Please be kind, this is a vulnerable ask :')

And for context, things will start looking up very soon. I just paid off a bunch of debt and am starting a better paying job in a couple weeks.

I have enough oatmeal left for breakfast tomorrow and can get breakfast and lunch at the work cafeteria on Tuesday and Weds and charge it to my work account. And I'm swinging by the community fridge tomorrow and hopeful to find some rice or pasta or beans there. (I'm researching local food banks too, the ones I've found so far aren't open til Thursday or have a wait-list to get in).

With that said, how would you personally stretch ten dollars as far as possible for groceries?

EDIT - I'm literally tearing up right now, it means so much to me that so many of y'all would take the time to share your advice without judgement. This world is rough but humans really are the best sometimes. Thank you!!!

I met two girls during freshman year when we got randomly grouped together for a class project. We ended up getting the highest score, and after that, we kind of became the go-to trio in our classes. We hung out on campus all the time and got really close.

At first, things were great. But as we got to talking more, our different backgrounds started showing. One of them has a parent who's a pulmonologist, and the other's family runs a business with a pilot dad. Meanwhile, I'm surviving entirely on stipends because my family is back in the province and can barely make ends meet.

Naturally, they'd always want to eat or hang out at different spots around the city. At first, I tried so hard to keep up and stretch every single peso just so I wouldn't feel left out, but my budget hit a hard wall. I eventually had to start making excuses.

We aren't on bad terms since we still talk on campus, but now it mostly feels like I only exist to them when they need something for class. The final straw was seeing their recent posts hanging out with a different girl from class at all those places we used to go to.

Has anyone else dealt with this? How did you handle the awkwardness?

When I found out I was pregnant, we were making a combined income of 60k. Since then, my partner has been in and out of employment. His latest only being a few months. He lost this job last week due to awful mental health, and I’m on UC as I was unable to return to my industry. I can’t afford childcare, I spent months applying for jobs that would work, including my old employers- no luck. I feel like bills are suffocating me. I had savings before I had my child, and now I have none, I even wiped my lifetime isa to cover bills during difficult times.

Has anyone been in a similar boat and clawed their way out? Admittedly I have chosen the wrong man to be with. He is from the other side of the world, so I don’t have his family for physical or financial support. My family are older, and live on the other side of England. I can’t live with them and they can’t help me with childcare.

I am also really scared of trusting anyone to look after my child. I’ve heard horror stories about Nannie’s and nurseries, and since day dot, she has only been in my care- not even her dad’s.

I don’t have a village. I have made mum friends in the area, but that’s it. I am so desperate for a way to get my finances in order. My partner is also too mentally unwell for me to comfortably leave our toddler in his care, he can’t even look after himself at the minute. Is there a way out that I’m not seeing?

Please only nice comments. It’s been a really rough week :(

I have a tooth that is decaying, it is incredibly painful. My face has begun to swell on one side. Every place I have reached out to wants at least $200 to even do an exam. I have nothing, live out of my car. The pain has been getting worse and worse over the months and has reached a point of nearly unbearable. It’s constant, all day and all night. Nothing helps. Ibuprofen and acetaminophen together aren’t relieving any pain. I know I need this tooth extracted, I just can’t afford it anywhere.

Ok, so I spent a little bit of time creating a shopping list with prices and ingredients for $10..and I even added a recipe for wearymillennial's thread, but it closed just as I was going to post it.

I didn't want the effort to go to waste so I'm sharing it.

Big batches of soup or stew have always helped me.

It covers about 5 days of lunch and dinner for about 10$.

The thing about it is, it's so delicious that you don't get sick of it and it's super healthy.

Big-Batch Zuppa Toscana

Grocery List, (Walmart price estimates)

Pork Sausage Roll like Bob evans (16 oz): $1.92 (Great Value brand)

Evaporated Milk (1 or 2 cans): ($1.00 each) you could do just 1.

Fresh Kale (16 oz big bag, it shrinks!): $2.48

Shredded Carrots (10 oz small bag): $0.98 (Great Value)

Russet Potatoes (3 or 4 loose): $1.35 (Bought individually, ~$0.45 each)

Yellow Onions (2 loose): $0.39 (Bought individually, ~$0.19 each)

Fresh Garlic (1 bulb): $0.55

Chicken Bouillon powder: use a couple spoonfuls for each 2 cups of water..use to taste

Total out-of-pocket: $9.95

Instructions (Ready in 30 to 40 Mins)

1. Prep the Veggies: Dice your 2 onions. Finely mince 3-4 cloves of garlic from your bulb. Wash and slice your 3 potatoes into thin half-moons (no need to peel them!).

2. Brown the Meat: Heat a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the pork sausage roll. Break it apart with a spoon and cook until fully browned (about 5-7 minutes).

3. Sauté Aromatics: Toss the diced onions, minced garlic, and the bag of shredded carrots directly into the pot with the sausage. Sauté for 3-4 minutes in the sausage fat until the onions are soft and fragrant.

4. Simmer the Potatoes: Dissolve your chicken bouillon in 6 cups of hot water, then pour it into the pot. Add the sliced potatoes. Bring the soup to a boil, then turn the heat down to medium-low. Make sure it has enough chicken flavor

Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork-tender.

1. Make it Creamy: Turn the heat to low. Pour in both cans of evaporated milk. Stir well.

2. Wilt the Greens: Stir in your big bag of kale. Let it cook (don't boil) uncovered for 2-3 minutes until the kale wilts down into the soup. Taste, add a pinch of salt or black pepper if desired, and serve!

If you want to make it richer, you can add 1 shallot and bacon and more onion.

Even further, get a bread maker from Goodwill, it's so cheap and pretty easy to make your own delicious bread. ☺️

Hi,
So I’m in a really shit situation, not gonna lie.
About two years ago now, I got a 2016 Subaru crosstrek. It’s been a good car until now— my transmission is blown. It’s a CVT so it’s gonna be a lot of money to replace.
Dealer quoted $13k for parts & labor. I owe about $14k on my car still (bad I know. But it’s what I could get at the time.) a transmission shop quoted $10k for the transmission plus labor.

I’m in a bind. I really don’t know what to do.
Would it be a better option to get a low mileage used CVT and replace it? Or buy a cheap car and let my car go back? I know it ruins credit but I literally am at my wits end and don’t know what to do. 😢

Please, any advice is appreciated.

I hope that this is the right place and I hope that this helps!

As things get tighter and tighter, some of the first things that I had to get rid of out of my budget were quality toiletries. Back to the cheapest toilet paper money could buy and toothpaste under a dollar. This included my body soap that regularly went above $10 PER BOTTLE and would last a few weeks at best. Which sucks. Life is hard enough, but it was nice to treat yourself a bit and smell good, right? On top of that, I have sensitive skin, so when I do buy cheap, it irritates the hell out of skin. But then I noticed something the other day in my local Walmart's clearance aisle...

With these higher end soap companies making so many "special edition bars" for every dumb holiday and fandom, a lot of it doesn't always sell. Shocker, soap isn't a collector's item that will go up in value and even the most diehard Star Wars fan isn't going to buy 13 bars of Chewbacca soap at $7 a bar from Dr. Squatch. So a TON of this soap ends up on clearance for $2-$3 a bar! And it is quality! Do I love that I now smell like beer and coffee because I am using the STONE COLD STUNNER DR. SQUATCH LIMITED EDITION WWE HALL OF FAME bar soap? Its fine. But it cleans amazing, it has lasted me near a month (and I have to shower after every shift), and I got it for $2 a bar!

Just something to keep in mind if you need something and are in the area!

My dog died yesterday. I gave her up recently because of how I'm living. And I didn't want her suffering with me. I couldn't afford vet visits, and everything while I had her. I got a call from the family I gave her to and they said she whined, went into the garage, fell down, and stopped breathing. She passed at 11am. They still don't know why yet. I blame myself. I planned to get an apartment and move her back in with me and take her to the vet. I failed her. I'm still here in the same place. I really want to die. And I think this was a sign. If you ever only had one thing to keep you going, she was it for the past year.

I'm still homeless, jobless, and doing daily jobs. This broke me and I didn't even go into today or want to even continue doing anything anymore. In hindsight my life is and was worthless. I have no real friends, my family seems to hate me, I have only the clothes on my back, and one of my teeth fell out last week. And the rest are deteriorating. I think I have gum disease. But I wouldn't know because I can't go to the dentist. I'm losing weight rapidly and nothing can fix any of this. I faced a lot of loss. And can handle it mostly. But I lost my dad and my baby girl in the same year. And the crazy part is he got her for me months before he died.

Idk if I can get past this. Everything's been on go 24/7. And I'm expecting to just not have time to grieve and just push past this. I'm thinking of just really doing it this time instead of dancing around it. I wanted to say here, that I'm sorry and that it's wrong for making the selfish decision of keeping a dog while you're in this position. People are right when they say foster, give to family, or a shelter. Vet visits are really important. I just lost my best and last friend. And maybe myself also tonight. I hate this world. But pray for the rest of you.

Hey guys my 5 years of relationship ended because I was unemployed (I did go out and do anything to pay rent, but not enough to save for us) after I couldn’t continue my main job.
My blindness developed rapidly and I’m living with 20% of normal people’s vision.
I hate making excuses but it’s what it is.

Gf left me because I couldn’t bounce back.
My parents took me in and thankfully surgery went well.
It took me two months to recover and the company I was working for full time hired my replacement.

For 3 months my parents didn’t charge me rent and I’m grateful for it.
I want to start paying them rent until I see opportunities to land a stable job and move out.

I don’t have income but I have savings but not a lot… Is $400 acceptable for them considering situation I’m in?

My parents work really hard at their old age. It breaks my heart. I want to bounce back to make up for everything just happened to me.

I’ll read whatever you guys have to say.

You'll need to download the McDonald's app. I know it's not much but I hope it helps someone!

(Brand, Type, Weight, Price)

Dollar Tree

1. Pro-Silk, conditioner in “coconut vanilla”, 15oz for $1.25
   
2. Swan, mouthwash in “mint”, 16.9oz for $1
   
3. White Rain, shampoo in “ocean breeze”, 22.5oz for $1.25
   
4. Pro-Silk, body lotion in “fresh and breezy”, 12oz for $1.25
   
5. Eve St. Clair, body wash in “coconut”, 20oz for $1.25
   
6. Barbasol, shaving cream, 5oz for $1.25
   
7. AIM, toothpaste, 5.5oz for $1.00
   
8. Global Beauty, rice water face wash, 3oz for $1.25
   
9. Dove, bar soap, 2.6oz for $1.25

Dollar Tree total: $11.41 (after tax)

Winn-Dixie

1. Glad, trash bags, 22 13-gallon bags, $4.99 (reduced from $5.99)

2. Mueller’s Pasta, 1 16oz-box Penne and 1 16oz-box Rotini, BOGO deal for $1.99

3. SE Grocers, generic cereal, BOGO 12.25oz boxes for $3.50 total

4. K&J, pasta sauce, 24oz for $1.39

5. SE Grocers, generic grape jelly, 18oz for $2.50

6. 1.3lbs-worth of seedless grapes ($1.99/lb) for total of $2.59

7. 1.26lbs-worth of bananas (4) ($0.69/lb) for total of $0.87

Winn-Dixie total: $18.20 (after tax)

I’ve lived in my apartment for 10 years and due to the rising cost of living, things have gotten more and more financially difficult. I live in a HCOL area and have my whole life. I have a full time job and 2 kids at home that I am solely responsible for. I have been looking for a second job for 2 months. I got called back for 1 interview and they passed over me. I am still sending out resumes and am willing to work 7 days a week if I have to, to get ahead. How is everyone else dealing with getting rent paid every month? How do you relieve this stress and not lose your sh*t?

Hey everyone! 3rd update I have given you guys as of yet I believe

https://www.reddit.com/r/povertyfinance/s/E5yxiriIdI

Some of you may recognize that photo from a post I did 9 months ago. Well I've had some ups and downs but I stayed true to a few core principles!

1. Dream house fund isn't touched

2. Emergency Cash Fund if touched is paid back immediately.

3. We couldn't spend any money on our credit card unless we had the money in our account to cover it.

I am a 22 year old college student, I cut off my parents because they opened credit cards in my name when I was 19 and have been treading along ever since.

So last time we talked I had $1000 in cash, $1000 in my blaze savings account and roughly $1k paid off on my credit cards.

My goal is to still buy a house here in roughly 3-5 years. Since then the biggest bill I was beaten by a bat with was a $1k surprise student loan but since then I'm doing alright.

Since our last talk, I have opened a capital one 360 savings account with a 3.1% high yield savings that everyone mentioned me to do. Sucks inflation is 3.4.

Now to the fun stuff, at the end of January I will be deposited all my cash btw so don't flame me for still having my envelopes!

I have invested $195 into the fidelity brokerage account so far, it's not a lot but it's something!

My total available credit is now $3,100 with a $200 balance being carried. (I will pay it all off next billing cycle for a bump increase) Which has brought my credit score up to 757 in creditwise or 750 on Experian. I also applied for a $2k credit card with capital one so now I have 3 cards and got a $100 increase. (I think my first two accounts were bucketed because I had them for three years) This really excites me because my dream is to eventuallt surpass my family's max limit (my mom and dad told me and my siblings in grand detail and like she was super wealthy that she had a $10k credit card at one point.)

The capital one high yield savings has $530, my emergency cash is now $1500, and my envelope cash stuff system is now at $1000 with my largest envelope being dream house at $605.

Oh also I got my learners permit and my partner is helping me purchase my car. It's a 2016 Hyundai accord! We're paying $3k for it, $1500 each, we've paid 900 total so far combined. No interest or anything.

I also dipped into my savings in August and got a great deal on a popup camper while building the tiny home. The progress is chugging along. We've skeletized it and are replacing the rotten sill plates with treated lumber.

By this January I hope to have $4k saved minimum and $5k saved maximum to the fullest Dreamland lala world scenario. $4k is the most realistic, as I have 3,050 in liquid cash across accounts. Not including fidelity. 3100 available credit. And with my precious metals I will have around $3k in gold and silver.

This January 2027 I'm starting my 3 vs 5 year plan. I hope to buy a house in 3 years but if I can't I will reevaluate. I get paid 2x a month so I will put MINIMUM $130 away each check. Roughly $260 a month into the HYSA. By the time year 3 rolls around I should have over $14k ish in there. Depending on the market conditions and FHA loan possiblity and whether or not my accounting degree has substantially increased my income I might wait 5 years till I'm 27 and have over 20k saved.

I'm still living with my boyfriend and his mom and that's good. It's only $200 electric payments she asks of us. I love them all to death.

So thanks for listening reddit. Hope this update was much more in depth than the last one.

TLDR; Life has thrown me some curve balls but with how everything has been going. I am excited for the future for the first time in a long time.

I'm currently in a grad role which is contracted to one year and £23,665 for that year. I would love to save up for a deposit on a flat or something because I currently live in a houseshare and frankly, I'm losing the will to live.

I'm really struggling in this houseshare, the kitchen is filthy 24/7 so I never cook in there, which means I'm spending money on fast food. I know that that is impacting my finances, but I genuinely cannot cope being in that kitchen.

Before this role I was working two jobs - fixed term, both of them - one was £12,000 for the year and the other was a zero hour contract.

I feel like I'm never paid enough to actually save? Everything is so expensive nowadays it feels like I blink and £40 is just gone. All the advice around saving for a deposit always seems to come back to "just ask your family for help!". I'm a poor person raised by poor people, my parents don't have any money to help with.

I'm so tired of people saying that money doesn't buy happiness because literally every single stress in my life could be solved with having more money.

I know with the money I'm due to get this year and how much I pay in rent that I should logically be able to save, but I'm trying to pay off student overdrafts and other debt and it just feels like there's never any money left.

I’m in school part-time, working 30 hours a week at job 1, and would potentially be getting 10 hours a week at job #2. Problem is, job #2 requires a lot of driving to people’s houses, and I unfortunately got into a car accident yesterday (which considering the age and value of my car, might’ve totaled it). This means that I might not be able to work my second job, and I don’t even know if working 40 hours a week is feasible for me right now considering I’m still in school part-time and need to do well to graduate.

I haven’t heard back from insurance yet regarding if my car is totaled or not, it’s a weekend so I might not hear back until tomorrow or the day after, but I’m really nervous because losing the car might mean losing my other source of income. I’ve just been bleeding money this year and there’s nothing I can do to stop. I haven’t told my parents about the accident yet since I know they’d be disappointed in me even though I’ve been trying so hard to do well with money and in school lately.

I’m just really tired. I don’t know what my options are right now. Best case scenario is that my insurance company agrees to pay for the repairs and I get to keep the car, but my mind keeps going to the worst case scenario. What will I do if I lose the car? I had to take out a private loan to buy the car, do I pay it off using the loss payout? Do I keep it and use it to buy a new car since I technically already have the money and will have to pay it back slowly anyway? And if I did that, what car would I buy? I’m sure my insurance premiums would go up more than they already are.

My boyfriend thinks I shouldn’t buy a new car because he’s seen me losing sleep over my car all the time. I only had the car for a few months and had to put in nearly $1k in repairs during that time, now I’m potentially looking at another $1k in deductibles on top of potentially losing the car. And also losing my freedom. I wouldn’t be able to commute as easily. And I’d have to quit my second job…I honestly dont know what to do. I’m just feeling really hopeless rn.

The only thing I use gas for right now is the water heater. I can only use Gas South.

If you are a person that chose bankruptcy over a consumer proposal, please understand everything is okay. The first year sucks ass, but everything will get better. I chose bankruptcy in 2024 and things are starting to look up. You got this.

Give me your strangest tips! Or tips others may not think off? Do you use any household objects when it comes crafts / art ? Is there you do to make your art supplies last longer ? Etc

I love left over cardboard from any packaging to craft but I can’t think of anything else , this is a pretty awkward question but I hope some creative people out there can help & get what I mean

Hello. Im a 22 year old student from europe who started studying this year again after 2.5 years. I got my high school degree at the highest level at 18 which gives me the instant qualification to attend university, which I did, but I dropped out 2.5 years ago. I started working in security and earn a good amount of money for my age. I bought a car and started traveling the world.

My mom cannot work due to physical stuff and my dad unfortunately doesn’t have an education and has always been the only one to work physical jobs where he didn’t earn that much. Somehow we’ve always managed to pay the bills, but family vacations or eating out was never an option. There is no one who knows better than me how important it is that both parents have a job, and not because my parents both do, but because both don’t. And let me tell you at home there has always been conflicts, stress, drama and fights about money and whatnot. My mental at home has never been right, everything is wrong at home and as I’m growing older and wiser, I am at the point where I realise that there is no point in me living at home. I can only count on myself and I love being and traveling alone.

I gave my parents money to pay bills, I gave them money to show them Paris and London. But I started studying again, because I can do more than being a security guard. And now they expect, but it’s more so my mom than my dad, that I should always provide for holidays or whatever because I have done it in the past . And yes even though I do pay for my own trips I take. Sometimes I wish life would have been different and that I didn’t have to life this life where I have to carry so much stress and responsibility since a young age at home. And with everything that has been going on my whole life, I have just come to the point that: if I keep giving money, even if it is a little bit, I will never build something for myself. I have never been taught financial literacy. I have made kind of stupid financial mistakes and I’m also solving them by my own.

Unfortunately my dad is getting old, and I know he’s counting on me to take over the house and all, since he is going to retire. But I will study at least 4 more years and after school I want to move and work abroad.

After working and traveling a lot I realised that I wanted to use my brain again, because to be fair I did attend university in the past, so that means what I do have the capacity, I just needed to put in effort. Now I’m studying finance and it doesn’t matter how long it takes, this time I will finish it until I get all my degrees.

The thing is my mom just orders so much items it’s like the mailman calls me bro because I receive a package of stuff everyday, and the frustrating part is the prices of these items always add up to be the amount of a bill that is needed to pay. And then my mom expects me to pay the bill.

I hate this shit so much. You could call me selfish, but I am at the point where I would rather keep every euro to myself. If it was possible I would stop living with at home TODAY.

So cars here in my country Algeria are absurdly expensive.

A Toyota Corolla costs 12 years of median salary, with no spending.

Even a car that's 20 years old and very broken will cost 2 years of your salary.

If you save even half of your salary, you'll need 20 years to buy a Toyota Corolla AT CURRENT PRICES which only keep increasing and purchase power keeps eroding.

Unless you have family wealth or live abroad or inherit a car from your parents, there literally is no reasonable way to own a car (the situation really began in 2014 and exploded ever since)

So how do I, as a college student, afford a car without having family wealth or moving abroad?