My bra broke and I’m writing my politicians

Today’s beautiful cover image is from Eric Perlin.

For those of you who don’t wear a bra, stick with me. This is going to be relevant to you, too.

For those of you who do wear a bra, you’ve probably all been where I was Sunday night. 

It was a long day, and I was so ready to just chill and watch some Buffy with a White Claw. (I’m not doing processed sugar right now.)

But when I plopped down on my chair, I felt something snap under my shirt. 

I know that feeling. Boy, do I know it. It’s the sickening crack of the underwire of my bra snapping in two.

If you wear bras then you know, they’re damned expensive. So I wait as long as possible before buying new ones. Consequently, this was one of only two bras I owned as of Sunday night.

A large purchase I’d been putting off had now become an emergency. An expensive one at that.

This required me to take some money out of my emergency fund. 

Okay, we’re done talking about my underwear now. 

Everyone should have an emergency fund of at least $1,000. It’s Dave Ramsey’s first baby step for a reason. And it is damned hard. 

It’s not hard because I have expensive tastes. 

It’s not hard because I don’t have self-control.

It’s not hard because I don’t have a full-time job.

It’s not hard because I have some sort of expensive addiction like cigarettes or Warhammer.

It’s because surviving has become too damn difficult. 

Let me be really clear. I am a Millennial and I don’t want to hear about millennials being too soft. Everyone is suffering right now, and it’s not because of damned avocado toast. I wrote this whole blog post about how hard it is for literally everyone to survive these days.

I was able to handle this emergency that was less than two hundred dollars. I am so grateful for that, there were years and years that this wasn’t the case. 

There is just no reason why everyone shouldn’t be able to pay their bills, put food on their table, clothes on their backs and have an emergency fund in the bank. If you’re working forty hours a week, you should be able to live on that. If you don’t believe that, what the hell is the matter with you?

I’m not saying that we should all be able to afford the newest Fossel Smart Watch. (I really want that watch.) I’m saying that maybe if something very simple like a bra break happens, it shouldn’t be a financial nightmare.

I do mean everyone. People who work in what we consider lesser jobs like fast food and retail still deserve to earn a living wage. Those people have been working during the pandemic to make sure you can get your groceries, eat a hot meal you didn’t have to cook and get things you need in the mail safely. Like, it’s great that we’ve had the flags at half-mast for them. Now how about we make sure they can feed their kids?

Honestly, though, I’m probably preaching to the choir here. If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re more on the side of the struggling than the comfortable. If that’s the case, you might feel powerless. Please listen to me when I say you are not. We are being reminded now as Americans that our politicians work for us. We pay their wages, and they’ve got no problem giving themselves raises. They should work for us. They should advocate for us to companies that pay insufficient wages. And we need to tell them that.

Write to your local representatives about raising the minimum wage to a living wage. Here’s a link to the resist app, it makes it easy to chat with the people who represent you.