Help on spending. Need to save somewhere. Cant get around Ubers.
My biggest killer is Uber and I can’t get around it so I need to cut somewhere else. Please help.
I am 26F, pay no rent and do not drive (obviously) and am paying off debt before I consider getting a car. I work 2 jobs.
J1 pays $1,200 a month take home I make 15.50 here no benefits
J2 pays $2,500 a month take home I make 18 here with benefits taken out this is the number after
I pay $1600 max in Ubers per month. J2 is decently far from my home (it took 11 months to find a job, wasn’t going to pass what wanted me) J1 is closer but I do not Uber often to there.
I spend $575 on groceries per month (temporarily, I normally eat very healthy and organic but due to lack of money I’ve opted for cheaper college meals because yes I don’t pay rent which is good but the trade off is I don’t have a functional kitchen but the ramen and pb&js and just filler food has begun making me feel like shit. If I go back to what I was buying before I would be spending $800 on groceries per month.)
I pay $800 on my debt monthly. I pay high here bc not having a functional kitchen is really hard. I have no chances of moving out into my own place until I can get my debt off and start rebuilding my credit fast.
I have about $13k in debt currently. Next month i will either have to start paying school debt back which is $20,000 or start going again so I’ve opted part time to avoid having to pay back right now.
The only couple bills I have I only pay $175 on. I’m left with roughly $150 bucks left but because of Uber price fluctuations most of the time I get sent home during peak rush hour a couple times that week and I’m completely tapped.
My groceries right now aren’t anything fancy but I can’t buy anything I have to prep bc of the lack of kitchen and functionality so it’s bulk buying at Sam’s of things like yogurt, ramen, pb&js, breakfast sandwiches, coconut water (highly priced but I do work outside at J2 and it’s about to be peak summer here😅😅😅) and a lot of still bottled water as well. I also grab a solid amount of produce to help balance with the unhealthy eating, plenty of canned fish/tuna, eggs and hash browns (for breakfast. I only eat at home and can’t come back after I leave so I eat heavy in the morning and at dinner so I can just barely survive off of snacks.) I also buy sweet potatoes, microwaveable broccoli (I use my neighbors microwave) and bone in chicken thighs (I don’t have an oven, I sneak and use the one at J1 but I could easily be fired for that so I try not to push it by bringing other stuff.)
Any advice? Thanks
Edit: I can’t respond anymore my break is over but after work and before bed I can. Right now for my planI am:
Going over my grocery list
Texting co-workers and my supervisors about carpooling
Looking into an E bike
And seeing if I could get out a little earlier from j1 during the week to catch the bus at least to j2 but I would have to give them my only school focused day of the week to make up for it. Asking my GM at j1 now.
Also, forgot to add I am not medically cleared to drive. I am hoping to be within the next 6 months but it’s not looking like it
Edit 2: im off work but I am pooped. Im sure I’ll get around to responding to comments here in a few days.
I don’t qualify for food stamps because of my income but I did call and check to see if I could get some relief for my food. People have sent me many resource links I am looking into.
Public transportation does not work for me because of what time I get off j1 have to be at j2 and what time I’m off j2. I just barely miss all stops the bus provides and “local” bus isn’t local enough I would still need to commute from j1 which would be about 20 mins walking or biking. I would miss the bus either way :/
As for car pooling I had one co-worker tell me that they could…for 2 weeks because they are putting in their two week notice tomorrow. 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️ I’m still asking around about it.
I figured that if I was going to replace any job it would be j2. I’m scared to lose my benefits because the second I leave that job will be the second I need them but for how much it’s costing me it’s just not financially wise to keep…but while grabbing food at a place close to j1 I asked if they were hiring and they are. It’s another food service job but it’s mom and pop so the job is part time and only 13 an hour. I figure I would just up to 40 hours at j1 and then aim for 25 hours at the place I just applied to. I think this may be a better opportunity but I’m not sure 1, no benefits from any job and 2 the pay cut BUT I could easily use an ebike or regular bike to both places…so there’s that.
I’ll update over the next few days
Another and hopefully final edit:
I got sent home early today for a threat against the place I work so I have time to fully update this post instead of a million micro updates. I’ve decided to step down from my J2 position and go full time at J1 like I’ve stated above I just started the steps today. The reason the E-bike solution didn’t work for my j2 was the distance. It was too far for several models I could afford right now. The reason the busses didn’t work was because of the times I was scheduled and times I was getting out. As of right now I do not have a plan for benefits, I do plan on keeping my doctor but I have paid out of pocket before and I could again if I absolutely had to.
About my potential new J2 or any other job I’m not looking for more than j1 pay because not commuting far is a much bigger pull. I kind of HAVE to be super local right now. If pay is lower than $13 I plan on just aiming for 30 hours instead of 25 which I feel is good.
About my grocery list and how I eat and all that:
Nutrition is extremely important to me after several health scares in my family. I mentioned college before? Yeah that was to be a clinical nutritionist because I heavily understand the importance of prepping nutrition. I am only one person but multiple people are in and out of my house and even though I don’t intentionally share, I would rather someone not go hungry in the house because I’ve been there before. So not everything is eaten by me alone I just get the things I like in bulk and hope I finish it but if not nothing ever gets the chance to go to waste here.
For me, my big things are produce they are mainly the only things I snack on through my days along with nuts and tinned fish in spring water. I love salads too but no prep space so had to give those up. The only meat I consume is chicken and fish but the fish comes and goes the chicken is consistent. It’s only ever baked fish or baked chicken and local and organic for everything this also includes all produce I could eat in a week at a time, large amounts of kefir from a local farm along with their Greek yogurt plain, regular yogurt plain, organic chicken broth with no sodium (I sip along tinned fish!) and all of the chicken. It runs 18.99/lb but I’ve walked the farm I’ve watched the processing I’ve fed some of these birds myself and I love I’m supporting a local gem. That’s why I lay the price I do. I believe everything you eat matters heavily. Clean locally processed steroid free chicken is much better than what’s priced at the store at a lower price point. I don’t want to find out why that is.
Then of course I could buy a whole chicken, half chicken, multiple chicken cuts, I can get my chicken processed into casing for sausages all kinds of things but nevertheless 18.99/lb. The prices vary for the bundles and cuts- I opt for the one with chicken backs to make broth when I run low. The fish I buy from the farmers market depends on what is available if anything but that does run a little higher at 20.99 if I can catch it.
The organic things I buy are priced high and I do buy large amounts which explains the pricing a little more not to mention even the little things are monitored for seed oils (not inherently dangerous when monitored) additives, preservatives, dyes and other chemicals I feel could be unnecessary. Smaller things I may buy up on are pickled goods, breads, maple syrup and honey depending on harvesting practices, ginger shots, etc. 90% of our shopping is like that.
Now about the water, normally we pay $250 a week for water delivery. The water is delivered in glass, tested for microplastics and is discounted a bit more each time we return our glasses. We get a few 5 gallons of water for our dispenser, 12oz still water, sparkling water, sparkling mineral and coconut (not glass we buy that independently but with that we only buy organic coconut water produced from small farms in the Philippines because business practices matter.) this has been cut down since the effort of trying to maintain J2 but now that’s it’s gone by grocery shopping will go back to what was as followed. I am a repeat eater so dinners for me are always the same chicken made the same way the same sweet potatoes made the same way the same green beans or mushrooms or whatever was fresh from the farmers market made the same. Exact. Way. When we have water delivery we no longer buy plastic water bottles.
What I have had would save me a lot of money in the long run but it would not be a very long run. The way I have been eating to save money makes me feel worthless. I much rather eat as clean as humanly possibly with local farms and cash out a bit than save a little $$ and absolutely hate myself.
As to what I have bought recently to try and save money it was nothing special things like ramen…breakfast sandwiches…anything quick filler. I was buying it all in bulk which I feel what has been driving the price bulk and multiples of each thing.
I really enjoy clean obsessive eating and now that the j2 that was completely fucking my bank account is no longer in rotation I feel I can go back to eating how I once enjoyed and stop with the god awful junked eating in the name of convenience.
Several people in this thread have recommended that I look into dorm appliances and try to cook with those and I have and have found some. I was going to get a 8 cup rice cooker because it says I can make soups and stews and sear (???) in it and that’s seems to be a lot of what I normally eat. I was also going to get a stainless steel double door air fryer (listing from some college kid) and a mini fridge then also metal shelving from Amazon for my pantry goods and a mobile kitchen island to set everything on! I could do it for relatively cheap so that is what I am working on now.
Thank you everyone for the comments it really sucks to lose the job it took me 11 months to find but trying to keep it was only costing me. I would love to make 18 at something else but the only thing paying that is in that area which right now I can’t get to but that’s ok.