Hello

My name is Leo Schmidt, but you can call me Leo. I am a homeless person. This blog will keep record of my travels and my progress as I work on getting out of homelessness.

Here's a little background, in case you care at all;

I was born in 1986. I was once a regular person - that is, a person with a home. Albeit, this was my parent's home (and it was more of an apartment situation) but still, it was home. My mother passed away when I was two years old during a still birth, so I only knew my father. He was a cool guy; was Safeway manager. We weren't okay financially, though; somehow he had stacked up a pretty sizable debt with banks and the IRS. I had a part time job walking dogs while I was in high school. I graduated in 2003 and went to a community college studying full time while working part time at a gas station.

We were hanging in there. Until my dad passed away in a car accident on April 21, 2005.

It got pretty harsh after that, not just financially but emotionally. I was alone. I never had other relatives besides my father; both parents were the only children, and my grandparents passed away before I was 5. My dad had life insurance, which was the first thing banks and the IRS went after. When the dust settled (along with his debts), all my dad was able to leave for me was $20,000.

I quit school and began working full time at the gas station. Five months later they put me back on a part time schedule, and a few months later I was let go. I went back to walking dogs just to keep some cash coming in. I spent my days looking for full-time jobs all over the place in positions that I believed I was best suited for; as a clerk, a salesman, a waiter. Eventually the frustration got to me and I began applying for everything I could find, including what I believed at the time to be embarrassing jobs to have; janitor positions, night guards, mall cops. Fast food chains were also on my radar for a few months, but it almost seemed as if their positions were reserved for Indian women exclusively.

I also tried to get a roommate to help me out with rent, but I had a hard time finding someone that fit my parameters (sober, with a job). When I began accepting anyone who applied (but still had a job), I lived with a drunk for two months, during which time he only paid $200 worth of rent. The next guy who stumbled in was an obvious junky, so I turned him away. Nobody else came after that.

I burned through the money my dad was able to get to me while I tried to look for permanent jobs. It was useless. When I was down to my last $2,000, I began selling everything. My dad's TV ($50), my dad's clothes ($45), my clothes ($55), the microwave ($30), the coffee maker ($5), etc. I sold most of the furniture for a grand total of $120.

June of 2007 was the last month I was able to afford rent. It was almost like a cruel joke; by the time I ran out of money and I had to leave the apartment, almost all my belongings fit in one single backpack (mattress was too wide to fit). I walked out of my home on July 3rd, twenty one days before my twenty-first birthday.

I've been homeless for 4 years, 8 months, and 12 days. While I can't say these have been the best years of my life, I can certainly say that these have been the most interesting years I've ever lived through. As promised to my fellow robots, I'll update relatively often, so expect stories from both my present and past.

See you soon.