A single mother of twins had so little money that she had to go to extreme measures just to buy milk for her children.
In a video she posted to TikTok, Shayla Fenley of Lufkin, Texas is seen counting pennies at a Dollar General cash register.
It took seven minutes to count the four dollars needed for milk and bananas for her 16-month-old girls.
The 22-year-old nail technician said she spent her last $20 on diapers and wipes, but still had to buy food for the twins the next day.
“I could barely sleep that night because I was stressed about how I was going to pay for their milk the next day,” she said Newsweek
Shayla Fenley had to use copper coins to pay for milk for her 16-month-old twin girls
In the viral TikTok video – viewed more than 1.7 million times – Fenley explains that she needs milk and bananas totaling $4.
She is then seen counting a bag of copper coins at the cash register while other customers waited behind her.
“I didn’t want to bother anyone with money, so I decided to use the money I had saved for hard times,” she said.
‘The currency exchange was too far away and I didn’t have a car at the time. So I had to go to the store with everything I had.’
It took about seven minutes for the cashier to count out all the pennies for the purchase.
“That’s when I knew I had to make sure my kids ate. “I don’t like stealing, so I prefer to pinch pennies before I steal,” she explained.
“With the rise in inflation forcing many other Americans to live paycheck to paycheck, I thought this would be relatable content,” she said of the video she made about the experience.
She said it would highlight the plight of many Americans who “work hard and still fall short financially.”
77 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, meaning that if their payment is delayed for any reason, they would be unable to meet their financial obligations, according to a 2024 survey of 36,729 U.S. adults conducted by Payroll .org.
It took seven minutes for the cashier to count the coins for the small purchase
Fenley uses her TikTok account to sell her nail kits and provide for her young family.
“My TikTok content is constantly on the rise and my nail kits are selling,” she said.
“My ultimate goal is to beat poverty and run a successful business so that my girls can live a carefree life.”
“Life will only go up from here,” she said. “I manifest that.”
Nearly half of Americans (47 percent) said 2024 was the most stressful financial year of their lives, according to MarketWatch guides.
“As the cost of living continues to impact households across the country, many already struggling people will find it increasingly difficult to manage their finances,” Liz Hunter, director of Money Expert, told Newsweek.
‘While some on low incomes may have become accustomed to dealing with debt and financial uncertainty, the current crisis has also left many people facing financial difficulties for the first time in their lives.’
Recently, a Walmart customer sparked outrage after filming herself shoplifting at a self-checkout — and posting it online.
The woman, whose name is Nesha on TikTok, posted a video of herself pretend to scan items at a self-checkout.
She demonstrated the ‘fake scan’ tactic shoplifters use at self-checkouts.
The thieves scan some items but not others, hoping the staff won’t notice. If they get caught, they pretend it was an accident.
However, the woman was caught by a store clerk and subsequently reportedly banned from her local Walmart for two years.