In the coming months, we'll be talking to lots of different people about how money works in their lives.
Below is our conversation with Valerie, a nanny in New York City. We spoke to her on a recent weekday afternoon in Central Park. She was watching two small children.
This is the second installment in this project. The first installment, published this morning, was a conversation with with Arianna Huffington.
Do you worry about money?
Of course. I worry about not having enough to pay my bills. I leave back the rent — leave it aside to pay the credit cards, the things you would get late-payment fees on.
I give the rent a little rest, then I pay off everything else.
So you're behind on your rent?
I'm $6,000 behind on the rent because for 10 months I was not working. It’s my daughter’s uncle I’m renting from. My rent is $950. It’s two bedrooms.
I'm a single mother with three kids. The kids are grown, but job-wise, it's hard. They live with me. My daughter is 17. She’s going to graduate next year. I have a 30-year-old son. He’s sick. The other one will turn 28 in November.
So the two boys are in one bedroom and me and my daughter are in one.
Besides the back rent, do you have other debts?
I have credit-card bills. In total it’s around $10,000. I have Sears, I have Target, Citi, Chase. Oh, and Macy’s. So I have five of them.
You end up in debt sometimes because there wasn’t a job that pays a little more. Some babysitters get a job paying like 800, 900 [a week]. I’m never lucky to get a job like that.
Can I ask how much you make each week?
Read More: A house in Trinidad
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/
