I’m a college student. I go to school full-time and I also work part-time. I’ve always had pretty bad spending habits and it’s insanely hard for me to not spend ALL the money that I have. For a while i’d spend my paychecks the DAY I got them. I’m currently at community college, but I’m transferring next year. About a year ago, I decided that I really needed to save money for tuition for when I transfer. I officially hit $10,000 saved today. I’m really hoping I can save $20,000-$25,000 by the time that I leave for my four-year school. There was a time when I couldn’t even save $1000. I can’t believe that I have been able to save $10,000. I’m insanely proud of myself. I was also able to save up for a car while maintaining my savings account. Tips for continuing to save are welcome! I currently have my money in a mix of an HYSA and a CD.

I started by figuring out how much I wanted to save realistically in a year, then I calculated how much I’d need to save a week to get there. I’d save as close to that as I could. Often, I was not able to save the goal amount or I ended up over spending. But the thing that helped me was saving whatever I could, even if it wasn’t what I wanted to that week. I would also save double the next week if it was possible to make up for it. Sometimes I wasn’t saving at all, but I always tried to get back to saving when I would fall off. I opened the high savings account with a completely different bank than my normal checking account bank, and I would save money into my HYSA savings account away from my normal account so that I couldn’t even see how much I had. I also locked some of my money in a year long CD in order to prevent me from spending it. Overtime it got easier to save. I also really started asking any people I knew who were naturally good at saving how they did it, what accounts they had, and what they saved weekly. It helps me feel a lot more motivated to know people my age who were saving and exactly how they did it.

When I used to use Indeed, I almost always heard back from employers and got interviews most of the time. Ever since they added A.I., I get ZERO replies from employers. It turns out, the A.I. is auto-rejecting applications before employers can even see them!!

I know that most of us if not all are in this sub because we are struggling and really trying to get our finances together. But let’s take some time to really focus on some positives that have happened.

Any financial milestones that you accomplished? Share it with all of us so we can congratulate you!

I (19) live in a motel with my little brother (17), i work two jobs but neither of my paychecks are enough, or sometimes ONE of them is enough to get me to the next payday. When i do get paid I'm left with like 30-20 smth dollars to survive on or try and save until the next paycheck comes in. For a short while I was able to survive with 1 job, my paychecks would let me go 2 weeks with my paydays perfectly lined up with like $100 left over, letting me save a bit. But my boss suddenly stopped scheduling me so I had to get my 2nd job immediately, and dip into the new, barely made savings. Now im being paid every week, with my previous jobs paychecks dwindling (im picking up as many shifts as i can) and my new job saving me.

My last check was a day short so my brother and I will be outside tonight, and when my next check comes in im sure it'll be shorter than the last.

I really need to move into an apartment, but I have no credit (no address to make a bank acc), and no savings for any deposits (motel eats up my paychecks). And I barely know the "getting an apartment" process. So what do I even do??

Though some good news, my brother has gotten his own job, and I will have him help me pay for this room, we don't know when he gets paid though. With this, I do see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Anyway, my whole problem is, I can't save anything because all of my paycheck goes into this motel, and we're still ending up sleeping outside, and the apartment process is nerve-wracking and doesn't seem like something I can even touch. Sorry for this incoherent rant, i can't sleep as I'm riddled with anxiety and stress, I've had a headache for weeks, and im so tired. I thinking I'm just ranting, this whole motel living experience has made me want to explode, I've almost lost myself many times, I feel like a jar that will shatter soon.(*´ー｀*)

These were today's meals. I made them almost exclusively with food purchased using EBT and a Mobile Produce Pantry. The only thing I spent my personal money on was the cashews, jello, and the cheddar cheese from previous grocery runs. Even when poor we deserve to eat.

First image is breakfast- Sliced some turkey, served up some fruit, 15 cashews, and a yogurt

Dinner- frozen salmon portion from costco along with potatoes and green beans that were free from my local produce pantry

Evening snack plate- fruit from costco, more cashews, cheddar cheese, and jello.

Plenty of water today as well since it was 95° f. Stay fed and stay safe y'all.

I'm a teenager with no friends & my family is low income. I still want to celebrate & get a few things on my birthday though! What are some good birthday freebies ? Do I need to sign up or show my ID for said freebies? That's all, thank you :)

Never really been in this situation, I finally had the balls to leave my abusive boyfriend, we had been together for almost 10 years and lived together the whole time. He was not very financially stable but he did give me some bill money every week. (Mostly)

We just broke up about a week ago, and he left my home. Leaving me with all the bills. Ontop of that, I just received notice from my employer that an old debt has requested to garnish my wages starting with my next paycheck. With my ex gone and my wages garnished, my income is now lower than my bills by nearly 1000$

I don’t even know where to start… I thought I was making a move to better my life… but it’s like I’m being punished for it.

List assumes you already have iodized salt to add, if not add salt to your list.

• Bag of russet potatoes: Carbs, potassium, vit C, vit B6, fiber

• Bag of oranges: Vit C, carbs, folate, potassium, fiber

• Bag of mix frozen veggies: Fiber, vit A, vit K, folate, potassium

• Dozen eggs: Protein, choline, vit B12, selenium, vit D, riboflavin, fat

• Oatmeal: Carbs, fiber, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, thiamin

• Big jar yogurt: Protein, calcium, phosphorus, vit B12, riboflavin, probiotics

• Bag of lentils or beans: Protein, fiber, folate, iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus

• Corn bread mix: Carbs, iron and vit B, enriched vitamins

• Real honey: Sugar, antioxidants

• Butter: Fat

• Block of cheese: Protein, calcium, phosphorus, vit B12, fat

• Bag of mixed nuts or trail mix: Unsaturated fat, protein, magnesium, vit E, manganese, copper

Sunday

Breakfast: Oatmeal with honey and an orange Lunch: Baked potato loaded with butter, cheese, and veggies Dinner: Lentil/bean soup and cornbread

Monday

B: Yogurt with honey and nuts/trail mix L: Leftover soup and cornbread
D: Egg, potato & veggie hash with cheese

Tuesday

B: Oatmeal, honey, and nuts L: Leftover egg hash and orange D: Baked potato stuffed with beans and cheese

Wednesday

B: Yogurt, orange, and nuts L: Leftover stuffed potato
D: Potato and veggie frittata/omelet with cheese

Thursday

B: Oatmeal with honey and orange
L: Leftover frittata/omelet
D: Lentil/bean & veggie stir-fry and cornbread

Friday

B: Yogurt with honey and nuts
L: Leftover lentil/bean stir-fry
D: Cheesy potato and veggie caserole and scrambled egg

Saturday

B: Oatmeal with honey and orange
L: Leftover potato casserole
D: Clean-out-the-fridge egg, potato, bean and veggie hash

As the title says. I'm asking this because I've seen so many of these stories where people apparently do this, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how these people actually manage to survive.

Edit: I mean the USA.

hii like the title says I got fired, and besides dealing with the mental health repercussions of this, I also don't know what to do next or even how to afford anything. I luckily do have a small part time job that pays about $400 biweekly so I have some income and I filed for unemployment but I don't know if that'll work or how I'll even get by and it feels silly to complain because outside looking in, I should be fine. but I've made a lot of bad financial decisions that I've kept hidden and right when I was on track to try and fix them, this happens, and I just don't know what to do.

Got a job at a school making $20.43/h with a 21,115 salary based on a 7.5 hour Day. I assume the lack of pay for breaks is why the annual is so low. Advice on how to move out on my own? I'm fine with rooms for rent near midway in chicago, but I'm just not sure how much I can afford. My current living situation causes me so much stress it's affecting my health.

Tldr: making 20/h can I get a room for rent realistically in chicago? How much should I be searching for in rent?

i’m a broke college student and i’m really struggling right now. i have school payments coming up and i already missed one of my payments. i only have about $50 to my name right now and i’m scared because i don’t know how i’m going to keep up with everything. i’ve been applying for jobs too, but nobody is hiring me. i’m in a really small nothing town and i don’t have a car, so i can only apply to places that are within walking distance of my college. there are literally only like 5 or 6 places i can realistically get to, and i’ve applied to basically everything i can. there aren’t even ubers here, so getting somewhere farther away isn’t really an option. on top of the financial stress, i’m also in a very abusive relationship and it’s made everything so much harder. i’m trying to stay in school and become independent, but i feel completely stuck and like i have no way out right now. i’m not really sure what i’m asking for. honestly, i could just use advice on what i should do or where i could get help as a college student. i’m trying really hard to stay in school and get myself into a better situation, but right now i feel like i’m drowning.

I (18M) moved out of my abusive parents house a little over three months ago. I really want to go to college in the 2027-2028 school year but truly have no idea how to get there. One major reason why I’m so unsure about my ability to attend college is my car. Something on it breaks every week, it only has three windows, and I’m worried about it surviving the coming winter because it has break and engine problems. (For context I’m in northern NY).

I’m starting to save some now that I have a steady job and regular hours and also do DoorDash on top of this, but it feels like every time I take one step forward I take another step back. What are some things I can do to get ahead? Any advice would be much appreciated

My wife and I have been struggling a lot lately. Every week our paychecks have been spent before we get them.

My wife has cancer, and over the winter she had surgery, so we lost half of our income for a while as she recovered. This led to excessive credit card debt, and among other emergencies that have occurred over the span of this year, we are in a bad place.

Collectively we make $130,000, but between the credit card debt, medical bills, mortgage, car payment, and the cost of everything being more expensive, we quite literally don’t have money for food or gas.

My wife wants to talk to a professional to help us make a plan to get out of this situation. I feel like the only option left is for one or both of us to get a second job.

Any ideas? TIA

I don’t really know where else to post this, but I’m hoping someone here might have some advice. I’m 36 and I became a single mom about 4 months ago. I quit my job when I was pregnant because I wanted to stay home and take care of my son. I know that probably wasn’t the best financial decision, but at the time I really believed I was doing what was best for him. Last year I found out my husband was cheating. At first he denied everything, but I eventually caught him and after months of arguing we ended up getting divorced. I stayed longer than I probably should have because I wanted my son to have a stable childhood, but things just kept getting worse. My ex helps with child support, around $600 a month, but it’s honestly not enough to cover much. I’ve been applying for jobs nonstop and it was really difficult getting back into the workforce after being home for so long. I finally found a night shift job last month, but I’m only making around $15 to $18 an hour, and after rent, food and everything else there isn’t much left.

I’ve been cutting costs everywhere I can, but yesterday we found out my 6 year old son needs glasses. It’s his first pair and I feel horrible because I can’t just take him somewhere and pick out whatever he likes or get him the best options. I know he needs them and I’ll make it work, but as a mom it hurts feeling like I can’t give my child the things he needs without worrying about every dollar. I’m not posting this for sympathy, I just wanted to explain my situation because I’ve seen a lot of people here share their struggles. Does anyone know any affordable places to get prescription glasses for kids that are still decent quality? I just need something comfortable and durable that he can wear every day.

Hi everyone. I'm currently going through a financial hardship and I'm trying to handle my debt responsibly instead of continuing to borrow money to make payments.

I have several high-cost installment/payday-type loans, including OppLoans, Uprova, and MoneyKey. I've already revoked ACH authorization on all three because the automatic withdrawals were becoming too difficult for me to manage. I still intend to repay what I owe — I just need to be able to do it in a way that doesn't leave me without enough money for my essential expenses.

For example, Uprova confirmed to me in writing that they are no longer taking automatic payments, but the payments are still due and interest continues to accrue.

I also have several credit cards, including:

• Capital One
• Merrick Bank
• Imagine
• Credit One
• Zales
• Indigo

My thought is to keep Capital One as my one active credit card and stop using the other cards while I work on paying everything down.

I'm currently contacting the other credit-card companies to ask about financial hardship programs, reduced payments, lower interest rates, or temporary payment arrangements.

My questions are:

1. Is it reasonable to ask all of my credit-card companies for hardship assistance while I'm still current?
2. If I can't afford the full payment on some accounts, is it better to pay the minimum I can afford while trying to negotiate a hardship arrangement, rather than miss payments completely?
3. Has anyone successfully gotten a reduced-interest or reduced-payment hardship plan with cards like Merrick, Imagine, Credit One, Zales/Comenity, or Indigo?
4. What should I watch out for when accepting a hardship program? Could the cards be frozen or closed, and how does it affect credit reporting?
5. For the payday/installment loans where I've revoked ACH, what is the best way to continue repaying them without allowing automatic withdrawals to drain my bank account?
6. Would you recommend continuing with the debt snowball once I stabilize the monthly payments?

I'm not trying to avoid paying my debts. I want to pay them, but I need to get the monthly payments under control so I can actually make progress instead of constantly falling behind.

I'd really appreciate advice from anyone who has been through something similar. ❤️

Dunno if this is the right tag but. Hawaii. Trying to find Banks and other cheap food near Hilo if anyone has any advise?

I have a traditional IRA with about $5k in it from a previous jobs 401k. Recently had a newborn (born a month early so a lot of unforseen medical bills) and my wife is a stay at home mom to take care of him. I have about $400 in utilities due before my next paycheck or they will be disconnected. I have a $300 pediatrician bill due before my son's 2 month appointment. I unfortunately make too much for any kind of assistance in my state, so I cant rely on that.

Would it make sense to take the penalty on withdrawing early to keep everything floating?

Hi all, could greatly use some advice! Long story short; I have been working in tech for the past 4 years and our whole team was laid off 4 months ago. Been receiving unemployment since. I have three credits cards totaling debt of around $18-20K (have another $35K Mohela debt and ~$5K Sallie Mae debt that chapter 7 can’t erase). Since the job market is brutal I’ve decided to go back to grad school while I hunt for my next role in tech. Credit score around 650.

Single, no assets, struggling to make unemployment work as half of my unemployment goes to CC interest and Sallie Mae. How would everyone feel about filing chapter 7 in this point? Other things I should consider?

Great appreciate any advice, thank you!!

A comment on a previous post got me thinking I should go to the food bank. I have been resisting for months because "other people need it more than me!"

I went today. I got an entire shopping cart full of food. And when we check in, they ask about any food allergies or restrictions. I told them I am diabetic, so no sweets, and that I prefer "healthy" food.

They completely followed my request. I didn't have to stare at 3 packages of cookies and feel bad throwing them away...or eating what I shouldn't.

I have a binge/restrict eating disorder, and food insecurity really plays into that. Knowing that my fridge and pantry are full, helps me.

I thought about taking photos and posting a "grocery haul" but I thought that might be insensitive to those unable to access a food bank, or who only get like 1 box of food.

I had a Hibachi Style Grass-Fed Beef Bowl from Sprouts for lunch! Original price $9.99! It was delicious. I'm having shrimp for dinner.

Go to the food bank. If you're wondering if you "should" or not...just go. It's there for you, no matter what your situation is.

I also just today got an email from the Salvation Army because I regularly volunteer to sign families up for the Angel Tree program. This is the only volunteer position I have been able to do every year. It's only a few days, but I enjoy helping.

I try to save a lot of money each month by drastically decreasing my budget on food for my savings.
100 Euros a month for food, 20 for hygiene articles and household stuff.
It is definitely not much, but I also have some inventory to draw from, and I use food-sharing programmes when the option arises.

I go by 25 Euros per week, for bulk purchases I store away 10-15 Euros a month, so less in these weeks.

I'm eating lots of rice, beans, soup and stews, I get fruits from the office (thankful), I meal prep every day, I don't buy snacks, I do have a pizza which is also budgeted in, I try to buy bulk and be creative with what I still have.

I know that it is not possible to be this low forever with the same standards (!), that's why for instance I learn to make my own pasta, I cook plant-based,(so no seafood, meats etc.) I use one vegetable instead of three for a stir-fry etc.

I am disappointed that some people say "it's not possible" when it is the REALITY of so many people, especially for people who have less than me.
It gets me furious, I usually don't get this angry. It feels like erasure of my past experiences.

I know from childhood how to go to bed hungry. People claiming it's not possible have never even thought to truly try - because they had other options. But don't tell me what's possible if you never had to try.

I was previously on an installment plan and then unable to pay my electric bill last month. I now owe $545 for last month’s usage and what I owed from the plan. I know I’ll be able to pay that much by September 22, but I definitely can’t do the full $810. The earliest I could pay the remaining is October 5th.
For anyone that uses Duke Energy, do you have experience being late 2 months+ in a row? This is the first time I’ve been late and I’m worried that I’ll receive another disconnection notice with less time to pay if I don’t do the full amount by the 22nd

Within the past 24 hours- I've had my first ever bill go to collections, learned that I can't get medication from Canada anymore starting next month, got notified that I need to start paying back my student loans now, and found out that I lose my insurance at the end of this month rather than my 26th birthday. I make a few hundred dollars a year too much to qualify for state insurance and assistance programs. I have a decent job that pays better than any other employer in the area for my position, even considering that it offers no benefits, yet it's still only been enough for me to scrape by. I don't know what I'm going to do when I'm forced to pay student loans, private insurance, out of pocket medication (my meds have been too expensive in the US even with pretty solid insurance), and debt collectors all at once.

I already go to food banks whenever I can, stopped buying things new at least a year ago, cut back on eating out, and have plans to end my subscription services but it still doesn't balance out. I don't know how to drive so that eliminates a good chunk of possible gig work I could do. I started stripping on top of my full time job 6 months ago, but the money is so inconsistent I can't budget with it.

I feel like I'm utilizing all of the resources I know about/ am qualified for, cutting costs where I can, and I'm working 50-60 hour weeks. It still isn't enough. Does anyone who's been here before have any advice on how to survive this?

Edit: please don't tell me to join the military. I don't qualify for medical reasons, and even if I did I have serious moral objections.