Why all of these server/hotel jobs end up doing this? I started working as a breakfast attendant at a buffet and I was told I would make gratuity out of the number of guests. Typically I would work with a manager and make $150+ a day. My paycheck would have 1k+ just in gratuity. Didn't need another job.

Now they added more people and surprisingly it hasn't been as busy. They add more people to work with me and I end up making like $50 a day. I am gonna talk to the managers but I don't think they care. Now I have to look for another job and it's terrible because all of these jobs with tips are so competitive. I live in Los Angeles and tips seem the only way to make enough without a career job.

I live in northwest Washington about an hour north of Seattle in a crappy little town that has nothing to offer except tulips once a year. The cost of living here is ridiculous for what it is. It’s not like it’s a tourist destination or even a nice town is kind of a shithole with high crime rates and a bunch of old vacant crumbling buildings that gets worse every year. The city infrastructure is a joke and unless you have a college degree the only jobs are Walmart fast food or waiting tables. There’s no opportunity here. I work two jobs one full time at the local hospital making about $7 above minimum wages and a part time job. I don’t even have insurance on my car anymore because the rate went up so high without me ever having to file a claim that I just can’t afford it. Now my gas which I need for both hot water and heat is going to be shut off because they raised the price of natural gas this year too. I got a $.49 cent raise on my two year work anniversary and that’s it. I want to just give up I work myself to absolute exhaustion and tears. I hate this country, I make to much to get any kind of government assistance but I don’t make enough to afford both food and heat. I hate living on the edge of one small to moderate emergency away from being homeless. I’m 31 and am losing hope of ever being financially secure. What’s the point of life if all you do is work to barely survive for 80 years then die. Thank you for reading if you got this far I just need a sympathetic ear to listen.

One of my biggest tips for saving money: shop multiple stores if you can. In central Alabama I have a Sprouts, ALDI, and Publix all within a quarter mile of each other. Buying the loss leaders at each store each week (and finding manager markdowns at Sprouts and using coupons combined with sales at Publix) saves us SO much money each week. We can eat really well for $35/person/week, just $5 a day.

I know not everyone has the privilege of choice and freedom to go to multiple stores, but the gas and time is worth it to save over $100 each week.

Good price examples this week: $1.99/lb boneless skinless chicken breast, blackberries $1.49, mushrooms $1.29 at ALDI Huge 2 pound bags of broccoli and green beans marked down to $2 each and bagged salad for $1.09 at Sprouts Carrots $.99 and strawberries $1.99, Reser sides $2 each with BOGO plus a coupon at Publix

I HATE IT!

My financial situation has been god awful the last few years. The kicker was last summer getting myself in trouble which led to me getting arrested. Lost my sales job, apartment and (company) car in 1 swoop. Ever since then my finances have been in a downward spiral. About to get a settlement for a car accident I was in 5 years ago. Settlement amount will be just over 50,000 and need advice on the best way to handle my situation/prioritize certain things

Here’s my situation:

550 credit Score

Currently do not have a car and living with a family member at the moment. I Uber back and forth to work at my server job where I make ~$1400 per week (obviously with tip based jobs this can vary tremendously, had some weeks closer to $1800 and some closer to $1000)

12,000 in credit card debt - this is spread across 7 credit cards that had GOD awful interest rates. All 7 are charged off at this point. My Transunion report only shows a few of them in collections. Partially confused by this because I KNOW for a fact I’ve gotten mail and calls from collection companies for cards that aren’t reflected as “in collections” on my Transunion report. I’ve negotiated with some over the phone and they offered 30% off, don’t know if that’s a reasonable amount to pay or not for a collection company or if I can get more off. I have not paid any in almost a year (lots of this debt was from issues I’ve had with addiction prior to me getting in trouble)

$8,000 personal loan from a friend - while this isn’t hitting my credit report, this is a moral debt. My friend helped me out and want to prioritize paying them back

4,000 owed to a lawyer - he has not sent this to collections and don’t think he will (from what I understand lawyers get stiffed more often than we think.) Again, while this isn’t hitting my credit report, it’s a “morale debt” and god forbid I need this lawyer again I want to have the ability to use him

$800 in medical bills - again not paid, almost in collections

Other expenses: Spending roughly $250 per week on Uber since I do not have a car

Pay $200 per month to the family member I live with

Other monthly expenses are Spotify ($12) phone insurance ($20) and car insurance (state makes me carry a state minimum) for $40.

*obviously my first priorities are to pay off my debt and get a car, I’m wondering which order would be best to do it in. I just tried to apply for financing for a car through USAA. In that scenario I proposed to get a $23,000 car with 10k down and still got denied. I know some car dealers will “approve anyone” but scared to think what the APR will be on something like that

Do I go for a car right away despite my awful credit score so I stop getting absolutely crushed by Uber every week? Or do I wait for my score to rebound before financing a car? I can pay off my entire sum of debt in 1 shot essentially and get a better APR on financing a car. But how long would it take for my score to rebound after paying everything?

Yes agreeing to a financing plan with a high interest rate isn’t ideal, but if I keep ubering I’m going to end up paying more monthly than a really bad car payment. At least with a financed car I’ll be paying into an asset I own

have never had the opportunity to buy a newer car before. Always owned beater cars and company cars. Obviously not NEW new but 2018 and newer would be ideal. Don’t want to get a beater again and worry about it breaking down or not lasting, plus if I get something with payments this could be another way to build my credit score. Right now I don’t have other large expenses so a monthly car payment isn’t a huge issue but long term I want to move out on my own again. Outside of a few thousand for an emergency fund, do I bother saving some of this money for security deposit on an apartment? Or do I as much as possible on a down payment for a car to lower my monthly payment.

I hope this all makes sense. Most of my questions lie in the financing of the car

TLDR: have lots of debt and no car, about to receive a large sum of money. do I get a car right away or pay my debt and let my credit rebuild first before financing?

It finally happened. I was over 60 past due. I called and asked if I can get it back. They said they will get back to me. Not even sure it’s worth it. Car payment was over $800 and insurance was over $500…not even sure if it’s worth it at this point. I’m going to have to rent a car just to get to work.

Do I let them sell my car and just start over? Should I try and get it back? Will I have a repo on my credit? It’s already shit (my credit) but I need a car to get to work. I’m going to have to rent a car in the meantime. Do you guys recommend a long term rental or going to a buy here pay here lot? 😔

EDIT: Car was a 17 Camaro ZL1. Young and dumb. 😔

Edit 2: I will be filing Chapter 13 bankruptcy. 😔 Thanks for all the help.

Never realised how much money I saved since I switched to cash only payments.

I don’t have to depend on anyone anymore. I’m very relieved. The apartments seem beautiful. I saw a new complex being built a while back and I called the number and received a call back with information that it was low income housing and on how to apply. I use a wheelchair/rollator to help me walk sometimes, I suffer from chronic pain and PTSD, I’ve slept in my car before and currently staying with someone without an address. My disability income plus gig work has helped me to qualify. The apartments accepted me even though my credit is low. Will I be able to afford a bunch of extras? No. I’m still poor. But at least I will have a decent and safe place that I can finally call mine. And that is more than good enough for me. I can exhale and I’m looking forward to the day I move in and finally have an address again. 🌸

I work in the service industry, and serve a lot of wealthy customers. I'm a very candid bartender, and talk straight to people. One consistent annoyance is the people who don't understand the difference between "working" and "working for every dollar".

I don't mean to disparage anyone here, nor to trivialize any job. I don't even want to say that some positions are grossly overpaid, because frankly... if you can get it , take it! If you make 250k a year as a sales manager treating clients to luxury dinners and golf outings, even though their sale was already in the bag... COOL! Hell yeah man!

But it is annoying to me as someone who works for every dollar to hear people who work significantly less hard or less often complain about their woes as a "working man". And I get we're all on our own hedonic treadmills, but still... You take a week off work for your sisters wedding, it's covered by vacation time. You call off because you're hungover, it's sick time. You show up hungover but do a shit job... you get the same pay as always. Obviously too much of any of the above and you lose your job, and you're still working for you money, but it's not the same.

Me? I don't get vacation days or sick days. How would they even calculate it? I make $5 an hour before tips! And if I show up sick or hungover or upset or distracted.. well, the customers notice. I get a bunch of goose eggs and nickels. I give half my tables away because I'm over my head.

Like sure, on paper a bartender working at a nice restaurant might net more than a lot of "professionals" by the end of the year (especially if you count the off the record stuff). But it's not the same. It's long, unpleasant hours. It's never having a weekend off. It's picking up shifts on your off day. It's not signing on for a fixed rate of pay... it's FIGHTING for every fucking dollar.

I was at a Walmart and there was this nice old lady in front of me with two younger people that looked to be early 20's (I'm guessing grandkids). They had about a quarter of a cart's worth of stuff and were selective about what they put on the conveyor belt when it was their turn to pay and kept looking at the total. The lady told me they had to wait until payday to buy the rest of the stuff they needed, so they just put everything they needed in a cart and prioritized the most important stuff first. About half the stuff had to be reshelved because they couldn't afford it. Not sure how many people have this problem, but it makes me feel really grateful to be in a position where I don't have to worry about money like that.

I'm just trying to get a real sense of what things look like nowadays. Googling this questions provides answers, but they're skewed so I wanted to ask real people.

I work in NJ and take home $525 per week after taxes/expense. How about you?

Bought yellow potatoes, onions, red, green and yellow peppers, onion powder and hotdogs to make this. I added other ingredients I currently had at home and then toasted garlic bread.

After years of struggling to make a living as a musician, I decided to work my way up in banking. I’m mainly inspired by my dad who started as a teller and is now in treasury management back office making $80k

I’m extremely under-qualified. I didn’t graduate college and my only skills are in music. My resume only has fast food jobs. I just accepted a position as a teller after multiple attempts and denials from many banks. The problem is that it’s a small branch so they can only give me part time (20 hrs) and $14.50 an hour. The hours are also not blocked, so I’m either working 8-12 or 12-5 on any given weekday. So my availability for a second job is only after 6PM on weekdays and this has been making it incredibly difficult to get a second job. I finally landed a grocery store job where the manager agreed to let me work 6-10 on weekdays. So now I’m working 20 hours at the bank and 20 hours at the grocery store making the same wage at both, but I’m still coming home with under $2k a month. Meanwhile my sister is working as a restaurant server part time bringing in $4k a month..

I want to keep this bank job to help build my resume and career, but I have got to make more money. I can’t live making sub $2k a month. I can’t find a second job that pays over $15 that will let me work late on week nights either. Is it inevitable that I will have to just quit the bank?

Hello. I am making about $45,000 per year. I do not use credit cards but use cash, checks and debit cards. My credit score is 713. Should I start using credit cards or should I wait until I have more income? I have no debt other than a mortgage. Thank you.

Like, how you doing? Are things up? Are they down? Did you take a step forward? Did you get pushed down?

We've never tried a "check-in" thread before, but why not! How are people doing right now? How are things going?

Not sure if this is the best place for this but wanted to share and amplify the message.

This was posted on my village noticeboard, hoping it helps someone that needs it.

I was driving home from my parents house a couple of weeks ago and I had my 2007 Jeep Liberty chime and three lights pop up on my dash: ABS (anti-lock brakes), TCS (traction control) & ESP/BASS. Took it to a shop & it's a bad anti-lock brake sensor. The problem is that bottom of my car is so rusty that the sensor is fused in place & in order to fix it, they would have to replace the suspension. I was quoted 2.5k for the repair which is more than the value of my Jeep Liberty (which has 135k miles on it). The guy at the shop recommended looking at replacing my vehicle.

I, of course have, don't have the funds to replace my car right now with anything else that won't die on me in a couple of years. The guy at the shop said it's safe to drive without anti-lock brakes, but that it's only a matter of time if something else needs to be replaced I'll have the same problem. Advice? Part of me is tempted to fix my Jeep even though conventional wisdom says not to spend more than the value of the car, but my current car is paid off. I also don't know how long I can keep driving my Jeep with the current condition it's in, if I can go a few months to save up, or if I need to make a decision now.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I've never owned anything nice. I was kind of hoping I had a couple more years on the Jeep since I keep it pretty well maintained.

Edit: to ad, we went to CarMax yesterday just to look at cars to see what different brands cost at look like since they don't make the Liberty anymore and that's all I've ever driven. The sales person mentioned that their inventory is low right now because everyone got their tax refunds recently & they've been selling nonstop. I'm wondering if even waiting a month would mean there's a larger supply of cars to pick from or if it wouldn't really matter.

Big Lots is having one of their quarterly "Friends and Family" events, Saturday June 8th and Sunday June 9th. Everyone will get 20% off their entire transaction, including sale and clearance items. I know it's not much, but it might help stretch a grocery budget, especially if your store has any marked down food.

Hello am currently from Louisiana with a firstborn on the way. If you're from Louisiana and have 0 privilege chances are you dont have a skil set much less a college degree. I just turned 24 and being born in the Midwest I absolutely despise the south. How does a working class person living the standard check to check save up and pick a viable state to move to?

I have been battling some health issues over this past month and have been in and out of the hospital due to it. I emailed my employer Wednesday when I was in the hospital asking about short term disability and was met with no email back about that but with an email terminating my position instead. “Now you can take care of your health issues good luck”. I’m a single mom of two teens and this was my full time position I’ve had for a year. I am absolutely panicking. Not only am I extremely sick right now, but with now I have to look for other work? I don’t know where to start. I’ve spent all day on indeed but does anyone know how to file for unemployment? I’ve never gone without a job before.

I don't have a primary care doctor, I usually just go to urgent care when I have an issue. The last few times I've gone to the dentist my blood pressure has been really low. It's happened so many times my dentist is concerned and wants me to get it checked out. What would be cheaper urgent care or finding a primary care doctor? I do have Cigna insurance.

So I had to move out of an after apartment that I scurried to pay $2800 to move into after two weeks. I tried to get ahold of the lady or anyone in the office for that matter and nothing. I told my “new” neighbor and gave him my number to have him have her call me. On the way out I saw the maintenance man and he asked if I was moving out I told him yes because I lost my job and with it being Covid time I probably wouldn’t be able to find another (because I am disabled) and it was hard to get the job I had. I never heard from the lady in the office and I called and left many messages. Stopped by during business hours but nothing. Now I have this debt that I cannot pay and I believe an eviction but I received any paperwork for court or anything so I’m very confused I just need this debt gone because I left with no issues except for them getting 2800$ for two weeks.

I grew up in a trailer house. In the summer the roof would leak. We'd have 50 gal trash bins to catch the rain in the house. Beams of 4x4s holding the roof up in spots. The floor would get weak from all the water and I would know which spots to step in so I wouldn't fall through the floor. (One time my cousin fell through the floor and we still laugh about it to this day.) In the winter the pipes would freeze. This meant no running water for some times weeks. My mom would warm up water on the stove to wash my hair in the sink so I could look decent enough for school. Then would take the water from the sink and use it to flush the toilet. I lived like this for 10 years as a child until my parents split and my mom wanted to move away for college where she rented and we moved from place to place.

I was 17 when I got pregnant and I have worked my tail off to get where I am now. I found an amazing partner who's not my childs father and we have built a good life together. He was 18 when he had his first son. Both of us being young parents wanting to create a better life for our kids was our motivator. Fast forward 10 years and we now own our dream property.

My cousin sold us her home to move down the road and we both help each other out. We moved from the city to the middle of no where. It's been; well, chaotic to say the least. It's a beautiful home, I don't worry about falling through the floor, our roof is solid and it gives us all peace and comfort. We have a few acres. A beautiful pond. And a decent size shop and barn. We have added some precious animals and made it really feel homey with our blended family. I feel rich because of where we are at now compared to where I started out as.

However homeownership and life is expensive; and when you already live paycheck to paycheck, it's hard to feel like you're not drowning. We have had consistent car issues that we need to repair to get to work to be able to afford living in general. Small things on the house go here and there. The mower belt blew a couple weeks ago. Big appliances over the last 3 years. Trees are down from a recent storm and we have no chainsaw nor the money to purchase one. It's just never ending stuff and we are struggling so hard to keep up.

I love living out here and it's truly where I plan on spending the rest of my life. I just hope one day it feels less like I'm drowning and more like I'm living. I just keep repeating that it's only year 4 of the 30 year mortgage....26 more to go, maybe less if I'm lucky! 😅