How do you deal with being broke?
I'm in my 30s so I should be used to this by now, but this shit is getting so stressful guys. I have no savings, my checking account is drained every month with rent, and if there's ever a serious emergency I have no safety net, I'm legitimately fucked. I'm one unplanned expense away from absolute ruin. Those in the same boat as me, how do you deal with this?
Crime. That's the answer. I don't suggest or recommend it, but people who genuinely can't survive or achieve any meaningful quality of life while participating in the social order will violate it instead. Some people shoplift; others engage in elaborate plots to rip off their landlords and creditors, but there's no squaring the circle. I'm not in the same boat, but I've been there, and it's only a stroke of good fortune that kept me from a very different road.
This is absolutely horrible advice. Being financially broke doesn't mean having to be morally broke. Those who don't have much money don't have to become bad people.
Yeah, but unfortunately it's par for the course on lemmy.
The first line literally says they don't suggest or recommend it. The Answer was how do people do it. Crime is how some people do it.
"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."
That is to say, the error is to conflate law with morality. They are not one and the same.
Yes, but stealing has been considered amoral in all cultures for all of history.
Stealing is fundamentally wrong, only a tiny fraction of humanity would ever disagree.
Sounds like you're in the US. Most other Western countries have a much better social safety net to actually address these problems.
Western countries possibly. Not most of the world population has near zero help. Safety nets are a very modern philosophy that has only emerged in about the last 50 years and mainly in in capitalistic societies that have created the excess wealth to support.
I am happy we have those extra resources to support people. But this is not some universal law that dictates the requirement. The universe cars not about our well behind. This is provided by those that work a few extra hours to cover those that can't.
clipping. sums it up perfectly.
Warning: best with headphones and ten minutes to spare. I was hung over when I listened and it was not a fun experience. Would recommend.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/qFtxuocl1gw
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
...I would like to learn more about this
Ew criminal
Hey man, first off I'm sorry for the situation you're in. I'm not sure if you are looking for commiseration or advice, so if I offer some please know comes from a place of love.
I was in a similar spot to what you're describing. I am not going to suggest that you can budget your way out of poverty - that's absurd, the only long term solution (aside from fixing a lot of broken systems) is more money.
That being said, this is something that made my situation more bearable. I cut up all my credit cards. I created two checking accounts, one for bills and one for everything else. I added up all my monthly bills and divided them by the number of pay periods in a month. I split direct deposit so that one checking account got the bill money and the other the rest. I never touched the bills account outside of depositing money and paying bills - I kept the physical debit card locked in my closet.
This helped me keep on top of my bills and keep an eye on how much discretionary money I actually had to spend. I found the alternative was piles of late fees when I forgot that x bill was coming out of this pay check and I stupidly bought a donut that week or whatever (man it sure is expensive to be poor).
Like I said, it's not a solution and I don't know your situation. No amount of budgeting is going to help if you don't have the income to cover your expenses, and I wish that that fact wasn't treated as a moral failing by so many people.
One thing I’d change here is the credit card thing.
Not using a rewards credit card (like it’s a debit card) is leaving money on the table. I get 1-5% on every purchase I make and never pay interest because I pay the credit and as I go, never spending more than cash I have on hand.
Granted, this is a discipline thing and not everyone can trust themselves with a credit card, but if you can get that under control, you should absolutely be using a credit card for all spending unless the fee to do so is greater than the reward.
That's 100% true. After a certain point, I migrated from using my "bills" checking account for everything to using a credit card with cash back rewards, and paying that off every pay period rather than using the checking account. But, that is only useful advice if you are already out of debt - if you're carrying a balance on your credit card, rewards are likely not going to out pace your interest accumulation. It's also a good idea to try to fit in as much savings as you can - any little bit in a money market account making you money is a good thing, and invaluable when an emergency comes up. But again, that is very very dependent on your financial situation, and may not be realistic to many people.
Great callout on it working best when lm you’re already out of debt.
Studies repeatedly show people spend more with cards. It's often more than the cash back amount in the first place, and additional fees for credit cards is becoming more common. Cash is vastly superior at controlling spending.
Yes, I am keenly aware
It ain't pretty, but here's how I got through it until I started bringing in good money:
This works but isn't a great way to live. You need to combine it with a plan to either make more money or relocate to a cheaper area while maintaining your current income.
One caveat with the food tip is that eating absolute garbage like highly processed frozen food is still gonna be cheaper. I guess it's cause they put so much preservatives and so those have such a long shelf life. Not that I'm advocating for eating that but cooking for yourself is a cheap way to eat something nutritious. But as somebody who's gone through the same grind, it's still honestly just cheaper to eat garbage. But, I legitimately just feel better, think better, and overall am better on food I cook myself. And that improvement has knock on effects for the rest of everything you do in life.
Buy fewer candles
I just straight up burn avocados
Skip the lattes.
😂
To echo what some people have said, if you haven’t changed jobs in the last year or two; you absolutely should do so.
As you’ve realized, there’s only so much you can do on the cost side to have things balance. Cost of living has risen relentlessly, but thankfully in many areas wages are finally growing too, and new hires usually get the higher rates.
So not changing jobs frequently, especially in the industries you mentioned, is just leaving money on the table.
Aside from that, definitely look into trades, but also look into local government, healthcare (like being a patient scheduler at a hospital), really any industry you are looking to break into as a career.
They really need the help now, especially for entry level positions, and if you do a good job, you could parlay that into a career in an industry you’re excited about.
So spend like 30 minutes each day looking for jobs, and don’t stop until you’re hired. Remember, even if you end up hating it, you can always quit and get rehired immediately in industries you’re more familiar with, because they also desperately need help too.
I'm not really the correct person to answer this, since I'm not struggling to the same degree as you are.
However I once heard a good tip on how to save money. Most people, when they receive their salary spent it first on the necessities (food, rent, etc) and then save the remainder (if anything is left). But instead you should first save a percentage of your pay before spending on any necessities. That way, your brain will try to make the best use the remaining money to survive the best it can
You get some space by taking a better job and/or better budgeting
OR
You become numb to the grinding system
I realized that paying rent was like throwing money into a bottomless pit. Obviously buying a house was out of the question so I bought a used RV and moved into that. I added solar panels and all the VanLife type stuff and now my biggest expense is for the storage unit I put all my stuff in. No more rent, no power, water or most other bills. StarLink is expensive but with all the other expenses eliminated it's not bad at all.
But what about an address? No address, no bank account. No bank account, no job. Or can you get paid another way in the US?
Most places you can request general delivery to a local post office, or rent a PO box
I'm not talking about deliveries. You need to have an address for a bank account in the UK.
General Delivery is a term for when you don't have a street adress here in Canada, so you still get your mail from somewhere (I'm not talking Amazon "Delivery".) So when my friend moved to a new province and was living out of a van he contacts a local office and sets up General Delivery, his address was Dude c/o Post Office Address General Delivery. They hold it till you pick up your mail. You give this to the bank or anyone that needs a mailing address. We also have rural communities with PO Boxes at a main PO, and you can rent one. A PO box is all i had as a youth and opened government and bank accounts with it. UK must have something similar no?
There are services for that. I have an address that can scan/forward mail. Packages are also accepted. I use this address for everything.
Where did you park it?
A storage unit is rent. RVs require maintenance and resources similar to a house.
Both true, but storage rent is far cheaper. As for maintenance, I'm far more handy than the average joe so YMMV.
I want to do this. Do you use a gym for showers? The lack of running water is one thing that is making me hesitate.
My RV holds 40 gallons and has a shower. But yeah, many people do a gym membership for showers. Planet Fitness is like 20 bucks a month.
Are you living with a roommate? If not, you can save money by doing this.
Have you thought about changing careers? Look for federal, state, and city programs that will pay you to learn a trade. Or look for a job that has on the job training — like an electronics or factory job, or doing tech support.
Do you qualify for assistance programs — like food pantries or food stamps? There’s no shame in it. Helping you get back on your feet is what these programs are for.
I lived with roommates for like 9 years before I was able to move out on my own. I hate that it's a luxury to live by yourself and have true privacy.
Going to be USA centric because I don't need you doxxing yourself, just giving you ideas of what to look for where ever you happen to be.
If you've got solid internet access and enough work/life stability that you can start doing research into any government assistance programs and community groups that help navigate the processes that are in the area.
I live in the USA, and my partner and I finally got poor enough that we could get enrolled in Medicaid (Medicare is for the old folks). Partner found that the Medicaid would pay for a pretty serious surgery they'd kinda been needing for years (the final price that the government paid was a bit more than $30,000).
Back when I spent more time in Reddit, there was a post on in r/AntiWork about some USA government assistance in paying for internet (and possibly a cheap smart phone). I looked into it, found we qualified, and the process wasn't too hard to navigate on my own.
There is a program called LIHEAP (i think that's the name) that is assistance in paying for energy bills. We didn't qualify for it last year when I looked into it but my good paying job last year was temporary and now I'm in a job making about 600~800 less as a part-time but permanent employee. I should probably find the website and see if we're poor(er) enough to qualify for some help paying for electric bills.
Food stamps (WIC, SNAP) for assistance buying groceries. This one can get weird as they tend to be run state by state in the USA and the requirements can often times be super shitty. If you've got a stable job, even if its shitty, that might make things easier.
Look around for local food pantries and see how they work. Don't be surprised if they're run by churches and you've got to sit through a sermon before you get a bag of groceries. You might get lucky and the pantry is funded by a grant and needs part time workers they will be willing to kick a bit of paid work you're way (assuming you have the time).
Its desperation money, but there is Amazon's Mechanical Turk program. Piecemeal work online or doing survey's for a few cents a pop. It can help buy a tank of gas or replace a cheap busted cell phone but I've never made much more than that when I spent a whole lot of time on it. When my anxiety about money gets really bad and I need to put the energy somewhere I'll fire up my account. I'm pretty sure this has an international reach so it won't be geo blocked. FYI, it doesn't play will with VPN's.
I've tried a few "do consumer survey's online for money" websites and the only one that I ever had any "success" with was called InboxDollars. And by success, I mean that a few times over the years, I could spend many hours during a month and scrape together about 30$. Though I think its a USA based company and its geo locked. FYI, it doesn't play well with VPN's.
During the pandemic in the USA, i spent most of the time without work of my own (I live on a working farm with my spouse so one of us had an income) and spent about 18 months out the first three years of the COVID pandemic selling blood plasma. If you've got two days a week that you can spend hooked up to a machine that drains your blood, separates it, and pumps in back into you (and leaves you feeling pretty crappy for the rest of the day) and can handle lying pretty still with a huge needle in your arm, the pay was kinda okay. I'd get kicked in the summer months when it got too hot for my body to recover well enough between visits but I also have to do outside farm work that you might not need to do. If you do this regularly, it does leave some pretty gnarly scars in your elbow pits, which can lead to some amusingly random conversations with strangers in public.
In the USA, its seems like the US Post Office doesn't like to post their open jobs outside of their internal job posting database. Though it seems like USPS jobs are either "work crazy hours, where ever we tell you" or "barely work any hours".
I spent about a year and a half working at a University museum as a museum curation lab technician, no experience needed, didn't have to be a student or plan on going into the field. Which, maybe it was just me being lucky, but it was a pretty sweet job. Flexible hours, chill work environment, chill coworkers, surprisingly decent pay, got to play with old arrow heads and spear points and pottery sherds and sort through boxes and do paperwork about what was in them... the two negatives were that in my case what I found was a temp job and I spent an whole lot of time alone without human interaction (which I'm super cool with, but not everybody else is). This is another one of those things that probably won't be posted on public job search websites so you're going to have to dig around local university/colleges with museum collections and find their internal job posting site.
So yeah, I know in my mind taking advantage of assistance programs feels "wrong" but I've had to start getting over it and the things that I've managed to figure out how to apply to and qualify for have definitely been worth it.
Once you qualify for any assistance program (and you are not exploiting a loophole) you don't have to feel bad for using it. You are literally the target audience of the program.
Absolutely true.
Its also a bit eye opening to grow up thinking that you're, "Not rich, but not poor", and then realizing that, "Nope, I'm poor." Its a bit of a shock to the system.
Also, if you're paying taxes, you are literally helping to fund the program(s).
If you don't have immediate obligations such as kids, older, or sick family members/friends.
The industry is full of crap but I went from food service to driving a semi. 4 week school paid for by the company(after signing a 1yr contract) do that one year knowing it's going to suck and then find something local you like or stay on the road and do online school/self study. Most all of the big US based companies have partnered with online colleges to heavily discount the cost.
I did it as an emergency to save for a year and get out but ended up liking it and now work in safety with no school, just experience.
One year is nothing. Even for crap work. It seems like a long time but when you look back it often was a breeze.
I recall signing up for the military that was going to be A 4 year stint. When your 19, that seems like a lifetime. It gave me 4 years to sort myself out. You can have a girlfriend and social life in that period but you do not start a family or great commitments. That year or few years is to get your life started.
A lot of the good answers are already posted. I'll share my experience.
A bunch of people I know, including myself, rose out of retail hell through customer service jobs. My first one was making $55k/year (in 2023 dollars. This was a while ago because I'm old) and jumped decently after a year. Plus it was steady work at a desk with insurance. I switched to another company doing the same kind of thing after a year or two, and was able to transfer internally to IT. A couple years later I made the leap to engineering. I don't have a computer science degree. It was all experience and teaching myself.
A bunch of other friends took similar paths, and now have higher paying jobs.
But this was in new york city, where there are a lot of startups looking to hire people. And because the companies were small, the jobs weren't a cubicle hell where you read from a script. I got to actually help people troubleshoot when I was doing IT. That first job I could just talk to people like people.
I don't know how different it is now or in other parts of the country. I'm not sure how much the pandemic and AI hype has changed the market. But getting a first foot in the door is really helpful. You can meet people and get on the job experience.
A lot of job listings might require a college degree, but enough experience can be a substitute. Also knowing people helps a stupid, unfair, amount.
I absolutely feel your pain and was in your situation for a long time. For over a decade as an adult, I lived well below the poverty line and was homeless for a couple stretches.
I obviously don't know you or your situation beyond what you shared, but I believe that you can improve your life just like I did. I was so poor and struggled for so long that I finally had enough and vowed to never be in that situation again. While the mindset helps, it was a long time of extra effort that got me into a comfortable position.
For me the biggest help was no one thing; it was a bunch of incremental improvements over about a decade. A jump to different jobs that pay even $1.50/hr more buy breathing room. I know you're not "buying too much avocado toast," but there might be ways to stretch your necessities budget; I hear that sometimes things get missed when using self checkouts.
Depending on where you are, there are hopefully food banks and living assistance services in your areas. If you need internet and don't have it, libraries are great places (and you can still check out books and movies for entertainment).
I wanted to write code for a living, so I got a computer science associates degree (not even a bachelor's); I went to school in the evenings and delivered pizzas when I didn't have class. This was on top of my day job. It was no picnic; I had a few meltdowns from being overworked and exhausted. You don't even need to go the school/degree route. We need skilled tradesmen. Pipe fitting, welding, carpentry, electrical work, etc... are always in need and they can provide a good quality of life.
My general view is fuck corporate loyalty. If you can jump ship and make more money elsewhere: do it. If you can't afford some recurring bill: stop paying it. You are more important than those business.
Look into assistance services now. Always be looking for a new job that will pay more. Identify a five year career goal and work toward it. It's not a today solution, but that was basically how I escaped being crushed by our system.
I wish you the best.
Hi there, I am trying to claw myself out of a financial hole myself and I would value your opinion.
I am currently pursuing an associates in computer science myself, I am curious how far/what kind of job that landed you. I am just wanting to see my options once I achieve getting the degree as well.
Thanks in advance.
Not OP, but here are my 2 cents. You can't really go wrong with that degree imho. Even if you only land an entry level job at the beginning, you can quickly advance from there. You just to have keep learning.
If you haven't done so already, get a raspberry pi, install docker, get used to how it works. Destroy everything, start over. Get another pi, learn kubernetes.
You can stand out and succeed if you can learn and adapt to new technologies. The system doesn't matter, it's how you approach it.
Beat of luck to you!
Gotta either cut costs or increase pay. When I was living on $600 a month I roommated up, I applied for food assistance (SNAP), I bought a shitty craigslist car rather than picking up a car note, and I stuck to cheap cell carriers.
The last one is a place a lot of people could save a few dollars. T-mobile has a plan called t-mobile connect that is $15 a month with a few gigs of data. Works fine. Actually still use it now that I have a better job.
Ultimately you need to make more though. Think about all the skills you’ve gained in food service and retail and apply for another job you think you’d be good at. Imo anyone can do low level office work, for example. Sounds like you’re in the US, so keep an eye on Craigslist and Idealist.org (two engines where the jobs available are usually actually available unlike most search engines). Make it a habit of scrolling through and forming an opinion about what you would/wouldn’t like. Make a resume to fit (use chat gpt to help). Lie about things you’re pretty sure you could handle no problem but have no experience with. Once you get a better job do the whole thing again with the new experience to pad your resume.
Also if you have an senior family member, over 55, t-mobile has senior citizen plans that are unlimited for like $70 for two phones.
Can you donate plasma or white blood cells to the Red Cross? I go to their main center in Philadelphia and they pay $50 for a presceen appointment (1 hour) and $450 for the donation (3-4 hours).
Something had gotta break soon. Right? Right? How can this go on like this. I look around and how is not everyone collapsing?
Ask for a raise. Find another job.
Keep a separate savings account. This won't increase your income but it's absolutely vital that you do this. I fully understand that you don't have money for this, but here's the idea: if you're already broke at the end of the month, then what difference does it make if you're broke one day earlier every month? Let's say you have a payout of €3000 monthly. That means you have €100 for each day of the month. Put €100 in a savings account and you'll go broke 1 day earlier, but you now have €100 saved for unexpected shit. Keep it up for a some months and you'll have enough saved to deal with moving/changing jobs etc. Eventually you'll adjust your expenses so you don't get broke even if you set the money aside. You can figure this out. This is how my wife and I saved up for our marriage. By going voluntary broke before it actually happened.
Okay, once you have some "financial security" saved up, do you have a budget account? Keep a budget account so you don't overspend. Only transfer the excess to your spending account, so you don't spend money that was supposed to pay for the rent/electricity/internet/food. Whatever is in excess is safe to spend.
If this is not possible, then your financial life isn't sustainable. Ask for a raise. Find a different job.
I honestly just take as much care of myself as I can afford and hope for the best.
If you can, move back in with your parents
You may have resources available to you that you're not even aware of.
How's your credit? My credit card is basically my emergency fund - it's not the best plan but it's way better than getting surprised and having to take an emergency loan. If you're currently spending about as much as you make, you can build your credit by putting things on the card and paying it back from your bank account and slowly extend that limit or eventually open up a second account - just don't fall into the trap of spending more than you make, or you'll wake up one day exactly where you are now but with debt.
Are you using social services? Only something like a third of people who qualify for food stamps in America actually use them, depending on the state/country you're in you could be a couple government forms away from getting a few hundred for groceries every month, and if you put in the effort to use it that's as good as money in your account. There's also stuff like food banks - the one I volunteer at doesn't do anything to verify the identities or qualifications of whoever comes by, you'll just get handed a box or a couple bags with cereal and canned goods and shit.
Is it possible to upgrade your employment situation? Search for jobs even if you already have one - you're not on the hook until you sign the piece of paper, and you don't owe your current workplace a two weeks' notice either so tell them your availability is "immediate". A lot of technical jobs especially are willing to train and just want someone with a clean background who will show up on time, and depending on your already-existing education/certifications you might be able to do contract work using a site like field nation to get gigs.
If you don't mind sharing, what education do you have, and what are you currently doing for work?
Getting a better job paying job is never the answer. We need all jobs to pay living wage.
I have no education and a high paying job. Some people have education and no job in their area, can't move across states, or good jobs in cities that are too expensive. Some people have dependents (siblings, relatives) that eat up that little extra you had. This is not due to the family issues but to general socio-economic background issues. If you're from a poor family, no matter how well you do, you're that further behind.
There's a million reasons, and none of those are because he doesn't browse /r/personalFinance enough
Sure let him just time leap into the future by 100 years when all western jobs pay a living wage at 32 hours a week.
What an absolutely tone-deaf take completely out of sync with reality.
Agreed and that'd be great. But also, no that doesn't help this individual right now at all.
Of course a better paying job will help. If your job paid more and you spend the same, suddenly and by definition, the person would not be as broke.
We all agree his current job should pay more, or he should find a better one.
That was like #1 on his list already, that's common sense not advice. We know the world doesn't make doing those things easy, so he's clearly looking for other ways.
I'll even do you one better, he's not even here for solutions, sometimes people want to talk and share common situations/experiences.
Wish I could upvote this twice. This needed to be said.
Sure, we all need to fight for proper social safety nets and living wage laws. But that shit is the long game.
OP is looking for strategies for how to navigate the current fucked up system.
Are you suggesting "systemic rebuild" is the advice OP needs to figure out the rest of the year?
Fully agree your conversation needs to happen, loudly, but it won't benefit OP in anything like a "near term"
Not to fix OPs issues.
I'm saying his advice is the first thing OP throught of, and not realistic in a lot of ways.
I wasn't giving any advice to OP myself
Knowing where one is starting is crucial to formulating a plan.
I was once in OP's shoes, college drop out ten years ago, and not a lot of good job prospects. I am now less than a year out of a degree with an income potential close to or actually hitting 6 figures. I was able to work myself into a sound financial position and return to college. Now with a family, and a stay at home spouse.
Yes, there are a litany of socio-economic issues that can make things more difficult, but to say "getting a better paying job is never the answer" is false. It may be challenging, and it may take time, but there are rarely no options. I have a good friend with a felony, 7 years in prison, and a college drop out who is in a HCOL area who is able to support themselves well with a trade. Yeah, they work weird hours, but they make good money.
On an individual level it absolutely can be the answer. It's not the answer to the systemic problem but it can still help OP.
Maybe I'm too optimistic but I think OP thought of that one.
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I just cry.
stress eat
That's how you waste more money
Eat what? Stress?
Eat sleep
Pray?
I’m still living with my parents. I’m in my 30s. I’m unemployed. Yeah, I’m a failure.
You're not a failure friend. The system is designed to impoverish.
Well where I live it's normal to live with ur parent well into your 30s, I know more than a 50yo that still lives with their parents, we are totally fucked economically though.
So! Stop? You're 30, not 70
if they're in the US, they might not be able to live anywhere else while unemployed.
I didn't mean stop living with parents I meant stop failing.
Shit, I failed for most of my 20s and then it got worse. Waaaaay fucking worse, like, I Mean it when I say worst than for most people. I don't really want to get into it here, but bad.
And then I learned some lessons and worked my ass off and here we are.
I crash at my friend's house.
I'm assuming you are in the US. The problem with being broke is it is stressful. Stress impacts decision making, causing a cycle. The US is a capitalist society that educated people to behave as socialists with regards to business, career management, and employment.
The people that REALLY need financial planning advice can't afford it. Those that can use it to go from rich to richer.
The best thing you can do is get some help going through your expenses to see what you can optimize. Once you start getting a little bit of a breather, you will feel a lot better.
I've been following the FIRE community for close to a decade, so if you want, I can probably help you find some fat to trim.
Not in the same boat as you as I got decent financial education about saving money from my parents. Okay legit advice here. You have only two options. Earn more OR cut your expenses. The best is doing both. There's of course a minimum to expenses. You have to reflect on every part of your expenses, make a list of all fix costs that are not immediately changeable (rent, electricity, water etc) then make a list of changeable expenses (food, restaurant visits, cell phone contract etc). Then a list of completely redundant expenses that are not needed for survival which you've done in the last year/365 days. (New TV, cell phone, expensive clothing etc). Compare all of that and analyze what you can cut down. If your rent is high and/or your apartment is too big for you, move into a smaller one with the saved up money from above cost cutting. And on the side look for better paid jobs and change jobs/companies every 2 years. It's too much of a hassle to discuss with your employer why you should be paid more just look for other companies, statistics show this is the best strategy to get a salary increase. Sounds like your situation is pretty dire, so start right away! All the best, mate, hope it helps.
To add to this, I think it's really helpful to have a monthly (or whatever works best for you) budget, and to compare your predicted versus actual balance at the end of the month. It may: give you feedback and increase your awareness (and decision-making) of your spending and budget, increase your confidence in your ability to manage your finances, help you manage them more rationally (versus emotionally at the time of "where'd all the money go?"), and truly help you reduce debt/ save money. I use a spreadsheet that I update with each paycheck. My parents are very financially literate, but I had to learn this stuff for myself. I reckon it might be a bit of a lost (and sorely missed) art in the age of credit cards, in-app purchases, online gambling, and an over-reliance on subscription services. It's not a panacea but it really helped me get out of the debt I had
When I had a job that didn't pay enough, I did side work. For me, for a long time, that was reffing mens hockey.
Another time I was struggling I approached my boss and said I know I'm not your best employee right now, but I want to turn it around and get into a higher paying position. What do you need me to do? Then I did it, and moved up.
5 yrs ago we moved to anew city and I started over in a new thing. I took a job that didn't really cover our bills, and my wife and I had to make some cuts.
But I wanted certain freedoms like the freedom to do my hobbies or take a vacation, so identified ways to earn additional income through the job I had (in my case it was handling little repairs like replacing smoke detector batteries and light bulbs, installing missing door stops and changing deadbolts). I've kept grinding until I took over for my boss, and I continue to handle repairs also. Effectively I work a job and side job at the same time 6 days a week. I work fucking hard, but I had nice vacations with my fam this summer, live in a good house and drive a good vehicle.
So honestly - and while I don't think this is how it should be - in the system we have, I just grind harder. I am amazed at my ability to do this now in my 30s and now 40s compared to how lazy (in hindsight) I was in my 20s.
By the way! I'm also pretty happy now because my job is (mostly) ok, I don't dread Mondays or anything most weeks.
I used to go over to my friends and they would feed me. They weren't much better off than me but they could afford to get some extra ramen and KD.
Kd?
Kraft dinner mac and cheese.
What do you do for a living?
Do you have roommates? If not that is rather expected as a single guy with no family. Check you budgets but if you're working a mcjob, likely will not see any real future. Mcjobs are for kids or those that just want some spare cash or don't need the 'responsible' type of job. Job shop as many say here. Just do it. Keep in mind that real career type jobs that can eventually pay higher require you to take a real investment in what you want to do. Pick something that fits you in other words.
Sorry if it is kind of tough love advice. Most other posts have covered your typical suggestions but ultimately it comes down to solely the direction and effort you take.
This is going to be from my very American perspective on being broke. Your circumstances may be significantly different.
I used to be in your boat. I started working in the trades and being an apprentice at the same time. It wasn't amazing pay to start, but it was enough and significantly better than the minimum wage I'd been earning before.
The way I managed for years on minimum wage was the following:
Live with others. Spread the bills around, have some good times, and save money.
Food prep and creation. Spend a bit of money to save some time and effort. I own a rice cooker and a breadmaker. The rice cooker is a bit extra, but the breadmaker is wonderful. Just load in the ingredients, set it and let it go. You can go to work or whatever and come home to an awesome loaf of bread. Another lovely one is a slow cooker. I spent 2 hours and 12 lbs of chicken with other ingredients and made 7 meals for 2 prepped and in gallon bags that can just be dumped into the cooler and turned on.
Side work or donations. If you don't have family to rely on, another solid source of income is helping the elderly. 70+ year Olds often need help with daily tasks, from yard work to light bulb replacement. It may be a bit awkward to put yourself out there like that, but if you can put forward a decent enough impression at first, and you're honestly there to help, they will pay you a bit and be very thankful. As for how to find the elderly, either wander around or take on a political canvassing job. The listings for political flyers on where to go usually have an age listed with an address. You could also donate blood or plasma. It's very simple to do and (at least in my area) a quick way to get up to $100 per visit, which they allow up to 8 a month. Only annoying part of that is the diet restrictions. Hell, even a cooler with some Ice and bottles of water on the side of a road On a hot day can yield some mild results.
Couponing/second hand shopping/flea markets. Self explanatory. You can save quite a bit on food and some other stuff if you are willing to sacrifice your precious time to travel and hunt for deals.
{Risky} credit card. If you use it responsibly, there is free money to be had by spending money you were already planning to spend anyways. Getting a card with cash back, even with awful interest rates (mine is sitting around a lovely 26%) can be fundamental in earning you a bit over time. The way to do this is very simple. Pay for required items with the credit card, pay off the card at the weeks end. It doesn't do much for your credit score, but earning card points on money you already have to spend is the goal. The thing you want to avoid is having a remaining balance on that account near a pay period. If that even starts to get away from you, it won't be saving anything and actually costing you.
And finally 6. Government assistance. If you simply cannot make ends meet, applying for food stamps and/or medical insurance is something you should do. People generally don't want to think they need it or just don't know how to sign up for it. Having a bit of savings on food and at least some medical safety/help for any prescriptions is always useful.
The thing you will definitely run into as you more than likely know is a complete lack of free time.
Ignore 5, OP. As described, it's exactly the trap the credit card companies want you to fall into, and you're susceptible at the mo.
I've never had one, don't know anyone that has one. There's nothing you can buy with it safely that can't wait without getting in debt, no matter how short a timescale
It's listed as risky for a reason. The thing the credit card companies want is for you to overspend, or buy something beyond your means that will take you awhile to pay back so they can make interest money. The way in which people can benefit from is purely by making it a stepping stone payment system. Never spend money you don't have and just keep it purely for earning points.
That's why I said it's really bad advice for OP
What's your social network look like, OP? For people in your situation, your friends and family will have to be your safety net. Shared resources can also bring expenses down.
This isn't your situation, but this is how we did it while living very paycheck to paycheck. Plan and budget. We had a plan for everything. It hurt, but we planned our store trips, our meals were the sales and manager specials. We knew how much gas we were buying and which kid had birthdays and gifts to buy for, and we shopped ebay gift cards and scrapped by. We also made hard decisions, and it sucked. We cut cable, and other non essentials, we almost never went out. We were able to plan a path out, we refinanced our house, by taking a title loan on my car. We consolidated our cc debt.
What I'm trying to say is, you find a way. Maybe you can work towards a promotion, or a new career. Or find a different living situation which would be cheaper to help sort it out. Try not to lose hope, try to find a path to prosper. I'm pulling for you.
Same, I honestly think it will end up with becoming a thief for food, probably living hidden in a house that doesn't belong to me spend the time in a sleeping bag too hungry for move, waiting to dying.
What do you currently do for work? Are you open to changing careers?
Similar to what others have said you need to make some changes. Figure out how the game works. Get educated. Find a new job, get certs, go back to school, rehab your credit, find a cheaper place, make moves.
this is the way
Consider a genuine reboot.
Switch neighborhoods. Towns. Regions. States. Countries. The point is, change things up, big-time.
Don’t half-ass it, either; turn a page. Make a 1-year and 5-year plan. Get a room, not an apartment. Structure a budget. Learn a trade. Work out.
You can try to check which expenses could be avoided, look for a better job, study to get a better one in your spare time, get a part time job, do some random tasks in Upwork, etc
You could also legally move to another country and work remotely, earning $1k USD/ month should suffice to have a decent lifestyle almost anywhere, although gentrification is becoming an issue in some places.
Coming back to the stress, you could talk to a therapist and see what could help that situation. Maybe some journaling and life planning could help you identify what's going on with your life and how you can deal with it.
my dude how rich are you?
2/3rds the things you suggest, he’d had 0 access to
Can you specify which ones? I'm genuinely interested in what would be difficult to access here. I think maybe the therapist would cost a lot if you don't find a cheap or even free option, but life planning and journaling are completely free to do on your own, looking for a better job can be done for free on LinkedIn, studying can be done for free in Youtube, getting a part-time job can be done if you have extra time, checking Upwork I think costs now because of the connects but there are probably other free alternatives for task-based gigs.
Going to another country legally should also not cost as much if you prepare for it, but I guess it could be challenging if you don't have any chance to save any money at all, but going to LATAM should be relatively affordable to Americans and Canadians.
I wouldn't say I'm rich although I live a frugal albeit comfortable lifestyle, I went to Asia (1 month) and Europe (3 months) last year while earning $6 per hour, I just had to save for a few months, I was renting studios in city centers so not even going to hostels and eating crackers. I'd say I spent around $3k on that trip
Besides the therapist, moving to a foreign country requires savings. Getting broke overseas, likely without knowing local language, sounds like a very bad idea.
I agree. Moving to another country, even if it is on paper requires money. So does a therapist. I'm in a better position than op and I don't get a therapist although I could use one.
Self study is important though. speaking from experience with the same life experience as op, learning a new trade and going with it has changed my life for the better by a lot. finding the right (paying) employerin the trade is a bit of work (years). some jobs just don't pay enough to live off. I know it's wrong.
A tip I can give op is to put the savings in a bank account you don't have access to. in the same of somebody else. I went through a period of cash only. This was pre-smartphone, so transfers between accounts required me to go to the bank. Perhaps move financial applications to a secondary phone if you have one, or install when needed.
It's funny because that's a big part of capitalism for when people couldn't afford to keep up, and people like him don't see how expensive it is to be poor. They've been convinced it's not the systems problem, and people who are poor just want to be poor. Bootstraps and all, and they think they are giving sound and reasonable advice.
"Just spend thousands of dollars on for profit education, for profit health-care and for profit real-estate, and you'll be back on your feet in no time! Here's a 20% interest loan to get ya started".
I think this is a completely wrong take on my reply, not sure why you'd see that giving practical advice on what OP can do about their situation and also how to deal with the stress is telling them to pull themselves by the bootstraps and me saying the system is ok, we all know the system is rigged and pretty much RNG. Most good jobs are gotten through networking by knowing the right people, not merit-based so I'm just trying to give OP some options based on how I've dealt with being broke.
I think just complaining about the system won't achieve much, unless it's an actual collective action that does elicit meaningful change.
You suggested he spend thousands of dollars moving, or thousands of dollars getting a shrink. I spoke of the system but that's not why I think your advice is out of touch.
Organize with socialists, make use of mutual aid. Provides an IRL version of what you're seeking here- uou are in no way alone. This is how most people live and it is by systemic design.
There's a lot of power, and value, in making local irl connections so that when you need help or just to talk to people, you'll know that you have options. Also, some options take time, so getting on top of them now will pay dividends. Examples include food stamps and subsidized housing. Finally, lefties sometimes like to help each other get better jobs.
Of course I can also suggest ways to live cheaply, but there is a hard limit under this economic system and you might already be there.
Also please feel free to DM if you want to talk about anything.
find a non retail gig that most people wouldnt like to do that you wouldnt mind doing.
I suggest joining a domestic terrorist organization. Become the solution. Accelerate our fall into a true third world nation.
Back in my twenties we never went out, no cellphones, set goals, and did things cheaply.
Why even mention no cell phones?
In the 1700s they budgeted by not paying all electric bill! So frugal. 🤣
No one in western society can function or even have a job probably, without a cell phone in 2023
Cavemen had their focus on the grind because they didn't watch tv.
Because you don't need a cellphone, you want one; it's convenient, but you don't need one.
What are you saying??? I have not had a job that did not need me to have one in some regard, think you are a little behind the times tbh.
It depends on your line of work, but a cellphone is not mandatory for employment. A cellphone will set you back on average $1,700 a year. If you have to have a phone number get a $ 20-a-month landline basic plan. We are talking about saving money but most people on here don't want to save money, they just want to have more money.
I have never paid that per year for a cell phone, and my monthly bill is cheaper than your land-line
Lol I don't know. I guess if you work at Amazon or something having one could be considered optional. My job is literally dependant on my cell phone, and my ability to handle emails calls and texts while away from the office is a core of my ability to earn enough money to pay my bills.
If I didn't have a cell phone for even 1 day, I would make $0 that day at my job.
So you are an exception, which is understandable. Most people don't use their personal devices for work.
Literally everyone I know does, though. It's your calendar, your email, your communication. The only jobs I can imagine that you don't need to have a mobile device are when you are a drone who has to sit where the boss tells you all day long. Even then, your work likely communicates with staff via text or an app.
Has it been awhile since you worked somewhere?
Cell phones don't have to cost that much. Google Voice numbers are free. You can still have a cell phone and not have a data plan.
clearly you have lost track of time old man.
Back in my twenties I worked for a couple dollars above minimum wage and had to donate plasma in order to make rent. Hell, “consider donating plasma as an extra revenue stream” is probably more helpful advice than “never go out; don’t have a cellphone; set goals.”
Also, people.need plasma so you are helping your community too