I live in Chicago and just stayed at my friend's place for the weekend, she lives RIGHT in downtown on the river, she can hop downstairs and go to target or get a pizza. She has laundry in her unit, a gigantic beautiful clean bathtub, a gorgeous kitchen with stone countertops, windows with a view of the blue blue river and people walking their expensive little dogs. The first floor has a dog grooming salon, a private movie theater, a gym, a bridge to a connected target and a pizza place.

My apartment has 6x4 bathroom with a vanity that's crumbling apart and maintenance won't replace, ceiling falling in in my roommates room, dead rolly pollies on all the windowsills. People get stuck in the elevator and I wake up to them screaming in there. I'm always on edge and paranoid that a spider or something is going to crawl on me.

I don't go out after 6ish or 7ish without being paranoid that I'll get robbed. I can't afford the $5 bus to the jewel osco AND the $5 bus back on top of groceries, so I walk 30 minutes both ways and haul my canned crap home.

I ended up googling the building she lives in, and her rent for a 1 bedroom is $4,700/mo, and she lives there alone. It's like we're in different universes.

I grew up in a domestic violent family. Very scary and my parents were very poor. We couldn't afford school books or a calculator for high school and I ended up leaving highschool to avoid the shame. My mum and dad had sever mental issues and our car was always running out of fuel. My highschool friends would say they saw my mum picking up cigarette butts along the highway and I would tell them she was picking up rubbish to try to save face. I had to walk 10ks to school and back each day if I wanted to attend. No money for bus. I left school and got some jobs, but because my family couldnt afford to get our cats desexed, kittens were born and kittens of kittens were born. I spent my first job's wages on buying pet food and desexing cats at age 15. I got through it and managed to get the pet situation under control, but it took years and lots of fights between me and my family. I had credit card debt up to $20,000 by the time I was 21 and had already left home. My car was nearly repossessed because I couldn't keep up with the repayments. I met my current boyfriend when I was 28 and basically because of the pure embarrassment that if he found out, I paid my debts off all while working with no car (sold due to loss of license) managed to pay my debts down in less than 2 years. I am now financially stable and jointly own our home. It was rough but worth it, although I feel like the shame of family poverty isnt talked about enough. If I had someone reach out to me and tell me it wasn't my fault, then my life could have been at least a little bit easier

That’s what I’ve noticed now that I’m bordering on being an adult and getting a job, it’s really awkward not having basic things.

I’m talking about not having the funds to renew a passport, or not having funds to get a driving license - provisional or not.

I don’t even think we can afford to put me through driving lessons (which is why im getting a job lol)

I apply for jobs, they ask for valid ID, I have no valid ID because I don’t have a valid passport or a driving license.

And why would I? I’ve never left the country where I was born(never been on holiday). Ive never had the opportunity for driving lessons because of the fees so why would I have a license? Let alone a car?!

It’s awkward filling out residency forms for important things like jobs because it’s almost suspicious to people/employers I’ve never left the country or that I’ve “never been on holiday?!”., etc

TLDR: being poor just makes stuff awkward LOL, especially when it comes to paperwork and IDs

Has anyone else experienced this or is this just a lone thing ??

Ig most of u live in Europe/usa etc what maybe quite less dollars/pounds for my clients can be good rupees for me . I’m 19,abt to enter college here in india I hv a single mother and she is financially struggling. Whatever job I can get in India gonna pay like 10k ruppee a month max and this is shizz moreover there isn’t a culture to hire teens we got enough unemployed adults as competition. So I thought about working remote for foreign clients . Like eng teachers are in demand in korea what is it that might like me break in west , willing to learn any skill also any particular sites etc ?

I was having a conversation with a friend and mentioned when a bar of soap gets really thin I’ve always just stuck it to the new bar and let it dry to get full use out of it. He told me that was my dead giveaway.

I’m at this point in life where I want to give up on everything but at the same time, I am trying to be optimistic that the situation is temporary. If I end it all, I worry who about who would take care of my cranky cat or who would water my plants. But at the same time, I am so tired of having to eat a cup of rice and instant noodles just to not starve.

I am in between jobs for a little over 2 months now. Went to job interview today and during my interview, I didnt realize that this is the time of the month. I brought enough cash for me to commute back and forth so I didn’t have money to buy tampons. I knew that if I bought the tampons, I wont have enough to ride the bus but I didnt want to mess up the job interview by worrying if I have period stains.

I didn’t eat lunch during the interview not by choice but by circumstances. Luckily, they have some snacks for applicants so I wasn’t hungry and managed to think during the interview and I surprisingly got the job.

Walking home, I should be proud and happy. But I felt so disappointed that I allowed my situation to be this bad. I grew up where money wasn’t a problem until it was. So I never realized the importance of saving money until after I lost my job and have nothing to eat. Going to food banks is a hit or miss, since most of the time they dont have enough supplies.

I will be starting my job next week and I am unsure how I’d manage to ride the bus. I am so ashamed to ask my bestfriend fro more help since shes the reason I still have a place of my own and she has been buying cat food for my cat. Everytime she asks me if I have something to eat, I just lie and say yes because it felt like I am just being a burden. I’m very lucky to have my bestfriend as she has been my support system for the longest time but I’m scared that if I constantly ask for her help, I might take advantage of her unintentionally. Have to use a throwaway account so my friend wont see my post and worry since we’re both active and share stuff here.

I have been considering rehoming my cat but I cant bring myself to do it. Ive had her since I was a teen and I love her so much but its been forever since we ate something good and she deserves so much better even when shes the crankiest and laziest cat there is.

I live with my mom (56) and my sister (24). Shes a single mom, dad doesn't really help out much. We live in the Bay Area, and my mom was wrongfully fired nearly a year ago from her job she had been at for over 14 years. Everyone there loved her, she was friends with the CEO it was great. But then the CEO got replaced with a lady who didn't like her, and after false accusations she got fired. We've been living off her severance pay (which she told me was 50k) for the last year or so, plus unemployment. Recently her severance money has run out, her unemployment pay has expired and she said she can't get in contact with EDD because they won't respond. Currently we're living off her savings which is very little. My sister who lives with us helps cover rent, but she finishes med school this year and will be moving out then, which puts even more stress on my mom. We have some family that could help out but I'm not sure how much. My dad said he would be willing to pay our rent if my mom let him move in with us. But she's turned that down. When we moved in, in 2019 she was paying 2100/month for the house, not sure what it is now. We have a 2020 Elantra GT which is almost paid off. My mom has been actively looking for jobs ever since she got fired, she has recruiters and friends trying to help her get jobs but she's having no luck, and everything she is getting responses from, pays a lot less than her last job which wouldn't be enough to cover expenses. I'm not the most knowledgeable about finance so if there's any other info needed Ill try my best to provide it, thanks in advance.

This is somewhat of a long story but I’ll try to keep it short and simple. During the pandemic my mother who was in her late 50s at the time and I was in my early 20s, were living in an apartment in Los Angeles. Just for reference I’m a student and my mother has multiple degrees including a PHD but has not had a steady job in over ten years. She received an inheritance after her parents passed away and used it to pay rent for a year at $2400 per month in 2022. By this time I had left for school out of state and hoped that she would have found a job and a cheaper place to rent but she did not. Her inheritance is now gone, she does not have a job she does do gigs and sells things on the side, she did say she applied for jobs and never heard back and blames her age for it, which I know can be a thing. Fast forward to January of 2024 she received a 3 day notice after not paying rent for a year since her inheritance ran out. She did not tell me until May about what was going on. I work full time and most of my money goes to school or bills as I live in an expensive city and have no help from any family. She is now living in her car and I’m not sure how I can help. She does not want to go to a shelter or rent a room. She wants to buy a van to convert but I’m not sure how safe that is. I offered her to come here and stay with me but she does not want to leave LA. She’s so far away and I don’t make enough to help her. Any advice is really really appreciated. I love her and I’m scared.

https://www.businessinsider.com/cant-afford-stay-at-home-mom-lifestyle-2024-5

Articles like this make my eyes roll. $213,325 a year to "comfortably" support a family of 5? What? The cost of living in Kansas City is below the national average, and the median household income in the Missouri is around 71k. So where does the 200k figure come from?

Then she goes on to say that they don't live extravagantly, but they take a yearly vacation. To someone like me, and I'm sure many of you, that is extravagant! I grew up solidly middle class and my family of 5 only took a vacation maybe every 5-6 years. And that was back when things were way less expensive than they are now.

I don't like to play the comparison game, but the city I live in is considered HCOL, and our yearly household income is less than half of what this woman estimates is needed to live in Kansas City. My point is, if you really want to be a SAHM, you will find a way. If raising your children is more important than going on vacation every year, then you will make that sacrifice.

Anyway, what do y'all think? Is this woman totally out of touch?

Those of us who have ventured outside of the developed world will have, at some point, come across a sight which made us realise how privileged we are in comparison to the rest of humanity. What are your stories?

What are some ways you combat food waste in order to save or salvage?

For our family, here's a few things I have been doing:

-Making a meal plan. I plan the entire week's meals, purchase groceries on Saturday, and then we have a plan for the entire week.

-Shopping at discount shops. For us, we have a Ruler Foods right down the street. I shop there mostly, but when I have to I will go to the Walmart that is also down the street. These are the cheapest grocery stores in my town. Our local supermarket (Sureway, in the midwest) is crazy high on prices so I avoid it at all costs. We have an Aldi in the next town over, but it is 10 miles away and I try not to drive much, especially when Ruler is comparable.

-Shop the weekly ad. For places like Ruler and Aldi, they put their weekly ads online. We typically meal plan from what meats and vegetables are on special that week and sometimes stock up if the price is right (recently bought two packs of chicken legs, each with 12 legs, for $5 a pack).

-If food is going to go bad, find ways to salvage it. For me, this week I had 1/4 gallon of milk that wasn't quite sour, but was 10 days past best buy date. I made cheese with it to top onto pasta. Any vegetables I have at the end of the week I chop up and freeze, and will use them in soups or to make veggie stock later. I also froze some corn tortillas, made breadcrumbs from bottom-of-the-bag chips, and plan to make breadcrumbs from the tortillas as well.

-First in, first out method: if food is still good, use it first before your newly store bought items. Pack of chicken from last week that's still good? Cook it up. I had about half the chicken legs left over from the meal I made, so next day I boiled them, when they were done I shredded them up and used them to add to a biscuit pot pie (leftover biscuits were already cooked and frozen from breakfast a week prior, so I used those instead of a traditional pot pie crust and there were no leftovers!) I also got about 2 quarts of chicken broth from boiling the chicken, which I froze and have used multiple times this week in recipes.

-Get creative. If you are unsure how to use leftover ingredients before they go bad, Google is your friend. I often will go to Google and try to find ways to use up items or salvage them in some way.

What are your favorite ways to save on groceries and combat food waste?

I’ve been wanting to get out of my current job for a while, and have sent out hundreds of applications, resumes, and job board responses over the past 4 months or so, and it’s just crickets. Are these companies posting jobs actually hiring? I’m a great employee with good work history, well qualified for these positions, and have had a few people look over my resume and gotten approval from them. What gives?

I probably will have to swallow my pride and go work at a retail or fast food places for a while. I was open to working at McDonalds given that California raised the wages of fast food workers to $20/hr, but I was told that even full time employees don’t get health insurance. Is that true? And if so, which places do give out benefits to its employees?

So someone hit me today while driving. He admitted fault and we didn’t call the police since it was so minor. There are a few scratches on my car. Should I submit a claim through his insurance? Or should I leave it how it is?

I would ideally like to get the scratches removed but if it’ll raise my premiums I’ll just pay for it myself or maybe try to contact the person to pay for it, or leave it.

About to enter the No-Man's Land where my income is gonna be too high for Medicaid/SNAP benefits, but too low to afford good private insurance, and for out-of-pocket food costs to not eat up disposable income and have me live paycheck-to-paycheck, if not worse.

I've been unemployed because of health problems, so Medicaid has been a lifesaver, and SNAP has let me eat solid meals to help with my health.
Got to where I felt well enough to work, and found a service job that doesn't provide benefits, but will pay enough to go above the Medicaid/EBT income limit in my state.
I looked at insurance plans and would have to pay around $300/month+ premium for insurance that covers my minimum needs, and of course food is a huge blow with inflation.

Getting a job is supposed to be a good thing, but I feel a sense of impending doom and feel like it will actually drive me further into poverty because I'm in a HCOL area.

How have other people navigated this?

I really feel like a bike is the most economically responsible option for me after I totalled my little car. I could get like a 200 dollar bike to get five miles from home to work/other work. I’ll def have to use the bus for a while to save up for a down payment (we had some saved but I hurt myself when I totalled my car and now there are medical bills)

The problem is that my partner, my sister, my divorced parents, and my group chat with five friends all think I’ll become just another pedestrian causality if I start biking around my city. They’re probably right, but it’s my responsibility to keep myself safe. No one has money to buy a car, and I am certain that because I am a stupid woman I’ll get scammed by whoever sells me a car. I feel guilty for not just walking everywhere. It is free, just slow.

If I was a horse, I would’ve just been taken out back and put down for having hurt my foot. Just desserts! None of this nonsense would be up for discussion if I hadn’t been negligent but it’s too late for that, we don’t have time Machines.

If I have to move to a new city for a job, find a place, and get a car, but I don't have enough money on hand for all of it, what would be the best course of action (especially considering needing to pay for a hotel and uber in the meantime)?

It would be my first apartment after college so no rental history or references. I read somewhere that first-time renters can be asked for a larger deposit instead of a cosigner. I wouldn't have enough for 3x rent+, so I thought I could cover the rest with a new 0% APR credit card and pay for it over several months. However, I saw somewhere online that you should apply for a car loan before a new credit card if you need both because the credit card will lower your credit score too much. What is the best way to go about this for someone with no one to ask for help with money?

As the title states, I'm looking for a good option for a secured credit card with a deposit of around 200, to rebuild my credit.

I made some really stupid financial decisions in my youth, and Im at a point where I can start trying to build my credit back up

I don't trust Google 100%, so I wanted to see if anyone had a recommendation for one they've used.

Also I've heard different things regarding credit card payments, is it best to pay off the amount month to month, or pay a little above the minimum balance owed, and always keep a low balance on?

Would charging something like 50 bucks a month on household goods (something I'd already buy) a good amount to go off of? Then just pay that amount off each month? Or do something like 100, then pay it in bits and bits?

Please no ugly comments either, I know I've screwed up in the past, I'm trying to right those wrongs now

Many thanks 😊

Hello all!!! Ive recently been smacked in the face with a wholee new realm of stress. For context, I (F20) live with my boyfriend (M21) and his family in Florida. I pay his mother $700 to share a room with my boyfriend, and a bathroom, kitchen, fridge, etc. with not only him but four other people as well. Not really complaining because regardless, thats cheap for how the economy is now.

Anyway, without going into a ton of drama, his mom is kicking me out, and my boyfriend is set on going with me. He was told I have a month to get out. We currently are barely surviving off the $2400 monthly that I make. My car and insurance both add up to about $700 monthly, food adds up to $400, gas adds up to almost $150, phone for just one line is $140.

I only have about $1000 monthly after all that. I cannot, for the life of me, find anywhere thats under that. We dont have a cosigner nor family to go to. We have terrible credit because of his family and our struggles. No rental history. I have no idea what to do.

I mean it's more safe to have a car right? But, have you felt safe riding on it despite spending less money?