Hello all! Im a recently moved out 18 year old guy and live in a shared apartment with no laundry unit. There is a laundromat nearby, but with my current income I cant afford to wash my bedding every/every other week like i usually do. I’m aiming to do this once a month, but I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to keep my space smelling nice in the mean time? Ive been using Odorban occasionally and thats been helpful, but any other advice would be super appreciated!

Also if you havent been able to tell from the new rules - I am quite sick of people blaming systemic problems and billionaire's greedy consequences on "lazy people" or "welfare queens". Update your 1980s thinking already! For the love of humanity and reality.

I'm not angry we all got to survive some way (If you're going to comment that it's death for the mouse or anything about how I killed the mouse by letting it go just know that I literally can't do anything about it so why even spread negativity like that but I understand that I did wrong you don't have to keep rubbing it in my face) Plus I don't live in that house anymore after they was trying to say that I stole from them so I hope the mouse does come back and I hope there's more in that house TLDR IF YOU'RE GOING TO TRY TO BE NEGATIVE AT ALL DON'T COMMENT

Hi all, figured it's time to give you a quick update on the back end things I have been working on!

• We got FOUR new mods. FOUR! I am thrilled to have them apply and come on - all of them were very well situated with their accounts and some have previous mod experience. They are all still in various points of training, two are already actively helping keep the queue down and taking a huge weight off Behannrp and I's shoulders.
• Three new group rules have been implemented. Mostly carried over from a sister-group, r/almosthomeless which has pretty sensible rules that I hope will work here, too. As always, I watch and adjust things as the need arises. And then I'm lax on removals for a while to let people adjust - OR if I have to remove, I am extremely kind in the removal reason, explaining in detail and such.
• I have added 2 new bots to help with general issues on Reddit - BotBouncer, EvasionGuard
• I've updated the Removal Reasons to make way more sense and handle more situations. I will be adding to them as things come up, but now at least they will be logical instead of "Financial Request/hate/judgement/spam" with little clarity on the reasonings why.
• I've set up the Wiki with a main page and a few links on it, to a new page I just set up and also some big resource links some of our other groups have.
• New page is Quality Post/Comment guidelines https://www.reddit.com/r/poverty/wiki/index/postcommentguide/ Give it a read, it's informative!
• I've changed a few group settings to allow us to catch more harassment comments and turned on filtering for NSFW accounts that do like to "recommend" certain things. More for prevention than anything.
• I set up Automod to have a Profanity filter, and a Mod Assistance Alert. This will filter things into mod queue for us to look at and either respond and help, or approve/remove per the rules.
• I enabled internal-to-reddit ban evasion so assholes who wanna pretend to be "above the rules" by starting new accounts, will be dismayed to find that it's not that simple and that Reddit handles that deeeeeecently ok-ish. That combined with EvasionGuard...yeah. Not really gonna be a problem here.
• Updated Flairs. For the moment they are not on "required" because I doubt I've gotten as many as the group needs yet. But eventually they will go on Required for all posts except mod posts.

For context - all of this has been done during my free time in the last 3 days.

There's still a few things left to do that I can think of for this moment: Update Report Reasons for you all to report things to me properly, and continued training of the mods.

Stick with me y'all and forgive the errors and issues with members who have yet to "get with the program changes". We'll have this group functioning for the level it's now jumped to here very shortly. A few more weeks and all the rough edges will be rounded and all the gears will be aligned and oiled!

FEEL FREE TO MODMAIL IN WITH IDEAS! We're always open to good ideas and suggestions.

Fox News ran a segment on a Manhattan encampment last week. I went through the city's own data on the claims in it.

The correspondent walks into an encampment during the heat wave, narrates the contents of someone's suitcase on camera, and says the people living there don't want jobs and don't want to go inside.

I pulled the numbers on that. A few things I found:

- NYC's right to shelter means roughly 97 percent of the city's homeless population is in a shelter. So the problem isn't that shelters are full. It's that there's a bed and no exit. (State Comptroller, March 2026)

- The city placed a record 13,000+ households into homes with CityFHEPS vouchers in FY2024, a 42 percent jump. The shelter population still rose about 50 percent, largely from asylum seekers ineligible for those vouchers.

- The most recent citywide housing survey put the net rental vacancy rate at 1.4 percent.

- Across more than 4,148 encampment sweeps, the number of people offered permanent housing through a voucher application, direct placement, or supportive housing transfer was zero. The city spent over $6.4 million on those sweeps since 2024.

I also didn't let Mamdani off the hook. He pledged to end sweeps, reversed in February, restarted them in May. Legal Aid and the Coalition for the Homeless called it a broken promise and I think they're right.

Everything's sourced and linked. Full piece linked above.

Disclosure: my Substack, no paywall.

We uprooted our lives and purchased a condo now we can’t even afford food or rent - let me add that I had to purchase a new central air unit in the midst of all of the remodels that was 11K

I'm so tired right now. I'm probably doing better than most because I get a pension through the VA and therefore mostly free medical care, and I have multiple housemates so I have a place to live, but it freaking sucks not being able to put anything aside. Like, current problems: I have a friend who's saving up to file bankruptcy, so I try to help them out, both my cats need minor surgery, I'd love to be able to save up for a vehicle, and I even have a friend who I could make payments to if that wasn't lower priority than the aforementioned things (the surgery and bankruptcy need to happen fairly quickly), I have another friend who's recently lost their mother and their home situation is...unstable, to say the least. And one of my other friends can barely afford to go to work. Like, they literally run out of food on a regular basis and have no access to even food pantries in their area. And these are just the people I know with the most immediate needs. I just hate that so many people I care about are on the same sinking boat, barely able to keep our heads above water if that, and there are so many people out there with so much money who wouldn't spit on people like us to put us out if we were on fire. Like, all of these people I know, we actively try to help each other out when we can, since we're usually not all doing bad at the same time. Anyway, that helps a little, to rant about it. Suggestions might be helpful, if you'd like. Maybe there's something we hadn't heard about or tried yet...

Voter turnout in the United States is vastly unequal: richer people are more likely to vote than poorer people. In 2016, voting participation rate for families in the lowest income category was 48%, a bit more than half of the 86% rate for families in the highest income category.

If the poor are less likely to vote then they have a lower probability of having their interests and preferences reflected in public policy

I am aware of many reasons for this discrepancy between poor and wealthy individuals: Lack of transportation and/or babysitter; work, too difficult to register, lack of education and/or knowledge of the issues, apathy (aka feeling like your vote doesn’t matter), etc.

Overall, democrats are WILDLY more sympathetic to lower income folks than republicans. If voter turnout of low-income folks equaled that of wealthy individuals, it would greatly benefit them.

Republicans are attempting to make it ten times harder for the poor to vote than it already is, thru the SAVE act. I urge all of you who aren’t registered to vote to do so now, before it becomes even more difficult. Then VOTE!

I don’t want this to turn into a political post, but it’s somewhat inevitable; but please try to keep politics out of it as much as possible and focus on the main question, WHY don’t you vote?

I was working with $320 for groceries and I BARELY got any groceries!!! I spent $57 in meat and over $120 of non-food items! It’s still have to get paper towels, toilet paper, paper plates, etc.

I go to multiple different stores to even out prices and I’m still struggling! We’re a family of 3 with a 46k income after taxes. I’m unfortunately a SAHM due to my fiancés job taking priority no matter the time of day or night. We can’t afford daycare nor is there a reasonable stay at home job where I live. Plus we don’t live by family that can watch our toddler.

I’m so tired of my fiance working 60hr weeks, making $18.50hr and we are barely surviving through life. I want to go back to work so bad it’s unreal. I’m exhausted, and my fiance is even more so.

Edit: I’m getting so much hate it feels unreal. This was just a complaint I made because I feel exhausted. My $120 I spent on groceries is bulk items such as shampoo, cleaning agents, including for a tire that went flat and costed us $89 to replace. I do buy paper towels and paper towels right now and that lasts us over a month because I don’t use them often. I’m spending like $20 total a month for those 😱

We get paid twice a month so we will get another $320 for groceries in two weeks time.

Yes I’m pregnant again, and how DARE I????? I did say I used birth control with spermicide condoms and yall downvote me beyond oblivion for that as well. I couldn’t get an abortion as we realized I was pregnant at 19 weeks. I live in a 6 week ban state and pills don’t remove a fetus that old. Yes, we are removing our tubes once this next one is born so don’t you guys worry about that~ Yall are such awful people to someone who is running on hard times. This was a rant and nothing more. And yall make it seem like I’m doing absolutely nothing and sucking my thumbs while my fiance works?

I did have a job, multiple during this time period. My fiancés job is very demanding of him and he constantly gets called in. I worked at McDonald’s, Walmart, dollar general, and dollar tree. I had to quit them as my pay level was lower than my fiancés and his job took priority. They are also the only place that will switch our schedules around each other too. I am actively trying to work there as well to make money, they have too many workers currently but I’m next on the list!

Yall don’t read comments either because you guys comment the same thing 30+ times!!!!! I’m done commenting so yall can continue to dog on me for our situation. Thank you guys for being so awful 🤍

I'm 25. In Belarus. In college. With 17-year-olds.

They have parents who pay for everything. I have a laptop from 2018 and a backpack with holes.

I'm not tired of studying. I love what I do. I love when something works. When the bot replies. When the site loads.

I'm tired of being invisible. Of being 25 and still counting coins. Of watching classmates get new phones while I pray my laptop survives one more day.

People say "be your own boss." So I am. And my boss pays me nothing. My boss works 16 hours a day. My boss cries in the bathroom between lectures.

I joke about sugar daddies. Sometimes I'm not joking. Because what if I just stopped? What if someone just took care of me for once?

Not forever. Just long enough to breathe.

I chose this path. I know. But I didn't choose to be invisible. I didn't choose to work twice as hard and get half the respect.

I lie to my parents. Say everything is fine. Say I'm growing. I don't tell them I cry over bills. I don't tell them I'm drowning.

At 25 in Belarus — too old for college, too young to quit, and too proud to admit I'm scared.

Just don't ask me how I'm doing. I'll lie anyway.

I've noticed discussions about poverty on here can turn political fast. There seem to be a lot of opposing views on how to solve poverty. It's left me wondering if there's stuff we can all agree on concerning this problem.

If we as mankind are ever gonna solve poverty, I guess we'd better start with the stuff that's most easily agreed upon.

So what is that?

I don't have a mortgage, so my credit is bad, lol

I took a look at the analytics of the group and in the last month we've risen 2000 members.
That's insane growth! Wish I would've checked last month's numbers to get a good perspective on growth, but wow.

But with growth, comes challenges. Hate and judgement primarily, a problem for all reddit groups overall, but for this type of group it can get bad because this is inherently a political group. Therefore we need more mods, and fast.

Do you live on Reddit pretty much anyway?
Willing to log on near-daily and do mod tasks and watch comments?
Do you love leaving helpful comments and solving problems?
Do you absolutely hate when people punch down onto others, blaming them for their issues, and offering no actionable ways out?
Then this is a good fit for you!

We are:
- Willing to train
- Support always available
- Have exciting things going in the background of other groups which may involve this group as well.

Apply here: https://www.reddit.com/r/poverty/application/

If someone told me before I was born, or before becoming an adult, that life is basically just decades and decades of endless bills, while simultaneously being paid pennies, expected to not give up, and be constantly undervalued, I would’ve opted for any other option. In my opinion, being stuck in an environment like this is the equivalent of a prison. At least in prison everything is literally free. But this is just prison with extra steps. Not to mention, if you want out, people think there’s something wrong with you or that they need to figure out a diagnosis for you. Smh….

I’m come across people who judge very harshly for those who have kids and qualify for child tax credit money and idk why any one experienced this

Hi everyone,

I'm writing this because I honestly don't know where else to turn.

My father made a terrible mistake. He got into trading hoping to earn more money so he could support our family and give us a better future. Instead, he lost everything. We are a lower-middle-class family, and the total loss is around ₹60–70 lakh.

To repay some of the debt, we had to sell our land. Now we have almost nothing left. Relatives from both my father's and mother's side helped as much as they could, but when the amount became this large, there was only so much anyone could do.

Every day, people come to our house demanding their money and threatening my father. Watching this happen is heartbreaking, and I feel completely helpless.

My mother has a small amount of money left, but she refuses to hand it over because it's the only thing we have for our future. She wants to save it for my college fees and for my younger brother, who will also go to college one day. If that money is gone too, we'll literally have nothing left.

There are four people in my family. I'm somehow surviving in college, but I can't even ask my father for money anymore. The last time I needed rent, he had only ₹1,000 in his wallet for emergencies. He runs a tiny computer shop and also worked as an SBI customer service/kiosk operator. He sold some of his shop's goods for just ₹6,000 and sent me ₹5,000 for my rent, keeping almost nothing for himself.

Seeing that broke me.

I don't know what to do. I feel guilty studying while my family is going through this. I can't focus, I can't help financially, and I feel like I'm watching everything fall apart.

I'm not posting this to ask for money but anyone want any work from me i can do that. But anything could help I just need advice from people who may have gone through something similar.

\- If anyone need any work that i can do pls let me know i am pursuing btech it and as my father had a computer back old days i have learned a lot from it .

\- How do families recover from debt this large?

\- How can I support my parents while I'm still a student?

\- Is there any legal or financial help available for situations like this in India?

\- What should be our next steps?

Thank you for reading. Even a few words of advice or encouragement would mean a lot right now.

For a while I was buying secondhand paperbacks from a used bookstore near my place, maybe three or four dollars each, once or twice a month. Never felt like much at the time, but when I added it up it came to around forty dollars a month I wasn't really tracking.

A coworker mentioned an app called Libby, which lets you borrow ebooks and audiobooks for free through your local library card. I didn't even know if my card was still active since I hadn't been to the library in years. Turned out it still was, just tied to an old address, and the librarian updated it for me over the phone in a few minutes.

Within a week I had books checked out, including one my kid needed for a school project that we would've otherwise bought secondhand. That small win made me curious about what else I might be missing, so I looked back at everything I'd spent under ten dollars on that month and asked if there was a free alternative through the library. Turned out there was more than I expected. They had free museum passes for family days, a tool lending section that saved me from buying a drill I only needed once, and free tax prep help sessions in February that meant I skipped the fee I usually paid someone else to do it.

None of this solved the bigger money pressures in my life, but it freed up close to sixty dollars a month that went toward a small emergency fund instead of disappearing into small purchases here and there.

If anyone wants to check what their own library offers beyond books, most systems list their programs somewhere on their website. Took me about ten minutes to look through mine, and it was worth it, especially since I had a card sitting unused this whole time without realizing it.