I had met *Jordan sometime last year in the Drop-In Centre. Jordan was incredibly open and friendly, so connecting with him was easy. I got to learn that he was in a transition period in his life and was trying to figure out how to manage to live independently outside of the Crisis Program. He particularly had troubles around structure, money, and saving.
Months went by with Jordan coming into the Drop-In and talking with everyone. I found myself talking with him quite often, and learning about him, the food he loves, education, as well as discussing things he wants to work on for himself.
It was one day that Jordan was getting ready to move in with a roommate and a new place, when we started discussing budgeting and the realities of living in Vancouver, and how much it can cost. Jordan then asked “Danielle! Can you do budgeting with me?”
I of course was happy to work with him on this important life skill. There were budgeting sheets in the Life Skills binder that I showed him, and he chose one which he liked most. We went through everything, and I asked him to think and be honest with how much he spends.
And if it’s realistic with how much he needs to spend to get by, particularly when he had goals around wanting to have savings and go to college. There were many times where he had spoken of going over his credit card limit, eating out too much, or a phone bill that would set him back a few months.
After we had completed the budgeting sheet, Jordan seemed optimistic about his new plans on saving and spending his money carefully. He could physically see how he was spending his money. And then, everyone started noticing that Jordan wasn’t coming into Drop-In very often.
It was probably another month or so when saw him next. And it seemed that there were a lot of positive changes that he was sticking to. He was working regularly, working on getting his driver’s license, changing his food habits, and sticking to the budget that we had worked on together. He told me that it was the budget we had gone through together that had helped him a lot.
He was learning where he was overspending (mainly eating out) and was saving by learning how to cook more at home and staying focused on working towards his goals. His next step was to study finance in college. Since learning about his spending habits, he had become increasingly more interested in money and money management, leading him on a whole new path.
Jordan committed to changing the structure of his life and being supported with key tools and life skills helped him along the way. I’m glad that I was one of those people that could aid in that and look forward to what the future holds for Jordan.
Shared by Danielle, Youth Worker
*Young person’s name changed for confidentiality