At 17 I started working at Dunkin Donuts this was my second tax paying job. The first one, I didn't stay long enough to be paid. The only reason I was allowed to work before 18 was because my grandmother finally gave in to me having my own money. It was a long time coming too 6 years of having to create my own hustles without anybody noticing how smart I actually was.       How many of you guys understood the tax paying rule upon your first job? Not me nobody told me anything about paying taxes. If I was supposed to learn that in school, I didn't due to being removed by my mother & grandmother in the 9th grade and not finishing. (more on that in another post) I had a nerve to think the government would actually give me all the money I did the work for. That is screaming funny! I  had a rude awakening; I came storming in the house with my first check not understanding why the net worth said one thing and my actual pay was $150 less. My mother then explained taxes to me. 

       In 1998 14 year old Jodie came up with an idea, since the threat put out by her Grandmother seemed to be really serious. Not ever working again until she was 18 was a hard pill to swallow, she had to come up with a way to keep money in her pockets. I mean at 14 she wasn't trying to do anything but buy snacks and Ice cream cones for the children on the block who couldn't get one. That was something she liked to do.       Jodie pulled all her neighborhood friends together and had a meeting about them becoming a drill team. The plan would be to go door to door and collect donations and they would have money everyday. Jodie told one group of young people to always be standing on the sidewalk when they went to a house so that they could look like the drummers and we were raising money for their drums.       Then there was the group that went just up close enough to the door, just in case someone asked to see a step, they could buss one out. The two spokes persons would be Jod

      At 38 years old I've had many jobs and have had the opportunity to sharpen many of my many skills. I'm going to make a list of all the jobs I've had in my life to see how it will possibly shape a career. I'm still not exactly sure what I want to be, but I have contributed a lot to society in many ways. Let's get started because I had my first taste of employment when I was 12.  In 1996 12 year old me worked as a daycare assistant around the corner from her home. I was paid $24 per week. Jodie loved this job and her love for children started to grow. Do you remember pagers in the 90's? They were mobile devices that notified you that someone was trying to contact you. They came in all different sizes & colors, what happens is someone dials ur number, leaves their number & you get to a phone and call them back. Now I wanted one of these cute devices, the one I wanted was called a mini. My Grandmother told me I couldn't have one because I didn'

      As I sit here & think about week 11 & 12, I'm trying 2 figure out why I freaked out the way I did. Do I really need the mental health meds, if I'm going to be living like a vagabond or is it dumb shit that makes me crazy? Sometimes things get to be too much. We ended up leaving Hubby's friends house & moving into a hotel in DTLA.       It was & has been impossible to save for a security deposit simply because his friend wanted us to pay $1,200 per month for his less than livable garage, I wasn't about to do that and moving from hotels to airbnb's weren't helping to save money either. In the end I think I panicked because I haven't been unsure of where I was going to sleep in over 5 years at that point. It was a scary feeling & to know that neither one of us had any funds or anyone we could call, plus I had to work and I got off at 10:30 at night & not knowing where I was going in my head was terrifying.      I mentally folded &a