A single mother of twins was so short of money that she had to take an extreme measure just to buy milk for her children.
In a video she posted to TikTok, Shayla Fenley from Lufkin, Texas is seen counting out pennies at a Dollar General checkout.
It took seven minutes to count out the $4 needed for milk and bananas for her 16-month-old girls.
The 22-year-old nail artist said she had spent her last $20 on diapers and wipes but still needed to buy food the next day for the twins.
‘I could hardly sleep that night because I was stressed about how I would afford their milk the next day,’ she told Newsweek
Shayla Fenley had to use copper coins to pay for milk for her 16-month-old twin girls
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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 out a bag of copper coins at the checkout as other customers waited behind her.
‘I didn’t want to bother anyone for money, so I decided to use the pennies I had been saving for hard times,’ she said.
‘The coin exchange was too far away, and I didn’t have a car at the time. So I had to go to the store with all I had.’
It took around seven minutes for the cashier to count out all the pennies for the purchase.
‘In the moment I knew that I had to make sure my kids ate. I don’t like stealing, so I’d rather pinch pennies before stealing,’ she explained.
‘With the rise of inflation forcing many other Americans to live life paycheck to paycheck, I thought it 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 if their pay was delayed for any reason they would not be able to meet their financial obligations, a 2024 survey of 36,729 U.S. adults conducted by Payroll.org found.
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It took seven minutes for the cashier to count of the coins for the small purchase
Fenley is using her TikTok account to sell her nail sets and provide for her young family.
‘My TikTok content has been on a constant rise, and my nail sets are selling,’ she said.
‘My ultimate goal is to beat poverty and run a successful business, so my girls can live a life without worry.’
‘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 crisis continues to impact households across the country, many people who are already struggling will be finding their finances increasingly difficult to manage,’ 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 meant that there are many people experiencing financial difficulties for the first time in their lives.’
Recently a Walmart customer has sparked outrage after filming herself shoplifting at a self-checkout – and posting it online.
The woman, who goes by Nesha on TikTok, posted a video of herself pretending to scan items at a self-checkout.
She demonstrated the ‘fake scan’ tactic used by shoplifters at self-checkouts.
The thieves scan some items but not others – hoping staff won’t notice. If they are caught, they pretend it was an accident.
However, the woman was caught by a shop assistant and then reportedly banned from her local Walmart for two years.