r/poverty

For background, I'm M34, and I'm trying to turn my life around. During university, I was a part of a frat and fucked around too much. Resulting in getting a girl pregnant. In addition, I made terrible financial decisions like buying exotic cars, racking up child support loans, maxing out my credit card, and ignoring payments for my student loans, resulting in ~400K debt. Luckily, through my network, I was given the opportunity to work in a big tech company with a starting annual salary of 149K, but I don't have time to research and manage payments. I won't be giving my family's situation as my wife and I decided that it was best to separate our finances so nothing would affect our child.

E55 AMG Loan ~ $28,800

Child Support Loan ~ $9,000 (prioritizing)

Student Loan ~ $125,000

Bank of America ~ $7,000

Mortgage ~ $298,000

I wish I had never made these terrible decisions, thinking that I could live like a king, but now facing reality. I seriously need suggestions on how I can manage this or resources that can help me.

I am a 23f year old tattoo artist that has worked extremely hard for my career. I spent years earning next to nothing and sofa surfing so that I could have my dream job, and made every sacrifice along the way. I sacrificed friends, experiences, family, relationships. You name it. Every single thing that a teenager/young adult should have experienced, I missed. It never bothered me. But the regret and all of the realisations are really sinking in now. I’ve wasted my prime years on a career that is taking more than it’s giving back. I rent a sh!tty house full of damp, I see my family twice a year, I work in a busy shop that demands I work 6 days a week, yet I still can’t afford to move up in the world. I have huge dreams, my passion for art is huge. I want to own/rent my own shop, make it something really special, a place where people feel welcome and at home. I want to own a house. I want to drive goddamit. But I can’t do any of this. I want to give up. I feel like a failure for not having accomplished any of the goals I set out to. My family were extremely poor and I really thought I could break the cycle. But I can’t. I think what bothers me the most, not to sound like a brat, is that i was forced to move out of my parents home at 14 because my mum had another child and there wasn’t room for me anymore. Moving out was hard, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But it was safer, and it was less scary than having to hide from my parents when they were angry and hostile and looking back, extremely abusive. But after I moved out, they seemed to become the best parents in the world to my siblings. And I know this seems random (trust me I’m getting to my point haha) but (without telling anybody, or maybe just me idk) they came into a LOT of money a few years back, I only found out today. And since then, they have paid for my sisters car, started up her business for her, upgraded all of their own gadgets and whatnot. I didn’t know about all of this until today as my sister mentioned something and was shocked I didn’t know. This has really been upsetting me because I remember crying to my mum a year ago about how I wanted to end my life because of my debt and my financial failures. She barely even offered emotional support nevermind help me out at all. I am a firm believer that her money is her money, I wouldn’t ever expect her to spend anything on me. But she never has, I have struggled my whole life. I had to pretend to forget my food money in school because she wouldn’t even feed us or give us a packed lunch, and I find out she’s giving her niece a £8000 wedding payment so that she can have her dream wedding, meanwhile I’m £6000 in debt. I always knew I was on my own in life, and I wanted to make something of myself because of that. But I think Im more disappointed in myself because this life I imagined for myself is not what i had in mind. I didn’t think I’d be searching the bargain bin in charity shops for a pair of shoes, or ‘forgetting’ to scan milk in the shop self checkouts. I want to die, I’m so exhausted. I always hoped to god that luck would be on my side, that someone out there would see me struggling and help me. Maybe after looking after myself my whole life, I’m begging for someone to take the wheel. any advice?

I’m a 31 year old male living on the opposite side of the country from my (divorced) parents. My dad is 77 years old, and over the last 10 years has been very down on his luck with health issues (throat cancer in 2017–after chemo, was in remission by 2019/ slipped in 2022 and had a brain bleed and was hospitalized for 2 weeks—-8 months to recover fully / diagnosed with leukemia in 2024, and is now finally in remission and doing much better as of January this year).

Despite all of this, my dad still works 4 days a week, as a receptionist/front desk person at a condo building; I’m not sure exactly how much he makes, but I assume it’s around $700-$1000 a month (low minimum wage state). He also receives social security in the amount of $1600 a month. That is his only income.

His rent is $1400 a month, and he has a car + insurance payment of $400 per month. He regularly asks me for money (2-3 times a month, no more than $100 each time), which I am more than happy to send to him. I know he feels embarrassed when he asks, which I do my absolute best to make sure he knows he has no reason to be embarrassed asking for anything from me.

My family always provided for me during my childhood and I lived a good life, more privileged than many. But it seems like they were really struggling behind closed doors because as soon as I moved away from home at 18 years old, our house was foreclosed within 6 months. They divorced shortly after that as well. Ever since then my father has been working hourly jobs to pay his bills.

The reason for me writing this post now is because today, he had a tire blow out on his car and he asked me for $160 to help repair it. I finally asked him more about his finances, and he told me he has $125 to his name, and is living paycheck to paycheck. He has no credit card and no savings whatsoever. Often times he has to make $100 stretch 10 days or more, since social security only pays once a month, and that only covers his rent.

I would love nothing more than to cover him financially so he can stop working, but unfortunately I’m not in the position to do so. I am engaged, getting married this year, and my fiance and I plan on buying a home in the next 5 years. One of the things I want to do is have a home with enough space so my dad can live with us and stop working. But I’m afraid this may take more than 5 years, and I don’t want my dad to work until he’s 85.

I am looking into applying him for him to get into affordable housing. Is there any other assistance programs I can apply for him? Has anybody else been in a similar situation? And if so, what did you do?
Sorry this is so long, and if you read all of this, thank you. Any suggestions are really appreciated

i’ll try to not make this to long but my mom is having brain surgery and i can't exactly work or drive. i've been trying to find remote jobs and any other things i can do online for money. we can barely afford to keep our lights and water on and her recovery time is at least 2 months, depending on how she heals. we could really use some help if it's possible. i really hate asking for help but i also make digital content i'm trying to sale to help make money for the medical bills and other necessities. if you'd like planners, coloring pages, or trackers in digital content let me know and i'll send you the link.
if you like the digital content i'm working on. i'm making more and if you have any ideas that i can add on my website i'm open to it. i'm really trying my best to make sure everything is going to be okay for us.
thank you for taking time to read this, i really appreciate it.

Glasses from your local eyeglasses spot. I did the exam because I was overdue, and needed a new Rx to get some cheaper glasses online. Decided to stay in the office and see if there was anything there worth pricing out with the optician.

We find some cute pairs, try them out, I find the one I like best, and he gets a spreadsheet out to work up the quote for the frames, lenses, and all the bells and whistles you might like in glasses as you reach certain biological milestones.

The whole quote for the new glasses comes to like $380. My mind immediately flashes back to my most expensive pair of glasses I'd ever bought, well over a decade ago, with fewer bells and whistles, that came to $450.

I was shocked. Still can't afford the $380 till after payday, and had to work some overtime to feel comfortable with it, but in terms of just raw pricing, it's weird that the prices have not shot up. But maybe it's all the competition from online sales, keeping some downward pressure on inflation.

Anyway, made me smile.

Im a r&f employee in a corporate company living from paycheck to paycheck. Tried opening a business but it fails and it became a heavy burden on my part. It’s hard to survive in this economy. Lumalaban ka ng patas, hindi ka maluho, you live such a simple life pero kulang parin to live a more comfortable life.

I’ve been overthinking a lot lately over how I could earn more and provide for my family. My parents aren’t getting any younger, I have a brother undergoing medical treatment for his tumor. My father is a teacher and my mother is a housewife I have 3 younger sibs and I’m the eldest so I became the breadwinner.

I have an average IQ, I’m not smart enough to apply for a higher paying job. I felt stuck kahit masipag ako kulang parin ang sipag at ngayon frustration ko kung paano at anong paraan ang dapat gawin to earn more, to help more and to live a financially stable life.

Annng hirap pero sana meron way to escape this struggle.

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My boyfriend got paid yesterday. I paid rent and we had .05 left until Thursday. A few years ago I had almost $20k just in savings. We have nothing now. The cost of living is killing us. We can no longer afford food. We can't pay our utilities. 2 full time working adults and we just can't do it anymore.

We were already priced out of our city and had to move, but it's now at the point where we still can't afford anything. I want to give up. I hate living in this constant stress and fear. I don't want to do it anymore. I failed my daughter and I failed at life.

Looking for inspiring stories and practical strategies that helped people overcome poverty.

to make a long story short, my mom lost her 6 figure job almost 2 years ago and it was a very messy process (lawsuits were involved, etc.) and unfortunately she hasn't been able to find a new job since, only some occasional contract work from home which pays basically nothing. she's also currently going through a very messy divorce with my dad and they live separately and me and my siblings live with her.
we have no money. the only reason we aren't homeless yet is because my dad has been transferring money for rent from the money that my deceased grandpa left for my mother in his will. This money is about to run out, there’s very little left. maybe enough to cover a few months of rent and then that’s it.

My dad works as a delivery driver which also doesn't pay much but he works long hours to make ends meet, my mom doesn't really do much at the moment.

I do have a job but it also doesn't pay much but atp I get paid more than my mom and she's been asking me for financial help a lot in the last 6 months (which I don't mind helping with) . I have some money saved up but it seems like I might have to give up some of it to help with some bills.

My mom keeps ordering stupid stuff online and booking vacations that we literally can't afford. We were late with the rent payment this month as well as car insurance payments. We are behind on bills and we also have groceries and other expenses on top of that. I'm willing to help with what I can but the help I can offer is very limited.

My mom is a smart woman, she's educated and she had a good job and we never struggled with bills and money. We used to be financially stable, so this is all new and scary. Idk how much longer we can survive like this. My mom HAS to find a new job or we might go homeless before this year ends.

I just needed to vent and i’m praying we get out of this situation soon because I've been so stressed and I'm so tired of being worried about money and whether or not we will have a roof over our heads next month or food in the fridge

Thanks for reading

I got some free meals from my local soup kitchen but my food stamps are being discontinued this month. Also I’m out of money for gas in my car so I will be walking 1 hour and 20 minutes to work cause we don’t have a bus near by and my churches hot line hasn’t picked up for possible assistance.

I meant minimum wage BTW. Well, it's been awhile, and everything costs more but for some reason businesses don't seem to care about their employees enough to help them be able to afford life expenses. Don't you think it's time to raise the minimum wage so people can afford to live? Do it!! For crying out loud! What is sooo hard about this??

Been on SNAP for almost two years and for the longest time I was just buying whatever was cheapest which meant a lot of ramen and frozen stuff. My body felt terrible, tired all the time. Then I started figuring some things out and it actually changed a lot for me.

Biggest thing I learned is dry goods are everything. A bag of lentils or split peas cost like $1.50 and last almost a week of meals if you know what to do with them. Same with oats, rice, dry beans. These are way more filling then any processed thing and your SNAP goes so much further. I was shocked.

Also eggs. People sleep on eggs. One dozen is maybe $2-3 and that's protein for days. I make a big batch of boiled eggs at the start of the week and it keeps me from grabbing something bad when I'm hungry and in a hurry.

Frozen vegetables are SNAP eligible and honestly just as good as fresh, sometimes I think better because they don't go bad before I can use them. A big bag of frozen spinach or broccoli is under $2 and I throw it into everything.

One thing I didn't know for a long time, some farmers markets take SNAP and some of them do double dollars programs where your balance gets matched. So $10 becomes $20 in fresh produce. Worth looking up if there's one near you.

Most jobs in my area are part time and want full availability and the full time ones are physical labor jobs in an area that reaches 115 regularly, I have health problems so those ones are out of the picture.

I should have everything together, but I don’t…and god I feel terrible and like there is no way out.

I’m a young 20-something international grad student (PhD) living in the US in a big west coast city with a great university stipend but my god, moving to the US as a first-generation immigrant scholar wrecked me. Didn’t have much in savings to begin with, and my parents could not help me with my move. Credit card bills went up like crazy and since I couldn’t open an American credit card at first, I was throwing it all on my foreign credit card and wracking up costs paying for rent and bills because I had payroll issues starting at my university.

It’s been two years since I moved here and after realizing I was only chipping away at the principle of my credit cards every month, I’ve just switched over to a Debt Management Program (DMP) to get my life together. Checked my bank account and noticed that I only have $40 to my name and living paycheck to paycheck. The end of the month always feels like a crawl to some finish line before I go again.

My payroll switches next month so I get paid not at the top of the month, but instead get paid at the end of the month, meaning I need to survive an extra 2-3 weeks in August. I’ve saved enough money to cover rent and all my basic utilities but that leaves $50 left to scrape by. I wish I could ask for help from someone, but as an international student, we don’t have options for financial emergency aid, despite the fact we pay taxes to the state just like everyone else. I also am not allowed to work outside of my permitted job as a TA or instructor.

Went to the food bank for the first time today as an adult (my parents used food banks to make ends meet when I was a kid). I can’t help but feel like I’m a failure. I’m the oldest of 3 kids, and the only one who went past high school in education and supposed to be the “successful” one but I completely broke down on the phone with my parents last week. I want to ask them for help and I know it’s gonna suck.

I’m putting in the good work…I get scholarships, I get awards, I put in the work to make ends meet, I’ve done…questionable things to cut corners, but why does it feel like I can’t get a break?

All things considered from the outside: I should be the happiest I’ve ever been. I really thought this summer would be mine, that I would finally be able to get out of the house, make friends, and feel like I’m worthy of people’s time, but all I can think about is how I’m a fraud and a failure.

I’m 29. Birthday’s in a few months.

I have $1.42, no car, no job, and as of 5PM today, a $3500 school balance in collections.

I was denied Medicaid last month. Denied emergency aid today. I have financial aid for 2026/2027 that would clear the balance, but I can’t register for Fall because of the hold from Spring. And aid won’t disburse if I’m not registered.

So I sit in this loop: Need aid to pay school. Need school to get aid. Need money I don’t have to pay school to get to aid.

I applied for everything. I emailed. I Zoomed. I documented hardship. The answer is still “pay 20% today.”

I don’t have 20% of anything. I sold my car in June. I’m unemployed. Too broke for bills, too “rich” for Medicaid.

I’m almost 30. I thought I’d have a savings account by now. A plan. Instead I’m calculating if $1.42 covers gas to get to a food pantry.

I’m not asking for money. I’m asking if anyone else got stuck in this exact Catch-22 at 29, 30, 35 — and how you got out.

Because right now, “nothing to my name” feels like the truest thing I’ve ever written.

Update: I now owe 2991 but it will increase if it goes to collections . They will keep adding . Appreciate your feedback. I’m actively looking for jobs! I’ve been in college since 2019 fall. I wanted to graduate May 2027. I’m almost there. Sometimes I feel like I have been cursed!!!

Hey friends, im embarrassed to say that lately i sometimes skip meals because the cost of food is just so insane right now along with everything else. I wanted people to suggest struggle meals that are actually not too bad. I know people will say things like “just eat cereal for dinner” but is it too much to ask for a nice meal at a decently low price? Anyways would love to hear some suggestions and tips. I’ve been finding myself eating eggs/toast/rice a lot lately since the prices on those items are reasonable but I’m definitely open to suggestions!