Every time i see a post on reddit talking about income or jobs i see the comments flooded with people saying they make more than 6 figures and they own a home. For example theyll say something like “i make 187k a year, 500k in a roth ira, 200k in savings.

In real life i know almost know one that makes this much money so how are there so many of these posts? Is reddit full of rich people?

You can become a live in caregiver. It’s a long day because you would be on call. But you would get your days off and $250 a week here, in the suburbs of Chicago. You have to have a high school diploma, a working car with insurance and pass a background check

no kids, just me and a dog. our apartment dryers ($2.50 each for one washer/dryer, so $5 minimum to wash and dry) are being repaired so i went down the street to the laundromat. i just spent $19 (would have been $15 at my complex with the amount of loads i did) to wash/dry my clothes for the week.

those with kids, how the hell are you all keeping up financially especially with grocery trips and other random expenses that come up?!?!? i can barely keep up just taking care of myself, i couldn’t imagine the cost of a whole family.

I've been on one meal a day for quite some time and now I've been trying to skip a day sometimes but my body won't allow it. I feel weak and dizzy.

I've read people here saying they go days without eating, so I'm wondering how they manage it. Please share your tips. Thanks

I’m 38 and live in Chengdu, China. After my business failed, I became unemployed and was left owing money to the bank that I can’t currently repay.

Because of this, my bank cards and my WeChat and Alipay accounts have been frozen or restricted, and my credit has been affected. I want to find work and start earning again, but I’ve discovered that some jobs are harder to get into than I expected.

I looked into driving for DiDi and doing food delivery, but I was turned down because I couldn’t provide a bank card to receive payments. I also considered working as a designated driver, but my credit issues came up in the background check, so that didn’t work out either.

Right now, I’m thinking about looking for temporary work so I can bring in some income. At the same time, I’ve started making videos about my everyday life. I want to keep going and see whether it could become a new direction for me.

But I’m anxious about the future. I need income now, and I don’t know how long it might take for the videos to go anywhere—or whether they ever will. I don’t want to put all my hopes into something uncertain, but I also don’t want to give up before I’ve really tried.

Sometimes the hardest part isn’t the work itself. It’s wanting to move forward and realizing that the options in front of you are fewer than you thought.

Has anyone been through something similar? How did you keep earning while trying to build something new, especially when you didn’t know whether it would work out?

Mine is milk. As 1Litre of regular cow's milk is now 1.20, I have reluctantly admitted that I'll have to switch to semi-skimmed UHT milk, as that only costs 0.69 per 1Litre. The UHT milk is fine, I guess, but sweeter than I'm used to. So, what have you guys downgraded to in order to keep having certain things? Let's share some cost-cutting substitutions.

[Location: England]

Paycheck to paycheck.. tomorrow is payday and the cycle repeats.

Everybody I contact about renting a room , doesn't accept cats and I have one (currently staying in a 1 bedroom apt). I feel sick that I may have to give up my cat just to save money. My lease ends at the end of next month so I have to find something soon or either renew my lease. I honestly was just going to get a second job and consider staying in my apartment , but I don't know that it is a good idea. But on the other hand I'm afraid to stay with strangers but it seems like a lot of people doing it nowadays. However I saw like a whole bunch of YouTube vids that say not to do it because you will be miserable. Someone tell me that renting a room from a stranger isn't that bad or am I delusional? I can't even afford my car payment right now

Hey Everyone , I'm in my mid 20s and I rent a room for over a year and 2 months , always paid rent on time but since the start of October i struggled to pay it ( I can't work anymore for couple of months for legal reasons ) , and I didn't find a place to stay yet ( gov can offer me a place in the shelter if i'm lucky ) , I don't have a car , I was being fair and thought I should leave the place if I can't pay it anymore but at the same time I have nowhere to go .

I sincerely need advice from people who went through the same things and struggled also , I'm going through one of the hardest period of my life , and I know it's a phase and it will be done for , it is just hard to go through this and also give up a safe space of mine . re-starting from 0 again can be harsh , everything i worked for 5 years vanished .

I'm in EU not USA.

Title is self explanatory, any advice/resources? Im a Male with a drivers license and clean background. Been job searching with no luck lately

Im open to any type of jobs: willing to train, offers housing, seasonal, remote (i have a laptop), etc. Not expecting all these options to come with a job, im just listing different types

Basically anything that can get me some income at the moment so i can get back on track. Im also willing to relocate anywhere in the U.S.

I Owe CRA 42% of my debt
I owe NSLSC 43%
Credit cards are 13%

around 80k total

Credit cards accepted my proposal
CRA voted against it, my LIT reached out to CRA to counter
NSLSC has not responded yet. The 45 day mark would be November 9th.

Just looking for others who have gone through this and had it eventually accepted 🤞

I've been crying all night, I really don't want to have to do bankruptcy due to the fact that you can only make a certain amount of money per month. I feel like a failure at 29 years old, I had a baby at 18 and went back to school at 21 life just got expensive as a single parent.

I already started working more over time to put extra away to throw at the proposal.

I am a digital nomad in the US and right now I am nowhere near my "home base". Last week I had a dental crown that cracked and it hurts now.... I need to find a dentist somewhere near where I will be but in the meantime I know this means I have an infection and need antibiotics. Does anyone know if I can get a prescription using one of those telehealth services? (hopefully reasonably priced)??? Thanks

The place I started using was partially shut down and gave out moldy product. I did seperate the moldy and toss it then soak the rest from each package to kill any spores with vinegar. Is this normal? This is my second time ever using a food bank. There were very few volunteers this time too. The one who spoke to me was really mean. Last time I went they were all really sweet and it was like going to a grocery store.

Hello, I am open to advice or ideas, but somewhat I am also venting.

I am on a month to month lease specifically because I have been struggling with money for years and knew I might run out some day. I was afraid to be trapped in a lease I couldn't pay for.

So now the time has come that an income source is running out at the end of December. I could end the lease. I have been thinking of plans to put the most important things in a small cheap storage unit and trying to couch surf for a bit. I have been asking friends and acquaintances for places that I could stay for free or cheaper, even if temporary.

But honestly, I am afraid to let go of my safe apartment, especially in winter. I have camping gear and also know of some places I can go in the warm season, like a farming commune that might let me stay for free temporarily, if I help with work. But that is for warm weather. I am looking at January-March and wondering what to do with that.

Common advice is get a better job or more hours. I have a job. I could work more hours there, but I average 20 hours a week. It is often the most I can do. I don't want to get into all the details, but I have physical chronic illness as well as mental health life long problems. I burn out on jobs frequently. I have a bachelor's degree, but I can't keep up with almost any job long term. I have a hard time staying awake and getting to work within specific hours, and I burn out quickly trying to fit into most work requirements. I am lucky to have the job I currently have because I can make my own hours and they don't fire people for having too few hours. It's a blessing with the problems that I have, that at least I can get some money when I am able.

I can't get on disability because I am not properly diagnosed for several of my problems. And I have been to several Dr.s about it over the years, physical and mental health. Some even said they think I may have autism or ADHD. But they don't want to diagnose me because they think that I am drug seeking, but I have no addiction problems whatsoever and never have. I am willing to get tested at any time. I am not currently on any medications. One dr said that ADHD meds are basically just meth and that's why they are unwilling to help. I have said I would like any other help a diagnosis could give me, but they won't help. They also say they can't diagnose me for anything because I am older than 12 and have a college degree. I had to change my major because of my focus problems also.

I also know someone similar to me, who I let couch surf here for 3 months. She has been trying for years to get disability and she does have multiple diagnosis, but after 3 years she still can't get disability either. I also have executive dysfunction trying to do things like applying for things like that. I don't think I could handle it. People don't believe me that I can't handle simple tasks that they can. But I have had meltdowns / panic attack trying to get through simple things that other people seem to have no problem with.

TLDR. I don't know if I should leave my apartment because I don't make enough money to pay. Or get into much deeper debt, that I feel I may never be able to climb out from.

This is a Vent/Rant but I am looking to hear any advice people are willing to give me, so I'm using the Misc Advice tag.

No matter what I do, I can't get caught up on my bills or lower my debt. For context, I wasn't struggling like this until my ex decided to break up with me out of nowhere 2 years ago and leave me with all the bills for the apartment we were renting at the time. Since he refused to put his name on anything, I ended up with all the debt. (Shouldn't have been surprised as I found out he didn't love me and was just using me for 6 of the 8 years we were together) Due to that I wound up maxxing out both my credit cards (6k in total) and using Affirm (horrible mistake) to attempt to afford the bills and groceries as mine and my roommates paychecks each week were not enough to break even with the monthly payments between rent, food, utilities, our phone bills and car insurance. Not long after my ex left, I moved back home with my parents since my lease was up and it wouldn't be renewed unless my roommates and I agreed to a 750 increase making rent 2750 a month which was not possible. I ended up needing to rent a storage unit for all my belongings except for my bed, desk, clothes, and my cats since my bedroom is small and I can't fit much in here. But as scummy as storage companies can be, my monthly payment went from 125 to 300 after just 3 months due to "high demand." Now to top it all off, 2 months ago, my car decided to fully break down, and it's going to cost over 2k to get it back on the road. So between trying to get my credit cards back down, get these weekly Affirm payments taken care of, somehow fix my car before it starts snowing this winter and be able to keep my cats and myself fed I don't know what to do. I make 18.37 an hour and only get between 15-20 hours a week. So, on a good week, I can take home around 250-300 after taxes. In total, my current monthly payments are around 1400, and obviously, I have to keep my cats and myself fed, so I just keep falling behind each month since I can't afford to pay everything on time. I know I can be late on my credit card payments to give myself some wiggle room, but I already can only pay the minimum amounts and afford to get hit with late fees. I've applied to multiple places to try and pick up a second job, but I never hear back from any of them, or I get told they found someone already. One of my friends has been willing to help me out whenever he is able to but I can't keep relying on him just to break even each month since it's just putting me in debt with him even though he doesn't care when I pay him back. I'm just at a point where it all seems hopeless, and I don't see myself ever getting caught up and out of debt.

I've been writing this half asleep while also having a breakdown, so I apologize if this seems like rambling or some info might be missing. I welcome any advice you guys can give me and will try to respond as soon as I have the time or can think straight.

Update: Fixed some grammar mistakes and meant to mention that I'm 28 and live in Connecticut.

honestly just need to vent because i feel like im losing my mind. im 24 trying to build an independent life and it feels like every time i take a step forward, i get pulled right back.
so first, the job drama. i literally just started at tj maxx on the 3rd. they barely gave me training shifts, and i just looked at my schedule app for november and my calendar is a total ghost town. they gave me 2 shift for the first three weeks of november. when i asked for more hours, the manager literally said "I’ll let you know “ like be serious, i can't pay bills on "we'll let you know." Idk if im going to continue to work there tbh. so tonight i applied to dunkin, locked in an interview for tomorrow at 11:30am, which I can’t wait for that.
but the biggest kicker is i just found out my mom used my social security number when i was growing up to pay for xfinity wifi and never paid the bill. a collection agency has it now for $202 and my credit score literally just dropped from 680 to 657. when i confronted her, she acted like she had it all figured out and said she’d start making "bi-weekly payment plans to xfinity." like no... xfinity sold the debt, they won't even take your money. i ended up disputing the charge on credit karma tonight since i was literally a minor and had no part in it, and tomorrow morning im calling the credit bureaus to freeze my credit so she can never touch my info again.
on top of all this, im dealing with a massive rent debt. when i turned 21, nobody gave me the exact rules or timelines on when you're supposed to report a new job/income to housing. a year later they hit me out of nowhere saying i owed $8,000 back rent. i didn't run away from it though instead ’ve been grinding like crazy and already paid off $5,000 of it by myself, so i have about $3,000 left.
im just so exhausted from cleaning up messes i didn't make and having to be the only mature, responsible person in my family dynamic. it's so draining.
has anyone else survived identity theft from a parent while trying to clear a huge debt? how do you even keep your sanity through this?

I’m working towards my bachelor’s. I was previously in an abusive relationship and it caused me to do poorly in school because he didn’t see education as valuable so he often didn’t let me go to class and made it really hard to get work done. I’m not trying to shift all the responsibility but all of my energy was going towards trying not to make him angry and it’s not easy to focus on school when you’re focused on not getting beat up all the time.

I finally got out of that about a month and a half ago. I thought I would do way better now that I’m not with him but he left me in a tough financial position and now I’ve gone from working part time to working full time and I just haven’t been studying as much I want to. I did poorly on a few tests and I was hoping to get straight As this semester to pull my GPA back up but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.

I have a midterm in an hour. I’m not prepared. I was planning to study a lot more but, well, it’s the end of the month and I’ve been scrambling to get enough for rent and such.

I always thought that doing well in school would be my path to getting a better job and being financially stable but it feels like a cycle I can’t escape.

I was hospitalized for about 2 months last year - tried to pay hospital bills with credit card, then when filing taxes, HR let me know I had been fired hence why I couldnt access my W-2 ,, this lead to my vehicle repo and credit card collection

I already went through court and got unemployment for a while and got a new job where i get paid well enough but havent had the free income to rebuild credit with a secured credit card

A deer hit me and my car got impounded because the light went out and my registration was out of date ,, only have liability

Anyway gotta get my tags and stuff as well as pay impound + tow fees - all together I need like 2k and I dont get paid until the 5th which is a lot of money going into impound fees

I make about 2750 a month net but have had no luck with credit unions or standard loan company applications

Any advice?

I’m in my 20s and run a small independent business in Asia. Because local wages are considerably lower than abroad, the proportion of earning power relative to this debt is astronomical like 30 to 40 years to pay back. Currently maintains $0 personal debt and hold about $2,000 in liquid working capital strictly to pay suppliers, buy ingredients, and keep the shop running day-to-day and due to various issues within country my daily profit swings. So this saving ensures my survival to absorb that. But in my immediate family is telling me to take that out and pay for their debts.

My parents are facing foreclosure on over $118,000 in debt spread across multiple banks and creditors—and that $118k isn't even the full total, as interest and penalties are ballooning the debt further every single day.

By the end of this month, Bank A is demanding an immediate $2,400 lump sum just to temporarily pause legal action. On top of that, they have another $3,000 balance rolling on an installment plan with Bank B (requiring around $50/month),which they also have zero way to pay because existing monthly obligations already consume 100% of their income.

They don't have stable jobs, consistent earnings, or a realistic debt restructuring strategy. Their approach is simply making promises they can't keep, saying "we'll find a way," and frantically scrambling for cash just to buy 30 days of quiet . In the past, my family already took and sold my personal savings, gold, and cash gifts to throw at this debt. 

It solved nothing and the debt kept rolling.

 Now, my parents and relatives are telling me to give up all my cash, selfish because I refuse to hand over my $2,000 shop capital or take out personal loans further to cover that 400 dollars for my parents because if I do I will be in debt again. 

And I ask them who is going to save me if I drown myself they say idk.

Is it wrong for keeping my business money locked in my shop and staying debt-free?

Hello, I’m a 18 yr old who recently moved out of my parent’s house 3 months ago . I’m barely able to survive and any tips would help. My income is 2.5k and rent costs around 1.5K and utilities adding an addition 80 dollars onto that. I have a girlfriend that also lives with me that is struggling to find a job, as the area we live in is densely populated and highly competitive. We have around 4K in savings left (No we did not start anywhere near that) and are starting to get worried that we’re going to lose the place we live.

Twice a month, before payday: list every bill with its nickname, amount and due date; sort by due date; then mark each one paid only when you've actually paid it, not when you plan to. Keep a separate "planned" vs "actual" number per category so a bad week doesn't overwrite your plan. Paper, Notes or a spreadsheet all work. Nothing needs to connect to your bank.

Disclosure: I built this, a $9 one-time phone board that does exactly this: https://thewellhabit.com/bill-budget-board/?src=reddit-povertyfinance. It's manual by design. But the method works fine for free on paper, and that's the main point.

I am a mom of 2 with a pretty useless associates degree in liberal arts and not a lot of experience in anything but retail and child care. I currently work at the daycare my youngest daughter goes to and I am looking to leave. I am underpaid and overworked living paycheck to paycheck (and even that it generous because we don’t even make it pay check to paycheck) we get our groceries from a church and we are constantly having to borrow money from money borrowing apps. I feel so overwhelmed and stuck. I don’t like working at the daycare I want less overstimulating work first of all so I don’t feel so completely drained and have nothing left to give my own children. I would also love something that pays more so it actually feels like my work is worth something and getting us somewhere. But I am stuck because I have 2 more year before my youngest can start public school for free and I already opted out of signing my oldest up for afterschool care for the year because I wanted to be the one to pick her up every day and do pick up and drop off. Idk. It just feels like I can’t win. It seems like the only place I can afford to work is at a daycare until my youngest is in public school. I want to start a job where I actually have a future and it can be my career for a long time. Childcare is not that so I just feel stuck. Also my husband just got a notice that his job no longer will cover spouses on their health insurance unless they are unemployed and don’t qualify for health insurance at their own job and I am basically right at the BRINK of being part time/ full time because I work between 28-33 hours which can teeter the line. I told my boss this and said I may need to work slightly less hours and she was basically like “uh huh I understand… but we need you” she basically insinuated I work off the clock for free. I just feel so stuck and helpless. Any suggestions for career advice ? Has anyone been in a similar situation where they used to work in childcare and left for something else ? Or you were a stay at home mom who needed to make income but still wanted to be present for you kids (drop off, pick up, half days etc) it feels so hard to be a mother sometimes it feels like we can’t win. If you stay at home you struggle financially, if you work it feels like you have to make a ton of money to make working even worth it to afford the help you need for childcare etc.

before I start, a little about myself. I'm almost 20 at the time of writing this. I was born in a low income household. my parent had me when they were in their 40's and my dad had a night security job that payed him little. years later he had to leave because he was getting to old to work, so after that my parents were living of of ssi and things like that. we had to leave our old home because we couldn't afford it anymore. thankfully my gpaw allowed us to stay at his place along with my 2 brothers for about 8-9 years. I regrettably did a dumb decision and dropped out of school (which was somewhere in high school) because they wanted me to redo basically everything I had done that year even though I was passing my grade and turned all my assignments in. I was bitter, lazy and dumb back then. then after that my gpaw wanted to move and found a place, but could not have me or my mom (my dad sadly passed a year prior. love you dad) because of some contract they had to sight that allowed only them, my brother's gf, and 2 pets. so then came my sister who decided to take me in while leaving mom with the new owners of the house to see if they can help. long story short my sister and her husband are hypocrites and only took me in so I can deal with their problems they don't want to fix themselves and kicked me out when I was venting out my frustration's, I found myself to be in the mission for about 2 weeks when I came into contact with my mom and she brought be to this apartment complex wich allows for low to no income people and families to live in. I am verry. VERRY lucky that they have this policy where if you, lets say are making $400 a month they want you to pay 30% of the rent while they pay the rest of it, if you are not making money however they pay for the entire thing. no catch, I even asked on day one. I am verry thankful for that. but I shouldn't be this lucky. I have made very poor decisions in my life and now I am trying to fix it. now here's the problems. I don't have a job and I never worked before, meaning my resume is so bad the managers or whoever hires don't even bother looking at it. I have a friend who owns an amazon warehouse and he hires people. and he told me that when helping me with the resume, spoilers he couldn't really do anything because I have no skills to put on my resume "but if you have a friend who works at a warehouse. why not have him hire you?" the one where he works at is in another state from mine, and we both looked in my area via maps and calls, there is no other amazon warehouse he could call so I may work there in my area. and I basically, have no money, all I make from dshs benefit income is $450 witch goes away in like a week due to rent and food. yes I have EBT SNAP but I only get 250 in food benefits. now I am in the process of getting SSI so I can have 900 a month rather than 450 a month but I want to make more money so I can get a place that is bigger than this tiny apartment. I have no car or even a oven and dishwasher, all I have is a fridge, microwave, toaster, air fryer, sink and a bathroom with tub and shower. since it seems I cant get a job because of my resume problem (and the fact the city I am in, Yakima, may be in a job shortage from what my other friend tells me though I am not sure) I am looking for places that does volunteering just to at least get some experience. but is there anything I can realistically do to make at least some money while I try to find employment?

Hello, I'm currently unemployed 4th year undergraduate.. i cannot continue my degree anymore because I no longer have job to support me.. Does anyone knew how to build yourself again from zero blance?

Attached is a quick breakdown of what’s going on. What you don’t see is I’m late on rent, a personal loan at $400 a month, and I was stuck in the cash advance cycle for most of this year which I just broke free of. Also all credit cards are maxed. I’ve never been in this dire of financial trouble. I’ve spent the past 6 months struggling and stressing 24/7. Obviously things come up like $1k emergencies on the car etc that I wasn’t prepared for and eventually I was spending my whole paycheck, borrowing from my next and left with almost nothing on payday.

For clarification I live around and work in a high cost area (Boston,MA) it’s my fiance and now two kids that are depending on me and I need to be better. I’m the sole provider as my fiancé stays with the kids. I’m in a deep hole (basically a month behind on rent, 2 months behind on the personal loan and almost a month behind on my car) but I also have some extra cash that will be coming in December a $2,400 vacation fund check from my job and also tax season in February I’m expecting around $8k back in a tax return.

For someone who makes $63/hr and works full time constantly feel like I should be able to live on this and I’ve just been irresponsible. So my questions are
1. Is this just a timing problem? A budget problem?
2. Where can I cut costs?
3. What do I prioritize when I receive those chunks of money?
4. Can someone help me with a budget?
Question #3 is very important because I wouldn’t be here right now if I had handled that money right earlier this year as I received pretty much that around feb. And blew thru it on a vacation and just putting the rest to sporadic bills with no strategy.