After four days, I'm turning into a recluse because I'm too bummed to go out .. kudos to everyone else in the challenge - they don't have the luxury of not going to work and most of them also have families to add to their work load, but I'm just at home on my own, knowing that in actual numbers I'm $27 in the hole and not knowing how to deal with that virtual stress ..

Once again, I'm bumping up against the rule that says, "Do not let friends or family purchase or supply meals" .. I'm not sure if I've crossed the line because friends came over for our Spanish conversation group yesterday and brought home-made soup and some baking with them, but that soup will be my supper tonight and tomorrow night, because I have nothing else left except bread, peanut butter, jam, boiled eggs, a bit of lettuce and some fruit. I had planned on stretching the fruit and salad over the five days, and I'm just going to make it, but my chicken drumsticks were gone after the first three days. When I started out I had $20 left over that I was going to use today and tomorrow to buy something for supper, but after calculating my household and personal expenses, I realize that $20 is gone, and then some ..

Good news, for a change: I just checked into Ontario Works and this applies to me: "You can earn up to $200 a month without having your financial support reduced. For every $1.00 you earn after that, Ontario Works will deduct $0.50 from the amount of money you receive from us." (like they're giving it to us out of their own pockets! .. ) 

SO .. the huge paycheck from Church ($129.95!) that I received on Sunday is mine, all mine! It makes me think about the positive impact of earning even a little bit of extra money, but the policy certainly doesn't give welfare recipients much incentive to work. Besides, there are expenses associated with working that might basically eliminate much of that $200 ($50 per week ) - transportation, clothes, personal items like deodorant, etc. I wonder how other countries do it?

Might be a good case here for a Basic Income experiment .. oh, wait .. 

Oh, boy .. a great time to run out of dental floss - out of curiosity I checked online regarding dental care for welfare recipients. Toronto Public Health clinics offer free dental services to eligible children and youth (0-17 years) and seniors (65 years and older). It looks like the Kenora District Services Board offers dental care, but no details are available on their website  ..