r/povertyfinance

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40 years old today. I literally have $0.00 in my bank account. Month behind on rent. Husband out of work after getting tboned by drunk driver with our daughter's in the car (they are thankfully ok). I cant take this life. It doesn't matter how hard we work, we lost our house. Doesn't matter how many services I talk to we "make too much" for assistance. Gotta read stories about trillionaires and our prez grifting 2 billion dollars and I dont know how im going to get groceries. I dont want to be here anymore.

I apologize if this is a really long read but I actually just have no idea what to do so any kind of advice atp would be helpful.

First off I want to preface that I have always respected and love my father and still do because he gave us a stable life and family and was always there for our family during all kinds of times for the past 20 years.

But about a year and half ago, my dad got laid off from his 9-5 job as a car automative technician and said he’d take a little break before finding new job. But during the meantime he said he would study and see if he could find a career path change because his physical conditions were deteriorating now that he’s reaching his 60s and he said he just cant see himself working back in those conditions so he did full time uber for a bit. But I genuinely don’t know how he found out about stock options but he started doing that while ubering and after discussions with my mom and me, we agreed to support him for 6 months maximum and if he couldn’t support for family, he would leave it behind and start finding a new job in the meantime. Fast forward 6 months, he pretty lost all of the “money” (I think his starting pool was around 25k$) but to him he said he learned a lot and said he just needed a bit more time but had gotten the strategy down. At that point I shoulda noticed the red flags but he insisted he can support the family like he did the last 2 decades but fast forward to now and he came clean to us saying he’s at a breaking point where he says he needs more money. His credit is terrible and that he can’t take anymore loans but he says my mom can take a 50k loan HELOC loan from this site called “figure lending”? And pretty much my mom lost it after that (and unfortunately for her, her father was a gambling addict so she has generational trauma from these kinds of stuff) so now she told me this morning she’s gonna be at her working office and won’t come home until super late and told me to don’t ever give in saying we might lose everything if he gets it.

To make things worse, my dad actually has been applying to numerous auto body jobs through out the past but he showed me email after email rejection letters so I think his mind fully in a all in position for options trading.

I’m very blessed to have a job so I’ve been supporting for my family but it’s just been really hard trying to reason and understand so I just need an outsider perspective if someone has went through something similar to this and any kind of tips or recommendations of next steps.

Again thank you guys for the advice and can give more info if you guys have any questions or clarifications as well.

I just landed a job as a traveling wind turbine technician making 900-1000 dollars a week. I’ve never really had income like this and I have no clue what to do with it. I know hysa accounts are good but I’m not really sure which bank is for me. Im living with my parents and don’t really have any major expenses. Any advice helps. Insurance is not a concern as i am on my parents plan. Traveling costs like flying, baggage, and hotels are covered by the company

Hi. Wanted to share my story with you all. I don't usually share my stories on the Internet but I just felt like I wanna share and vent a little bit and maybe someone could learn from my mistakes.

Few years ago, when I was about 23y/o (currently 27) I was working in a European country (in a good paying field). Lived with a roommate, no kids or wife/girlfriend and not much of luxurious life. I was making around 3.5k EUR net, and spent about 1k EUR on living expenses and lifestyle. So I was doing just fine. Helped my parents back home with bills, had money on the side, had a new car from the company I worked for which they were paying for it, so life was comfortable.

I was saving money and tracking it month per month, at one point I saved up about 12k EUR (no debts), and needed 2 more months to complete about 15k EUR saved milestone.

Here is where I fucked up and everything went to shit.

At that point the new iPhone came out, previously I lived frugal in terms of clothes and technologies. The old android phone I used had all the time storage issues so I had to remove stuff to make space for other stuff.

So somehow I went into the whole iPhone rabbithole and got really into it. 2 weeks of nonstop checking reviews and videos. Finally, made the decission. Went to Apple Store and bought the 1TB one for about 2k EUR total. After that purchase I went into a spending spree, 2k EUR more on clothes, laptop and some other shit. So that put me down to about 8k EUR.

I decided to spend a lot of money on some courses for a topic i really wanted to learn and know. Took a 5k EUR loan to cover it and repaid it after a year. About 10k EUR total I spent on this education (which I most likely wont need because I work at a different field). At that point I had about 8k EUR left in savings. The salary was covering most of the stuff so I was just sitting in one place.

Then I learned about day trading, and oh boy was I stupid. Lost good part of my money, and went down to 2k EUR, and then 1k EUR saved.

And then the cherry on the top? Lost my job. Had to take 2k EUR from a friend, which I repaid just few months ago. Found a new job, lower paying (half of what I was making). And still have a 2K EUR credit card loan.

Currently sitting at 250 EUR in my checking account, 0 EUR saved and 2k EUR on a credit card loan.

I found a side job that should pay me 2k EUR which I plan to put it on the credit card and cover it fully. Otherwise bills are payed and I own my apartment (no mortage) because I moved back home.

I am expecting to bounce to 0 EUR debt and few bucks saved in a month, and then start building myself from scratch.

I don't have a car, driving my dad's old car which breaks most of the time but trying to stay positive.

It was a huge mistake and downfall, I learned something from it but I would say it wasn't necessary to get into this big financial trouble just to learn something I could just think about for a second when I was doing just fine.

Nowadays I am getting little bit angry because I cannot buy a car, not even a cheap one and I still have to save for MONTHS to afford a normal vehicle, maybe I could take a loan - but loan for a car? ugh.

Thinking back, if I just stayed frugal and not fall into buying temptations and get rich quick schemes, today I would have saved at least 25-35k EUR.

Don't be stupid like I was. That's pretty much it, AMA if you want.

I just landed a job as a traveling wind turbine technician making 900-1000 dollars a week. I’ve never really had income like this and I have no clue what to do with it. I know hysa accounts are good but I’m not really sure which bank is for me. Im living with my parents and don’t really have any major expenses. Any advice helps.

I just cant appreciate a frivolous gift as much right now when finances are so so tight. My parents have been asking me what I'd like as a birthday gift. (Divorced but both are asking).

Would it be a horrible social faux pas to just ask them to please contribute money (whatever is comfy) towards me buying a new mattress? Or should I not even bark up that tree?

Im broke hate my life and basically losing my job monday. I only have enough to pay rent for july this thursday and my account will go negative bc of the late fee. i hate my life. damn man/ why do i have to work a job where the customers blame me for it all and my manager is mad that i was less than a % from passing. why me? If i died i wouldnt care/ At least i wouldnt have to deal with bills and scared of losing my job. scared of losing apartment. im gonna go lay in a ditch and die. i hate myself/ i failed. im sorry

I’m a 19 year old college student I’ve got around 3k saved up. I’m fairly familiar with the saying you gotta spend money to make money, I just don’t know where to spend it on. I know there is no such thing as fast or easy money but what is something that I can that I can look into to expand my wealth. My brother use to fix dirt cheap cars with issues and flip them for 2-3 times profit but dirt cheap cars dont exist anymore. stock and options and all that stuff lowkey scare me. They seem too risky for someone who isn’t too tapped into world events and such. Looking for just any guidance, anything niche, I’m willing to put in the work toward things and putting money down if needed I’m just a little lost. I was working a job at a body shop but commuting, going to class and doing homework caught up to me I wasn’t doing either right, bad grades and messing up at work, would rather focus on school.

I know it's a vent post I dont really mind advice. I'm just kinda feeling so lost at this point.

Last December I decided to get on track financially. I set short term and long term financial goals. Took out my first credit cards to build credit. Set up my 401k and set up a Roth. Stared building an emergency fund/savings. I managed each paycheck meticulously. Things were falling into place. I worked so hard to build a budget and organize my finances.

My savings was meager but on a great track. Then in late March I get a call in the middle of the night. A friend had an emergency with his dog. Life-threatening circumstances. I hopped in my car and picked my friend up immediately. I took out carecredit for the actual emergency vet bill with 0% for 12 months. $1848.83. I immediately put almost my entire savings ($1,100) against the balance just to ensure that there wasn't any chance of the balance not being paid off before the promotional rate ended since my friend was in between jobs and looking for work at the time. I know he'll eventually make me whole even if it's little by little. Even if he doesn't honestly I don't regret it, his dog could have died. I'd make the same choice all over again.

Then in May I was driving home and hit a deer. Liability only. $4,000 in car repairs out of nowhere.

Now I look at my bills and calculate my hours and crunch the numbers over and over and it just feels so... pointless. I know if I knuckle down and don't spend a dime on anything other than utilities and groceries I can pay the debt off in 8 months...but man. What's gonna happen next May? A major car repair? A hospitalization? Will one of my 4 animals have an emergency? Will rent go up? What if something else happens while I still owe this debt?

Just feels like one step forward and two steps back. I know it'll be fine. I know I will get back on track next year when this is paid off. I'm just tired. I wanted to take my boyfriend to Colorado for his birthday this year. He's never vacationed as an adult before or traveled really. I had a trip with my best friend planned for this fall. Nothing fancy just the City Museum in St. louis for a weekend. Instead of setting aside money for my future or living my life I'll be stuck paying off this stupid car repair. I'm just plumb tuckered y'all.

Part of me wonders if I should go ahead and get a second job. I am in the extremely fortunate situation where I can more or less make my own work hours for my job. If I need to work 4am-noon and pick up an evening job I can (or vice versa). I was just doing that for a long time before I got this job. I would sometimes work from 6:30a-2p at a serving gig (no break) and go to my second gig and work from 4p-1a at a music venue also without a break. That kind of shit absolutely burns you the fuck out and I am not in my 20s anymore. I don't know if I have it in me to do that kind of shit again but maybe if it's just for like four months or so I just suck it up. I don't know. I just want to have a life and take vacations and enjoy being alive, you know?

I've been in worse situations financially. Used to be the only time I got to eat was my one free employee meal at the restaurant I worked at and I just didn't eat on my days off so I know I should be grateful. I know having the lights on, running water, a roof over my head, and food in the pantry is so much fucking better than where I have been. I hate feeling guilty for wanting more but I do. Just. Fuck.

Edit:

Since people are confused or skimming and not reading.

>I wanted to take my boyfriend to Colorado for his birthday this year...I had a trip with my best friend planned for this fall. Nothing fancy just the City Museum in St. louis for a weekend.

I used the past tense "wanted" and "had" because obviously those plans are cancelled.

I’m a 19yo uni student i also work a part time job wich ofc doesn’t pay that much and i also resell thrifted clothes so i wanna increase my income

For me, the last month my family has stopped eating out more than once a week, and we’re considering eliminating eating out altogether with the exception of special occasions.

We were getting takeout 1/2x a week AND eating out 1/2x on the weekends and I realized it was costing me a ridiculous amount of money

Hi, I am a 28M and am currently in a bind I can't find a way out of. I am a E5 in the military with 109k of debt ranging from credit cards, two vehicles, and a 30k consolidated loan. I am struggling to meet the payments each month. I have a spouse and two young kids 7 and 3 and things have gotten to the point where my spouse wants to divorce due to the challenging life of the military and being moved so often we are currently stuck overseas and I don't see how we could make it through separate at the time. I know the answer is to try to get back to the states as soon as possible and work multiple jobs but if anyone has any advice on how to recover from something like this I'm willing to listen. My debt to income is currently 102% so I don't think I'm going to qualify for many loans and along with that it was not all bad decisions as most things were a series of bad luck events that happened in a row and undealt with debt that had snowballed on top of us but thank you for reading my post and I hope to see some advice.

It got to the point where I can't feed both of us anymore. And I try to feed him more than I do myself mostly, but I have no energy to work and when I do I'm extremely fatigued. I live on the streets and I do outside jobs that pay daily when I find them, so I can keep him with me. And I always felt some kind of guilt for keeping him with me in general. But he's everything to me and been with me through the worst parts of my life. And this is it.

Idk what I was thinking. I got kicked out at 18 like a lot of other people. I'm 19 now and just so tired of bumming off my friend for food and asking him if I can stay over sometimes. And especially when it's a no. It just feels like I'm letting my life slip and wasting more time. I also can't work a regular job at the moment because I have nowhere to leave him. I know I'm hindering myself. But idk what else to do. I starve and try to stay in the shade for the most part. But living like this for so long is making me question life and if what I'm doing is wrong.

I can't take him to the vet because I make $80 at most on a good day and end up spending most of it because I'm paid daily. I can't get new clothes, or eat a real meal everyday. Or even have the confidence to start my social life back. Something's wrong with me. I tried cutting myself the other night and it made me realize that I can't keep doing this. If I go through with this. It would tear me apart. But it seems like I have to. I'm thinking of joining the air force and coming out a better man. It's just been so depressing living like this and seeing all the people you knew getting farther in life. I might wait until August to make a decision. But I'm miserable and I'm sure my dog is too. And I hate feeling all of this on me.

Hi all, I was charged $450 cleaning fee from Avis (and have pictures that car was clean on dropoff). This is obviously a huge amount and was on a two day rental and I really cannot pay it. I emailed to ask what specifically the fee was supposedly for (and again, I have pictures from drop off, so I was thinking I could disprove it), and got this back via email:

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Thank you for taking the time to contact Avis regarding the cleaning fee on your rental. We appreciate the opportunity to review and respond to this matter.

Charges for vehicle cleaning are assessed when a vehicle is returned in such a condition that makes it not rentable and requires the vehicle to be sent for detailing putting it out of service. Charges are calculated based on the level of cleaning required to return the vehicle into service. This includes, but is not limited to, the removal of food stains on the seats, pet hair that cannot be removed through normal vacuuming, excessive odor, smoke odor, and cigarette burns.

After careful review of our records, we find that the location has provided ample documentation of the condition of the vehicle upon return. Based on this information, we find the charges to be valid without exception.

We apologize that we are unable to offer a more favorable response.

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They still did not say what the fee was for? How does this make sense, how can I disprove something that they won't say what it is? There were no pets or smoking in the car at all, no spills, etc. I did have a previous issue (same car/reservation this fee is about) last week where they tried to charge for gas, but they did agree to take that one off since I had the gas receipt and a picture of the full odometer at drop off, and they did credit that ~$70 back to my credit card.

Has anyone dealt with something like this, or have suggestions on what to do next? I honestly do not know what to do and am really regretting renting a car now, do not plan to do again any time soon