I just got a 30 day notice from my landlord and I have 47 dollars in my account.
Honestly I don't even know why I'm posting this. I've been sitting in here for two hours, staring at the stupid piece of paper I was just given. My hands were shaking when I first read it. They're not now but that's only because I think my brain went numb. I am a 34 yr old single mother in Tulsa. I work at a distribution warehouse M-Sat, 6am-2:30pm. I take home about 1850 dollars a month, after taxes. My rent is 975 dollars a month. That use to be affordable. That use to leave room to breathe. Then February happened. My daughter Mara got a respiratory infection that turned into something else, and missed 11 days of school. I had to stay home from work with her for 6 of those days because they don't allow children with fevers at her school and she is only 8 years old, she can't be left home alone. I used up all the sick time I had accumulated since October and they docked the rest of it from my check. I took home 1190 dollars that month, paid rent, her medicine, and bought groceries. I did not pay the electric bill. The electric bill rolled over into March. In March there was also car maintenance that I couldn't afford to put off because if I don't have the car, I can't go to work, and if I don't go to work I have nothing. I paid half the electric bill, I paid my rent late, and was charged a late fee. I told myself I would catch up in April. This morning before I even had my coffee, the landlord handed me this notice. Apparently paying rent late twice in three months constitutes grounds for a 30-day notice in my lease. I re-read the lease I signed two years ago, and the landlord is correct. I did not read the lease carefully enough when I signed it. I have been a tenant in this apartment for two years and I've never had a noise complaint. I haven't done any damage. I painted Mara's room myself, and touched up the baseboards in the hallway without being asked. I guess none of that matters because none of it is in the lease. I don't really have family that I can call. My mom passed away in 2021 and my dad has been in assisted living for the past year, diagnosed with early onset dementia. My sister lives in Arizona and has four kids, and I wouldn't want to burden her, she's got enough going on. Mara's dad has been out of the picture for 6 years now, and I learned a long time ago not to depend on that avenue for anything. I have already started looking at available rental assistance in Tulsa. I found a reference for the Community Action Project of Tulsa County and I plan to call them first thing Monday. I also saw a reference to an Oklahoma 211 line that supposedly refers people to local emergency resources. I've never called one before, but I plan to. I guess what I'm trying to ask is, does anyone have a situation like mine where they were just behind on rent for one bad turn in their life, where they had been a reliable tenant for years. Did calling the landlord directly actually work? Were you able to negotiate an extension through legal aid? I'm not asking for someone to tell me it's going to be okay. I just want to know what actually made a difference for those who were in a situation like mine. Mara has no idea about any of this. She is in the other room, playing on the tablet, and this morning she asked if we could plant tomatoes on the balcony like we did last summer. I told her yes. I am going to figure out how to make that yes a reality.