream and I need your help to make it a reality.
The RV below is an available 1993 Fleetwood Bounder 34c that could be a home and office to my family .
The average apartment in Southern California costs $1500 a month. On top of that, you have to pay water, electric, and other utilities.
Most RV parks offer long term berth rentals for $600-800 a month, and most of the extras in a rental are included, like water, electric, even internet access.
It’s been a few weeks since I started this fundraising campaign and while I’ve had some success, I’ve not been able to reach my goal. Very sadly, I’ve had to spend the funds I’ve collected thus far on hotel stays as the last of our savings and income from work have dwindled to zero. Our outlook is bleak for the foreseeable future, with no opportunities for work on the horizon.
I am still hoping to raise enough money to purchase a used RV, at which point my monthly income will support our most basic needs. Thank you for your continued support and patronage.
Rima Regas
Organizer
Rima Regas
Organizer
Irvine, CA
