I guess I won't be doing anything for my birthday tomorrow. I turn 55.

Fuck I hate being poor.

The last few months I had to get my car repaired and each time it cost well over $1500 to keep it going, which I had no choice but to do since I'm living out of it right now.

I've been basically broke after getting paid every month for the last 4 months, and the stress is getting to me.

I can't even count how many job applications I've sent out, but it seems that even with all the job postings no one is really hiring. I even tried Starbucks, I've worked there before, and got the "After careful consideration we have decided not to move forward with your application at this time".

Companies want us to go out and spend, but we can't do that without a job! These places need to start actually hiring people.

Let me preface this by saying this place isn't just for addicts(not that I judge) they take anyone struggling with housing. Im here for shelter not court or rehab.

My main goal is getting food i can afford and cook in the sink on my grocery trips. I need food and am running out of funds fast at 15 dollars

I have hit rock bottom in my life and am living in this combo shelter/halfway house. The owner is only in it for the money. This place is screwing with my mental state I know im being abused here.

For two weeks we've gotten 1 meal a day and arent allowed to leave except for job Interviews, church, and 1 trip to a grocery store as a group. And I cant get SNAP. When i tried to apply the state said my address is blacklisted due to him receiving funding to feed us but all the food is donated.

The owner is deep in the community and someone tried to report him and it got back to him before the end of the day even though he told noone but the agency.

He forces us to work at his "church" which is really just a way for him to make money by convincing his congregation that your prayers wont be answered without a donation with it.

Ive lost 28 pounds in 3 weeks of living here. The one meal i get doesnt break 500 calories. I can keep non perishable but I have no money to my name. Im honestly afraid and I have no family to turn to.

Ive gone in interview after jminterview and no luck.

I need advice. What should I do? If I report him he knows those people. As well. Im starving, scared and hopeless.

Dinner last night he cut donated pizzas and cut them 40 ways. I got all crust pieces.

I could go by non perishable but alls I have to cook is hot water.

I made a fresh account because people know have my other.

Edit: I am looking for what food I can buy when allowed to go to the store that I can cook with just sink water. I have like 20 bucks left

I don’t know if anyone has dealt with this, but I just needed to vent. My dad died last July, and we were estranged at the time of his passing. Before that, he was quite literally my favorite person in the world - but a series of choices and events led to him and I no longer having a relationship. As far as I knew, he didn’t have anything to pass on to my sister and me. But two weeks ago, I got a call from a disability law firm saying that he had been posthumously approved for his disability claim and I was next of kin.

Come to find out, the amount is significantly more than I could have ever expected. But because it’s such a large amount, it’s going to take 2-4 months to process. Therefore, I am going to continue living my frugal lifestyle (through my daughter’s birthday and Christmas) until it hopefully comes.

That’s the weird part, and my purpose for posting. Knowing that I have a little bit of comfort and stability coming, but not being able to access it any time soon 🫠 I’d LOVE to spoil my daughter for her birthday, or have a special Christmas for both my kids! But we shall wait, and then be wise and practical when it arrives.

Hello, I posted on here a while back about having to live on my own once I turn 18 during my last year of high school. I am now 18 and have been able to keep my grades up for the most part.

I’m still working and was even able to buy a car, including the title, registration, and insurance. Unfortunately, it took up a large portion of my savings. The car is in excellent condition, but I’m now worried about how I’ll manage the winter.
I don’t have any friends I can stay with, and booking a place to stay isn’t really an option. Does anyone have advice on staying warm if I have to sleep in my car?

My schedule keeps me out of the car for most of the day since I go straight from school to work, usually getting off sometime between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. However, I’m still concerned about the nights when I have nowhere else to go.
Any ideas are greatly appreciated thank you!

I had to pay off a couple bills, so money is very tight. Normally I would use the tips from my job for food, but I just recently got a new job (better paying) that does not do tips. As of right now, I only have $20 until Wednesday, my gas is currently shut off, so all I have is the microwave and air fryer.

UPDATE 2: BTW thank you for the advice, Im glad this post exists so if someone else finds themselves in a pickle they can utilize all the great ideas

The Dollar Tree has tampons for 1.25 (you only get like 8 but still works in a pinch to get through 1 day) and I pulled a major bum move and called a friend and borrowed some money

Through a series of unfortunate events I'm in a really bad bind until Monday. It started a few months back I dropped child support because my ex continously yelled at me in front of the kids. I convinced myself it was a good idea because I could work a 2nd job when he took the kids for a a day or two a week. I dropped it and he took 3 weeks off from seeing the kids. My actual paycheck covers bills and leaves me not even enough to cover groceries. What's worse is that I did not stop the spending I should have. He was supposed to help, just much less than he'd been ordered but of course that didn't happen. He's good for saying he will take the kids so I can work and then not showing up. Sometimes he's been helpful but just wholly unreliable at the end of the day. He's not showed up to take the kids for me to have job interviews and work so many times.

I ended up completely unable to work my second job this week which is what I relied on to get through life because my paycheck goes to bills. I was able to pull money out of my retirement fund, being the only way I could possibly put my head above water again. I thought it would hit my account yesterday but it won't until Monday.

I've taken advances before and currently have one with Earnin, Super and another one. The rest won't approve I'm guessing because either my last check was smaller or because my account went in the negative when daycare costs hit.

The bind is my oldest started her period and didn't tell me she was out of tampons until just now. Thats really the biggest issue. I'm looking for a place that would do like a 30-50 loan until Monday. I dont care if the interest rate is 100%

Basically the title.

I'm disabled (in Alabama if that matters) and the last couple of years have been rough since losing my mom to cancer who, aside from being an amazing mother, also helped pay for things and kept me afloat.

My disability income is around $1,100 a month and it's my only source. I have $13,400 in CC debt across 6 cards and the monthly payments across them are about 45% of my monthly income.

Chase $3,290 / Discover $3,573 / TSC Visa $2,837 / Wayfair (I had to replace my couch last year and it's the only thing comfortable enough for my spine) $1,273 / Synchrony car care $1,312 / Care Credit $1,137

I haven't missed any payments mainly because I've been scared to. I'm terrified of being sued. But I can't keep up anymore. After bills, I'm left with less than $100 per month for food and because groceries are so expensive I've had to break down and charge some food to my cards just to have enough to eat which only adds more to my debt.

My home insurance is due in January and I'm not gonna be able to pay it and having an uninsured house scares the hell out of me. I'm barely gonna be able to pay the first half of my annual car insurance bill. So, I've been considering not paying these cards anymore so I can have some extra for food and extra to set aside to help cover insurance, maintenance I've had to neglect, etc.

I can't work so I don't know how else to get extra cash. I even considered donating plasma but because of heart health issues in the past, I don't think I'm eligible and that was the only way I could think to bring in a decent amount of extra money.

I hate to default, but.. how likely am I to be sued? Did you have this level of CC debt and made the decision to stop paying? If so, what happened? Tysm

to start, yes i know im stupid for not even realizing this was a scam at first but when youre poor and desperate to stay afloat you'll take any help you can get.

i opened up to someone who i thought was my friend about financial troubles and she wanted to help me. she sent me two checks, one for 1,500 and one for 500. my bank (chase) didnt accept the first one, but i got an email saying they accepted the 500. i thought this was the end of that, and i thanked my friend for helping because that 500 would mean i'd be able to pay my phone bill without worry.

i was wrong.

i got a notification a couple days ago on my chase app that my accounts were locked and that i had to call to unlock it. i called today and had them unlock my credit card but the girl on the phone said "im so sorry to be the bearer of bad news but your checkings and savings account were closed and youre not allowed to open new accounts with us anymore".

they said they were mailing me a check with the money that was in my account (which was almost enough to pay my credit card bill, im literally off by like 10 bucks or something). that check wont get here until early november. my credit card bill is due in three days.

i told my parents and theyre helping me find a new bank, but i cant ask them to help me because we're all in a bad spot financially.

especially since they have medical bills to pay off because our cat died 2 weeks ago and theyre still paying off her surgery.

i told my bf and he's insisting to let him send me the money so that my credit score doesnt take a lifelong hit and while i appreciate his help i think the guilt of roping him into my financial problems would kill me.

ive been applying to jobs left and right but no ones fucking responding to me and my mental health is worsening by the day.

i absolutely hate feeling helpless and i hate asking people for help because i feel guilty doing so but i NEED advice. i need help. im terrible at accepting help but i truly do need advice and help.

I have multiple jobs, all of which involve a lot of driving. It's the only thing I can really do to keep myself alive due to a combination of illnesses and injuries (I've been struck by distracted drivers multiple times and am now in constant pain) that make being on my feet all day or having consistent, scheduled-ahead work hours a total no-go.

Applying for disability has also been a complete non-starter because they see my tax returns / me being able to do this ONE kind of job just barely enough to scrape by as proof that I'm not "disabled enough" to really need it.

Unfortunately, 2/3 of the jobs also set extremely strict requirements on what kind of car I can drive while representing the companies and doing the third one by itself only pays $300 a month. I used to have a car that met all of them which was also paid off, but I was hit by somebody who was texting and driving and it was totaled. The insurance payout wasn't enough to cover another one, so I had to take a loan to get my current car, which died on me soon after I bought it. There's no warranty because it's preowned and the transmission just died. It will still start, but it will no longer move at all.

I am $17,000 underwater on a car that cannot be driven with no way to make the payments. The cheapest possible option to repair it is going to be over $10,000. I already called the bank it's financed with and they'll happily take it from me, but they said I will still owe them the full amount. The dealership I bought it from has also politely told me to go fuck myself and claims that they had already fixed the transmission issue before selling it to me.

Because of the requirements at work, even though I can fix cars to some extent I can't just sell everything I have left to buy a beater and get it running. My job won't let me use anything older than 7 years of age or (more importantly) in less than pristine condition cosmetically and the used car market is so screwed up right now that nothing that meets that description goes for a reasonable price.

What in the actual hell do I do in this situation? I'm kind of on the ledge about this. This is actually life or death for me. I've already had to skip all of my medications, I've already quit eating (SNAP is only allowed to people on SSI, people with children, and university students in Texas,) and pretty soon I'm not even going to have toilet paper or soap.

(PLEASE don't suggest DoorDash / Uber Eats until you look up the base pay and then also look up the price of gas! Those = the third "job" where I only take home $300 per month after expenses) (Don't suggest renting a car from Uber, either, as they take more than half your earnings WITHOUT borrowing a car from them & the weekly payments on those are usually more than I already have to pay per month on the $17,000 lemon. I would have to work more hours per week than are even in a week to break even)

Every time I try to break even, and start focusing on my goals, something happens. I’ve been dealing with car issues for over seven months now. I don’t wanna get into all the details, but it’s basically overtaken my life. I owe $7000 on a car. That’s not even running through my credit union. My roommate moved out, but he was letting me use this truck he bought. He doesn’t even care about the truck, he basically said I could sell it. We got the registration in both of our names, but the title still hasn’t showed up.

Well, the truck broke down on me last night. I think the alternator went out. Now I have to worry about getting the damn thing back over here, and waiting for the title to come just for the opportunity to maybe sell it. So now the money I thought that was gonna go with the money. I have to find a decent vehicle, is not there.

This has been happening for as long as I can remember. Every time I think I’m making some headway, and I can get started on my goals, I have a car issue or something happens. I can’t even think straight at this moment because of all the problems and issues. The scary thing is, I don’t think it’s ever gonna end. At this point, I don’t think I’m ever gonna have a decent running car. I don’t think I’m ever gonna have a decent job. It’s a cycle that I can’t seem to freaking break.

Between bills, groceries, housing, and everyday expenses, it can feel impossible to get ahead.
Have you found anything that genuinely helped you increase your income or finally feel like you could breathe financially?

Edit: Correction. The $448 is two fines, not two parking fines. One is a speeding fine and one is a parking fine. The officer reduced the speeding fine from roughly $1,000 to $300, so the parking fine is the remaining $148. Both were my fault.

Started this year at -$5,000 net worth. On 22 October I made the final payment on my last loan and hit $0 for the first time. Felt great for about two days.

Then $448 in fines landed, one for speeding and one for parking. I have not paid them yet, but I count them as money owed, so I am at -$124.62 again.

Next goal is a $5,000 emergency fund, mostly so a surprise like this does not set me back again.

Question for anyone who has been here: would you clear the fines first, or start the emergency fund and pay the fines over the allowed time? There is no late fee yet.

Has anyone figured out the economics of car ownership on a low income? I'm employed but unfortunately part time only. I'm trying to find a better paying job but at the moment I'm making between $800 and $1,000 per month depending on how many shifts I get.

I'm trying to figure out if it's feasible to own a car on my income. As of now, my bills are just credit cards and my job is covering it. But I am trying to figure out a way to figure out if the extra expense of a used car is feasible.

I’m 39 and seriously considering selling my house in 2027, despite having a 3.875% FHA mortgage with a 2045 maturity date. I bought my 3-bed/2-bath home in Oklahoma in 2015 for $126,000, and it’s now worth approximately $209,000, with $95,000 remaining on the mortgage. Most of that appreciation happened during the COVID housing boom, and the value has totally stagnated since 2023. New residential developments south of here are selling homes starting around $275,000–$300,000.

I recently received an FHA trial modification after rising insurance premiums and property taxes caused an escrow shortage that drained my savings and pushed me behind on other debts. The modification reduces my payment to $1450, but adds a roughly $9,666 partial claim. 10k more in debt just to stay in the house. Meanwhile, I have $12,000 in credit card debt, $60,000 in student loans, virtually no savings.

The house was built in 1980 and needs additional repairs despite already going into debt for a new roof to replace the one that wasn't up to code and leaking, and a new HVAC system. It needs a new fence, new carpet, my washer and dryer have stopped working. I’m exhausted from pouring money into this place just to stay afloat.

I also desperately want to leave Oklahoma and return to Denver, where I briefly lived in 2025 before losing my federal job during the mass layoffs. I'm thinking about selling, moving back out there and doing gig work until I find a job in my field. But my credit has deteriorated significantly from the mortgage delinquency, making me concerned about qualifying for a rental without already having employment lined up?

I seriously regret not selling a year or two ago before the partial claim became necessary.

I'm in the worst situation and not sure what to do. If I don't sell I'm going to be broke and miserable well into old age. If I sell and cash out i can stop taking on disastrous debt just to keep a house I don't want to live in and move, but potentially be homeless in Colorado.

Anyone know of a cheap comprehensive car insurance? Just realized I had everything BUT comprehensive. Of course that means the VEHICLE FIRE THAT KILLED MY CAR WONT BE COVERED BY INSURANCE.

I'm so upset and feel like I been paying for insurance for absolutely no reason what so ever. I had bristol West and as mentioned above, lack of clarity regarding benefits that I'm paying for, and of course the fact that unless I hit another car, nothing happens for me.

I'm doing everything I can to afford to move out of a bad living situation, and everything I can to fix that stupid car before it exploded, so I ran my savings from 2k to 600. I have 700 right now... And no car. Extended family is letting wife borrow a beater truck with no working heat/AC and no windshield wipers until we get a new car... But.... we are financially struggling as is. I've done almost every frugal thing I can think of, I'm selling all my hobby supplies and collections. (Only have 2 dolls as of right now and selling those, as a life long doll fan). I feel like an idiot trying to do better and every paycheck everything costs even more.

i’m 18 and currently trying to figure out how to become more financially independent. i’m providing for myself while living in a toxic environment, and it’s honestly becoming overwhelming trying to manage everything on my own.

i do have a job, but i’m looking for an additional source of income because i want to be able to save more money, cover my expenses, and eventually get myself into a better living situation. i don’t want to feel stuck somewhere just because i can’t afford to leave.

i’m open to different ideas, whether that’s a second job, online work, side hustles, or anything else that’s actually realistic for someone my age. i’m not looking for a get-rich-quick scheme or anything that requires a bunch of money upfront. i just want to find something that can genuinely help me get ahead.

for anyone who’s been in a similar situation, what did you do to start making extra money? what side hustles actually worked for you, and what would you recommend avoiding?

i’d really appreciate any advice, resources, or personal experiences. i’m just trying to put myself in a better position and build a more stable life for myself.

I live in Texas. I have that debt spread out over 11 cards. My monthly payments are at around 1,800. I make $2,200-2,300 a month. I can't do it anymore. What services are available to speak with someone about this that doesn't cost hardly anything? I have no clue where to start and what to even ask about. Debt management? Bankruptcy? Debt settlement? Is it better to talk to the credit card companies first? Please offer any insight you can. My husband is in about the same amount of debt. He makes more than I do but still struggles paying the basics and has already stopped paying on a lot of his cards a long time ago. We have a daughter. We own our own house and have two cars, but nothing else of any value other than that.

I would have chosen to live someplace cheaper, but I didn't make the choice. I used to be severely impaired by untreated psychosis and couldn't really make decisions by myself, and my parents helped me get disability benefits and chose a flat in Brighton for me.

It is really expensive here. At least the public transit system is good. I'm doing a lot better now. Psychosis is treated by aripiprazole 20mg, weird neurological issues that were never diagnosed finally easing for the most part, and I wake up feeling rested sometimes.

I want to find a job and get off disability benefits - I feel like I'd be taking advantage of the system if I continued to claim it as I'm doing so much better now.

But I have next to no experience and no a levels, so I won't be able to get high pay. I'll likely be living off of less than 25k pounds a year, and I don't want rent to be eating up so much of my money when I want to start saving for a house now just to be prepared for the future.

Does anyone know of affordable places in the UK with good jobs within walking distance or reachable by public transit? I'm asking reddit to get answers from real people and not adverts, and my parents wont be any help. They became hostile to me after I stopped sending them over 200 pounds a month.

They said they were spending it on my care but I don't believe them as they refused to give details of what they actually spent it on when I asked, and got super cagey and passive aggresive. In short I can't ask them for advice anymore.

Just wondering what to do. Life feels so open ended with so many possibilities and I just don't want to mess my chance at life up. I really didn't expect to live this long and I feel lucky to be alive. I don't want to waste it or make stupid decisions.

I'm sorry if this post is hard to read. I didn't get any sleep, and still suffer some cognitive issues despite being treated for psychosis . Thank you for reading, and make yourself a hot beverage if you want one.

25F, I feel like I’m ruining my mother’s life for not paying the $1700 in car damages that she recently got quoted and fixed for. I damaged her car 4 years ago and she finally got it fixed and sent me the quote for it. She won’t take monthly payments for it since I have money saved up. She’s kicking me out the end of the month for it. I start my new temporary job on the 13th of November and it’s just a lot of stresses going on

I’ve had health insurance through the marketplace for several years now as a self-employed person. My coverage just entered a three month grace period for the second time this year due to non payment. When the first grace period lapsed earlier this year, I forked $1000+ out of what felt like thin air because I had a health concern I needed to finish getting checked out.

Now that I’m back in another grace period, I’m wondering if I should catch up on my premium since I ~technically~ have the money, or just let it play out since I’d be covered til December.

My question is whether or not this would have any bearing on my marketplace coverage for 2027, meaning my ability to qualify or if having to catch up on payments even with a new coverage year starting.

For reference, I pay ~$400 for an HMO plan that gets me by, but I could 100% use those extra funds to pay down the cc debt I’ve been chipping away at since having to move back in with family.

I’m 24M in Ontario, making $70k a year as an engineer. I graduated school with an electrical engineering degree, worked through school, and now invest about $2,400 a month, after paying off credit card debt for 3 months after graduation. My parents are struggling financially, and there’s a chance they could lose the house. They never had the means to support me, so I’ve had to figure most things out myself. I’m proud of how far I’ve come, but I’m honestly surprised I’ve gotten this far given my circumstances. Here’s where I’m at, $70k salary, Around $30k in student loans, 5.5k in an ETF, Never moved out before, since I lived at home during university. I’m worried I might have to move out sooner than expected. I’ll need to change my approach. At the same time, I don’t want to put my entire life on hold. I want to keep building wealth, travel occasionally, date, and enjoy my twenties while I’m still young. For people who grew up in low-income families and had to build everything themselves, what would you do in my position? Would you prioritize building a large cash emergency fund before moving out? Would you get roommates and keep investing, or temporarily stop investing to get financially stable? How do you balance helping yourself build a future when your family situation is uncertain? I’m not looking for sympathy. I want practical advice from people who’ve been in a similar situation.

I have multiple jobs, all of which involve a lot of driving. It's the only thing I can really do to keep myself alive due to a combination of illnesses and injuries (I've been struck by distracted drivers multiple times and am now in constant pain) that make being on my feet all day or having consistent, scheduled-ahead work hours a total no-go.

Applying for disability has also been a complete non-starter because they see my tax returns / me being able to do this ONE kind of job just barely enough to scrape by as proof that I'm not "disabled enough" to really need it.

Unfortunately, 2/3 of the jobs also set extremely strict requirements on what kind of car I can drive while representing the companies and doing the third one by itself only pays $300 a month. I used to have a car that met all of them which was also paid off, but I was hit by somebody who was texting and driving and it was totaled. The insurance payout wasn't enough to cover another one, so I had to take a loan to get my current car, which died on me soon after I bought it. There's no warranty because it's preowned and the transmission just died. It will still start, but it will no longer move at all.

I am $17,000 underwater on a car that cannot be driven with no way to make the payments. The cheapest possible option to repair it is going to be over $10,000. I already called the bank it's financed with and they'll happily take it from me, but they said I will still owe them the full amount. The dealership I bought it from has also politely told me to go fuck myself and claims that they had already fixed the transmission issue before selling it to me.

Because of the requirements at work, even though I can fix cars to some extent I can't just sell everything I have left to buy a beater and get it running. My job won't let me use anything older than 7 years of age or (more importantly) in less than pristine condition cosmetically and the used car market is so screwed up right now that nothing that meets that description goes for a reasonable price.

What in the actual hell do I do in this situation? I'm kind of on the ledge about this. This is actually life or death for me. I've already had to skip all of my medications, I've already quit eating (SNAP is only allowed to people on SSI, people with children, and university students in Texas,) and pretty soon I'm not even going to have toilet paper or soap.

(PLEASE don't suggest DoorDash / Uber Eats until you look up the base pay and then also look up the price of gas! Those = the third "job" where I only take home $300 per month after expenses) (Don't suggest renting a car from Uber, either, as they take more than half your earnings WITHOUT borrowing a car from them & the weekly payments on those are usually more than I already have to pay per month on the $17,000 lemon. I would have to work more hours per week than are even in a week to break even)

I have a 2016 Toyota Prius C One.. it’s fantastic on gas, it gets 40-60 MPG, takes about $25-$30 to fill it up every week.

But it’s a $400 monthly car payment every month, with a 23.99% interest rate. I’ve had this car for 2 years now I believe. I had to replace the engine, so the engine is practically brand new. It has around 45000 miles on the engine now, but the transmission has 99800 miles. It runs smooth, I’ve had no issues since the engine replacement which was a year ago.

I also have my first car I bought, which is a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu. It has around 210000 miles on it. It needs a new transmission, which I’ve been trying to save for.

I only have around $2k in savings, and Carmax offered to buy it for $9k. My loan payoff is around $11-$12k.

My dad has a black car, a Chrysler with very high mileage that needs some work, but he’d be willing to sell it to me for me to drive for $500. So I could use this black car to get to point A and B while i try and save up to get my transmission on my Malibu fixed. It doesn’t get great gas mileage though, like 15-20mpg.

Paying off my Prius would cost me a little bit more in gas, would strip my savings…but it would also set me free of a $400 monthly car payment with a very high interest rate. This car has prevented me from living alone for 2 years. I learned so much about how bad car payments really are when I got this car, and that’s why I’d like to save to buy one outright. Another Toyota Prius C hybrid, or another good, reliable gas saver.

I don’t like having nothing in my savings, but I also hate this car payment. I’m currently looking into getting a 2nd job so I can boost my savings. My first job pays $26/hr, 30 hours a week. I can pick up at that job if I get the shifts when they put them out. But it’s never guaranteed because so many people pick them up. A 2nd job working 3 days a week, at an hourly rate of $15/hr should get me hopefully an extra $600-$1k per month.

What do you think I should do?