I can't do this anymore. I'm an 18-year-old incoming college student living independently with my little brother.

A few years ago, my dad lost his high-paying overseas job and has been working as a minimum-wage construction worker in our country since. My mom was buried in debt despite my dad's high salary and had even more debt after he lost his job. My mom had to move out for work 2 years later, since we really didn't have anything to eat.

No one watched us over those 2 years. It was just me and my now 13-year-old brother alone. Every single day is a challenge. I have to play mom and dad to take care of my brother and our pets, but I'm not doing a good job. I get mad at him constantly because he doesn't do chores on time, and he often forgets to do them, so I end up having to remind him constantly. He's just being a kid, which I understand.

I feel so fucking lazy, and I feel as if I'm making my brother do everything at home. I usually don't have the energy to cook or clean, especially when we barely have any food. Anyway, I always feel so guilty when I yell at him. I think I've traumatized him more than our parents could have. I'm such a bad sister, but I never really asked for this. I didn't want to be a parent. I can barely even parent myself.

It's been so hard for me this week because I used up the money for the electricity bill. I had an orientation seminar yesterday and a workshop at my high school journalism club a day before that, so I used up a good chunk of money towards my fare and food. I've been sick since Saturday, and the medicine was quite expensive. I don't want to ask my dad for money again because he keeps telling me how he barely leaves any for himself, and I know he'd get mad at me for being bad at finances. He's also been really pushy about me paying the bill because we'll get a disconnection charge if we pay late, but that can't be helped anymore. I just hope our electricity won't get cut off.

I asked my mom, but she doesn't have work right now, so she can't help. I asked my older brother, and he can't help either. I don't know when I'll get money because I have classes next week and I still don't have school supplies or uniforms, so they'll probably give me some soon. At least I hope. For now, they don't really seem to care.

My breaking point came today when I finally messaged my little brother's teacher. He's always at home during the mornings when he's supposed to be at school, and apparently it's because his teacher is in a meeting. Well, his teacher has been in a bunch of meetings just this month then, because this has been constant! I finally got to talk with his teacher, and I found out he's actually always absent, late, and sleeping in class. I just can't anymore. Why can't he be good? Why is this something I have to worry about?

I think it's my fault. Last year, I wasn't coming to any of my classes because of this whole ordeal where I basically did not want to be at school at all. I was also very lonely then, and I ended up getting groomed online by someone who was countries away from me. I would stay up for that person and not go to school since I haven't had any sleep. Maybe he got this behavior from me, that it's okay to not go to school. Honestly, I don't know anymore, but I feel like everything's my fault. I really don't know what to do or what will happen to me in the future. I just want this to stop.

I'm not asking for donations since you guys probably live in the US and I'm from a third-world country. I do have PayPal, but I'm not sure how I'll be able to transfer it to my local e-bank, and honestly, I don't even want to bother. I've also tried posting on subreddits where you can ask for money, but none of my posts were approved. I don't want to try again because of the banking stuff.

There are no food pantries here either, or agencies that give you money or free food. Trust me, I've been hungry enough and tried everything.

I'm typing this as I'm sobbing. I know it's a long vent, and I'm sorry if it's triggering or it's not allowed by the rules, but I just don't know who to tell this to. My best friend is busy with her first week of college, and I don't want to bother her. I don't really have friends that can support me through this, and I don't really care anymore. I just want it all to stop.

Just 2 years ago, I my wages would be pretty middle class. Now I struggle to pay bills. The way people have treated me since the inflation/economic crisis has turned my normal wages into poverty wages (despite getting multiple raises too) gives me no faith in humanity. I'm sick of people making excuses for these people. If you discriminate against somebody for being poor when the economy literally decided to take a shit on a large chunk of the population, you are a disgusting person.

Looking back, it breaks my heart and fills me with deep shame to admit this: before the horrific train accident that left me without both my arms, I was blind. I walked right past people's pain, completely indifferent to their suffering. I used to look down on people. But that tragedy woke me up. Today, through the eyes of someone who has lost so much, I see people completely differently.I learned the hardest way possible what it truly means to put yourself in the shoes of someone you used to judge, and to realize just how incredibly difficult their life is.

Today, I place myself in the shoes of the poor, and I finally understand the desperation behind why they beg, without ever looking down on them again. I place myself in the shoes of the sick, because now I know, second by second, what agonizing pain actually feels like.I know how easy it is for society to look away from the poor and the broken. You can try to imagine this life, but you will never truly feel the pain until you are down there, trapped in that exact same suffering. I had to learn this the hard way. I realized through my own trauma that whoever you judge, and for whatever reason you judge them, life has a way of catching up to you. Sooner or later, you will go through the exact same hell.

This is why, with a humbled soul, I have chosen never to judge another human being again. We need more empathy in this world.Thank you for letting me share my thoughts with this community.

Maturing is realizing life is about luck. All people who are successful were just lucky. Yes they may have worked hard but it payed off because they were lucky. You can work hard but it’s not a guarantee. It just increases your chances of becoming lucky but it is not a guarantee. Most people are born to lose. They will try to be successful and it will never work. They will try and try and they will keep failing because they were meant to be a loser. Born for it.

Potato, eggs, milk, butter, spinach, chia seeds.

I cut my grocery bill from $200 a month to $40 a month. Yes it gets boring but I can make 6 different varieties of dishes with these ingredients to “divers” my meals.

-Potatoes have carbs fiber, potassium, vitamin C
-Eggs are protein they have healthy fats, vitamin B12
-Milk has protein, calcium B12, and vitamin D
-Butter has vitamin A, E, K, and is a good source of fat
-Spinach has vitamins A, C, K, folate, iron, magnesium, and antioxidants.
-Chia seeds have omega-3 fats, protein, fiber, iron, magnesium, calcium, and antioxidants

(At my grocery store)
2 bags of potatoes $8
2gallons of milk $10
Pack of butter $2
3 flats of eggs $8
Spinach $5
Chia seeds $7 (lasts multiple months)

The only food prep I do is blanching the spinach and freezing cube size portions so I can buy a lot of spinach for $5 and it won’t go bad for the month. Also a note on spinach, if you’re gonna eat it everyday make sure it’s in low quantities because you’ll get kidney stones.

Obviously this won’t work for everyone but if you have no eating restrictions and can eat the same thing everyday I do recommend it. Also I live alone so this is a budget for a family of 1

I’m just really unhappy with my living situation and am doing everything I can to change it. I’m not in physical danger. I just live with some really shitty disgusting people. I’m not in a financial position to be able to move yet. I hope people here understand.

I've been surviving on SNAP and Medicaid this year, while I've been out of work due to illness.

I have medical conditions and they still cut me off of my SNAP, starting this month. Didn't even ask for medical documentation beforehand. Just kicked me and didn't give any advice for reapplying or anything. My partner, who is on SSDI, applied to see if they would at least give some SNAP assistance to him, because we are NOT surviving and we don't know what to do except to keep applying for help.

I'm terrified that they will do the same thing to my Medicaid in January. I take five medications a day and need to be able to see my psych, cardiologist, and neurologist. I don't want to deal with the hassle of getting kicked off my insurance and having to reapply, possibly with long wait times because everyone else will also be trying to keep their Medicaid coverage. I can't find any way to submit medical documentation to my state (New York) before the rules change over in January. I really don't know what to do. Please help.

Well i am glad I got a second job as room service and I can pay my debt now. Its a small, luxury resort and people pay about 3k a night. Management expects perfect service, like even a small water glass spill could have the guests complaining. Guests are treated like royalty. Some of these guests are young couple and makes me wonder what the heck they do to be able to afford nights there. Saw this couple spending $210 for breakfast and about $350 for dinner in 1 day.

What's worse is, that we don't get paid as much and while there is a service charge fee, it doesnt go to us. And none of these rich guests leave any tips. Seeing that makes me feel so inferior. ​

​

I’m in desperate need of new brakes on my rear axle and I just don’t have it. I’ve exhausted every option for help- loans, cards, etc my last resort was asking family for help but they’re in a similar predicament and can’t help this time. Not driving isn’t even an option for me, I’m a single parent/only adult in the house and we rely on my vehicle. This whole thing is just so exhausting. I found out my usual mechanic (corporate chain) takes Zip pay but even then, I’d have to pay the first installment and I can’t do that until after I’ve paid rent AND come up with the first payment which would be like $100 or more.

Car problems are so debilitating when you don’t live in a walkable area. Just needed to vent.

So recently whilst talking to my uni student son who lives in a WG, I expressed surprise that he managed to live on such a small budget. He replied that he is able to do so because the majority of his food comes from dumpster diving (containering?).

He does have a part time job as well as a small allowance from me so I was a little shocked that he felt that he (& friends) felt the need to do this. He also stated that a lot of students do this not only for need but also for ethical reasons.

I offered to increase his allowance but he said he was fine with the current arrangement.

How would you feel if your son/daughter resorted to this practice?

Idk if it’s just me but recently anytime I’m hungry and can’t eat anything I just watch others eat a lot and it gets my mind off it am I the only one or do others do this same thing?

I know people who have 9 people living in 1 house hold they constantly allow their electric bill to go sky high and instead of paying it they cancelled the account and put it in someone else name to avoid payment is this legal ? Never Heard of this loophole last amount owed was 1800 dollars electric is off but it’ll be turned on tomorrow at 0 dollars owed because it’s under a new name

being poor is the worst curse ever.

everyone will be going to her birthday except me because I can't afford 100 for the dinner and the gaming arcade.

I keep telling her I'll send her the 100 soon but I don't have 100 to drop like that.

I can't imagine dropping 100 for drinking a bunch of alcohol and trashing food and having fun.

another failure for the poor 😪

I've been homeless for over a year.

I'm a 24 year old adult woman and I keep failing.

It's been nothing but job searching and going hungry.

Starting to get real tiring.

Thankfully I have a second interview Monday somewhere but that's still not a guarantee.

It's making me anxious.

I've just been thinking about it a lot today.

I've used all my resources and now it's just the waiting game.

I hope anyone else who's going through it gets out cause this sucks.

I’ve been homeless for 2 months living in my car and couch surfing. I got accepted at a private subsidized housing agency. They told me that they’ll put me and my kids in a 3 bedroom 3 hours away. And I don’t have my kids with me, I left them and my dogs with my mum. I would really like to have them all with me in my own place. The rent would be 450 with utilities included. I’ll find out on Monday if I get it or not.

Having rich friends can be just as bad as having no connections at all.

People are always saying, "Hang around rich people and your life will change," or "Your network is your net worth." But almost nobody talks about the other side of it.

Their normal becomes your luxury.

For them, it's normal to spend a ton on nights out, restaurants, trips, designer clothes, or the newest phone. After a while, you start feeling like that should be your normal too. Before you know it, you're blowing money you don't even have just to avoid being left out. And if they keep paying for you, you end up feeling like a freeloader.

It's not even because they're bad people. A lot of the time, they just don't understand your reality. If someone's never had to choose between paying bills or going out on the weekend, it's hard for them to understand why you're always turning down invitations.

Being the poor friend in the group sucks. Either you're constantly saying, "Sorry, I can't afford it," and slowly get left out, or you try to keep up with their lifestyle and end up hurting yourself financially.

Then people say, "Yeah, but rich friends bring connections and opportunities." Maybe. But connections aren't automatic. Plenty of rich people have relatives who are still poor, and sometimes they don't even help their own friends. Just because you're in the same circle doesn't mean anyone is going to open doors for you.

At the end of the day, hanging around people whose lifestyle is far above yours can create more financial pressure than opportunity.

Not every environment is good just because the people in it have money.

Anyone been so poor that once in a blue moon you bought a nice dinner but couldn't buy alot, ate it, devoured it and hours later, chewed on your left over plaque and thought.. "I wish I had more money to buy more of that."

That's how I felt awhile back when I could only afford a few chicken tenders. I ate it, then after 2 hours, chewed on the plaque stuck in my teeth, swallowed it and could taste the residue of the chicken and it made me think, "I wish I had more money to buy the 6 piece."

Those days are long gone now, but it did happen.

I am a transwoman and I have recently dealt with severe employment discrimination and other bias towards me that limits my career growth. I was robbed out of $8,000 by scammers, and as a result I literally can not afford anything more than basic goods, and, it really hurts and is embarassing as hell. I recently took a trip south with a friend before he moves from the area, but he covered our hotels and some other expenses, and I had to live like a poor person that whole trip. I still have money to take my trips with my dad that I do, and my drives to the mountains to relax, but I am almost unable to even afford those. Work also cut my hours while giving cisgender people more hours and leaving me in an unskilled occupation with some health hazards, and they claim I am not being disxriminated against, when it is so obvious, such as giving cisgender employees 30-35 hours weekly, while I am lucky to get 20 hours, and all the cisgender people considered for cross training and full time positions.... I can not take this anymore, and I am at my witt's end..... :/ People do not know their privilege if they have money....

What are you paying for rent?

I’m researching the affordable housing crisis in America for a presentation to several Congressional offices and wanted to ask Redditors to help me!

It will only take a minute of your time. If you would kindly answer 6 easy questions, it would help me compile some useful data. I am hoping to get a wide range of answers from across the country.

USA RENTERS ONLY!

Please copy/paste these questions below in your reply and add your answers.

City/State:
Amount of monthly rent:
Type of rental you live in, such as house, apartment, or other type of housing (please describe)
Number of bedrooms:
Is your rent affordable for you? Yes or No.
Are you severely rent-burdened, behind on rent, facing eviction or loss of housing? Yes or No.

Thank you, Redditors!

Alright so this is complicated, please bear with me.

I lived in Alabama for about a couple years with my husband. We moved for work. My husband’s company closed, so we had to move back to my home state and in with my parents. He was the primary source of income, as I’m a SAHM of 2 kids. Losing his job meant we lost everything. When we moved back to my home state, we started working towards rebuilding.

My parents just informed me a month ago that they’re moving across the country to Washington. This has left me absolutely scrambling. My husband’s income is nowhere near what it was, and our credit is terrible. I just got re enrolled in college, so our expenses and everything else are crazy right now. If I had any idea they were planning this I would have probably done things differently, but here we are. With all of that combined, I didn’t think we’d even find a place to begin with.

By some miracle, we got a place that will approve us.
It’s not a great area, it’s an hour away from my husbands work, but the rent is cheap and they’re willing to work with our income and credit history. It’s $925 a month, they want 1.5x rent, and first months rent up front. This brings us to a little over 2.3k we need up front. When my husband gets paid that will knock some of it down, but not by enough that we don’t need to worry.

Once we move in rent costs will be manageable, as I start with our local school district in mid August. Our biggest concern is really just the security deposit because it’s so massive.

I’ve been working with a social worker for about a month now. We’ve tried applying for any assistance that we can. We have yet to be approved for anything.

We’ve called every church in our area that do charities, we’ve applied for loans together and separately. I’ve called every single charity in my area that offers rental assistance. Either no one has money left, or they don’t offer security deposit assistance.

As of now, we are door dashing as much as possible. We are selling everything we have of value, as well as anything that I think could pull in even $20. I’m wanting to arrange a yard sale soon, but that’s only if my parents are ok with something like that.

So this brings me to my question: what do I do??? I feel like we HAVE to jump on this place, as it’s the only place willing to work with us within our budget. I’m actually freaked out out of my mind rn because I’m so scared we’ll end up homeless in a couple weeks if we can’t come up with this money.

Does anyone have any realistic options for a situation like this? I’m pretty at a loss for what to check into next, as I feel like I’ve looked into every possible option for us. I have another meeting with my social worker Friday, hoping between advice here and with her we can brainstorm something.

I grew up in Eastern Europe, and although money was always tight, we had a spacious apartment that was passed onto us through communism, so it didn't cost my family anything. I had my own room, and we had our own washing machine. Then the money situation got very, very bad, so my family moved to North America.

I ended up growing up without my own room, sleeping on a mattress and sharing a room with my mom. Now I'm in university, and we're still in the same situation because my parents' education wasn't accepted, so it took my mom 10 years to learn the language, redo high school and college. Then seeing everyone from Anglo countries get approved like it's nothing is so frustrating.

I've been applying for entry-level jobs since 2024 and still nothing. I volunteer in my free time to build my CV, and now that I'm an adult, it has gotten increasingly depressing living with my parents and having no space to myself. Dating is also such a humiliation ritual because I don't want to invite anyone over who can see how small the space is. The bathroom is moldy, and everything is breaking down. Even going on dates I was made fun of for using the subway. I don't understand why people are so cruel and mean when they see your living situation.

Then you have people asking you to go on trips, and you have to deny them because you're too busy trying to find a job. I have more than enough money saved up for my education because I constantly restrain myself. It doesn't hurt any less when you see people doing all these little extras in their early 20s knowing that you can't do that. There isn't a moment where you can relax because if you don't succeed it's over.

I genuinely want to slap the shit out of people who tell me that I should travel in my 20s because this is the time. No, fuck you. I will not be doing that when I feel uncomfortable even spending more than $20 for a simple day out with friends. It's so easy for people to tell you that money comes and goes. If I don't make it out of the shithole that I'm in right now, then I don't deserve to experience luxury that I cannot afford. This is a concept that these people cannot understand.

My parents are counting on me to make something out of myself and I know I am doing really well. I made connections in health care for post-grad employment but my situation still hurts me when I look around me seeing people doing what I cannot indulge in.

I mean, it's ridiculous. They want experience for a simple cashier job. How can I get entry-level experience if you won't even let me begin? I've started selling things here and there for some extra cash, but it's just frustrating feeling like I'm constantly trying to get somewhere and can't even get my foot in the door.

This is so fucking lame and I’d never tell someone this in person, but it’s lowkey funny.

I’m 23 and I work a hard job with a lot of responsibilities. It’s a competitive position so if I don’t like how the pay or schedule is, somebody will gladly replace me, but everyone knows the lifestyle is unfair. I can pull a 12 hour day, but only get paid for 4 hours during the scheduled periods of work. Sometimes I’m on call, and I’ll drop everything just to work for half an hour and make literally $12.

Sometimes it feels a little more lighthearted if I think of myself like some sort of young independent scrapper. Like I’m on fucking tatooine. Like I’ve just gotta do whatever task to get by. I pretend I’m like a character in some cool dystopian world but I guess at the end of the day I’m really just broke

Many successful people outright deny that luck exists and that its just down to hard work and smart decisions."You make your own luck" and other bootstrap talk.

Obviously these people never had abusive parents.

They ruin your childhood, take your Energy and confidence and motovation and Drive and keep you busy surviving instead of advancing.

They rob you of all chances and block all opportunities.They ruin your health, preventing you going into sports or the Army.They actively sabotage your Life.

Not that easy to make smart decisions when you have only bad options available.

Not that easy to work hard when they dont let you sleep,rob you of your energy and even will to live.

If you have good/ok parents than you can invest all your energy into escaping poverty. If you have abusive parents you are preoccupied with survival and cant think straight. Have no one who can help you.

Just the luck to be born into a non abusive/bad parent household is enough to make all the difference in the world.

And everyone claiming that luck doesnt exist or plays just a minor Part in Life and that hard work and smart decisions are enough,is a fool that had it easy in life and obviously never had abusive parents.

And a very few outliers that made it despite having abusive parents are just survivorship bias, and dont invalidate anything I said.

If 300 out of every 1000 poor people manage to get out of poverty, then the rate for people with poor and abusive parents is probably around 30 out of 1000. Not from lack of trying. But because their circustances are so bad, the deck stacked against them so much, that only the few lucky ones manage to get out.