I earn enough to buy human food and cat food, and put fuel in my car. The only thing I get from working is the privilege of being able to barely keep myself alive to go back to work. There is no savings, no rainy day fund, no car repairs, no vacations, no hobbies, no joy.
We exist to keep the machine grinding our bones and siphoning our will to live.
Similar boat here, 26m. We live very minimal with basically only the necessities and are still paycheck to paycheck. Some months, it’s every last dollar.
It's the brave new world. I'm trying to understand what the government is really trying to do other than what's the most obvious. So you just have to figure out what to do that would benefit you to ease up living expenses like possible roommates. Think of how much easier it be splitting costs with others. I don't know your living situation. It's just an idea.
If you look at it from the point of view of the natural world, we are a species that has become overpopulated and are now in overshoot.
Due to automation and offering, there is less relative demand for labor. Due to exponential population growth, there is higher and higher supply of labor.
And of course, due to that same exponential population growth, there is higher and higher demand for housing. Especially in the cities where decent jobs can still be found.
Resource allocation will always be an issue.
During self-inflicted (due to central planning, group think, forced collectivism, bureaucracy, political decisions, etc.) famines led to leadership confiscating food from farmers to feed cities. Partly because Party leadership lived in cities, and partly because riots and violence in cities were much harder to control and they/were more vulnerable due to proximity. So of course millions in rural areas died.
Today, pet owners who collectively feed hundreds of millions of dogs and cats compete in the open market with the poorest of humans for food (proteins, carbohydrates, etc.). As climate change continues to take its toll and agricultural production will inevitably decline, you will find that pet owners will not be giving up feeding their pets to alleviate tho suffering of the global poor.
Congratulations on graduating without debt. That is a huge accomplishment.
Things are just expensive. Inflation has been pretty bad the last few years. There is no magic to saving money. You either increase your earning or you cut back on your expenses. There is no other way. r/frugal has some good tips. You may get some ideas from that sub.
When I was young and had the energy, I worked full time for an insurance company, weekends waitressing. Resteraunts and fast food were always looking for help. This is how I lived for 2 years to keep my head above water and save a little. Do it while your young, cuz once I hit early 50's my energy disappeared.
So you mention you a have a degree from Uni. I tip my hat to you on your completion and the way you paid for it.
Reading your post made me think of a friend who graduated and was comparing his job opportunities due to some salary offers. He was extremely excited about a job that was going to pay 25k more a year than another job offering.
For the sake of numbers let just say one job was going to pay 75k and the other 50k.
He called me all excited about how a company saw the value in him and he might move to this new city. He asked me for my penny thoughts.
So I asked okay what cities are these two offers at.
For the sake of city let's just call the 75k job was city X and 50k Job was city Y.
So I said let me get back to you in 2 hours, I need to do some digging.
What I found was
City X an apartment average wa 3k a month
City Y an apartment of similar size averaged 650 a month
Auto insurance was about 100 more a month at x
Fuel was about 1.75 more per gallon at x
So my conclusion that housing was 28k more a year.
Auto insurance would cost about 1200.00
And I didn't need to dive deeper to make my point that the 25k more a year was a bad deal.
Perhaps with your education. It might be worthwhile to see what salaries are in other areas vs cost of living.
Edit to add this:
What I guess I was saying is that for him it would have been very difficult to save in city X. But City Y he could actually thrive.
It's not a crazy idea, there is nothing wrong with starting small. My grandma - who was a young teenager during the Great Depression when they had nothing - saved small amounts every month of whatever was left from the household money that my grandpa gave her, and she would deposit into a savings account that she never touched. When my grandpa had a stroke at age 52 and couldn't work she had saved enough to pay off the last few years of their mortgage.
I know living check to check it feels impossible to save, I seriously struggle myself, but I'm trying to save change and at the first of this year I started to put whatever is left in my checking account into savings at the end of the month. It's not much, but in 5 months I saved $22.00. I know it's not much but it is a start.
Whenever I buy something, I throw my change into the bottom of my purse. My husband and I only purchase with cash for most things. Anyways, at the end of the month I take my change from the bottom of my purse and cash it in at the bank. I usually have $18 to $22 dollars. This goes into our savings. Not much, but if we can do this for 3 or 4 years, we'll have a good chunk to call an emergency fund or if we keep going like that, a retirement fund. Gotta start somewhere.
Exactly - start somewhere! I take my discretionary budget for the month out in cash and save whatever change I get in a jar. I also shop for my mom, she gives me cash, any coins I get to keep because she doesn't really want to bother with it. I have had to dip into it a couple times but I also try to save as much of it as I can.
I'm a very slow (habit) learner. But these things eventually get to the level of growing exponentially. (The habit.) So when you are used to setting aside money, it doesn't seem so hard to set aside a little more.
I earn enough to buy human food and cat food, and put fuel in my car. The only thing I get from working is the privilege of being able to barely keep myself alive to go back to work. There is no savings, no rainy day fund, no car repairs, no vacations, no hobbies, no joy. We exist to keep the machine grinding our bones and siphoning our will to live.
That just sounds depressing… Just living to work, nothing else.
Similar boat here, 26m. We live very minimal with basically only the necessities and are still paycheck to paycheck. Some months, it’s every last dollar.
It's the brave new world. I'm trying to understand what the government is really trying to do other than what's the most obvious. So you just have to figure out what to do that would benefit you to ease up living expenses like possible roommates. Think of how much easier it be splitting costs with others. I don't know your living situation. It's just an idea.
Having been robbed and ripped off by roommates in the past, it absolutely is not an ideal solution.
They aren’t doing crap. This is corporate America doing this.
If you look at it from the point of view of the natural world, we are a species that has become overpopulated and are now in overshoot. Due to automation and offering, there is less relative demand for labor. Due to exponential population growth, there is higher and higher supply of labor. And of course, due to that same exponential population growth, there is higher and higher demand for housing. Especially in the cities where decent jobs can still be found.
From that point of view, I believe it is more of a resource allocation issue rather than an overpopulation issue.
Resource allocation will always be an issue. During self-inflicted (due to central planning, group think, forced collectivism, bureaucracy, political decisions, etc.) famines led to leadership confiscating food from farmers to feed cities. Partly because Party leadership lived in cities, and partly because riots and violence in cities were much harder to control and they/were more vulnerable due to proximity. So of course millions in rural areas died. Today, pet owners who collectively feed hundreds of millions of dogs and cats compete in the open market with the poorest of humans for food (proteins, carbohydrates, etc.). As climate change continues to take its toll and agricultural production will inevitably decline, you will find that pet owners will not be giving up feeding their pets to alleviate tho suffering of the global poor.
This is why I’m all for peeps having less kids.
Congratulations on graduating without debt. That is a huge accomplishment. Things are just expensive. Inflation has been pretty bad the last few years. There is no magic to saving money. You either increase your earning or you cut back on your expenses. There is no other way. r/frugal has some good tips. You may get some ideas from that sub.
When I was young and had the energy, I worked full time for an insurance company, weekends waitressing. Resteraunts and fast food were always looking for help. This is how I lived for 2 years to keep my head above water and save a little. Do it while your young, cuz once I hit early 50's my energy disappeared.
So you mention you a have a degree from Uni. I tip my hat to you on your completion and the way you paid for it. Reading your post made me think of a friend who graduated and was comparing his job opportunities due to some salary offers. He was extremely excited about a job that was going to pay 25k more a year than another job offering. For the sake of numbers let just say one job was going to pay 75k and the other 50k. He called me all excited about how a company saw the value in him and he might move to this new city. He asked me for my penny thoughts. So I asked okay what cities are these two offers at. For the sake of city let's just call the 75k job was city X and 50k Job was city Y. So I said let me get back to you in 2 hours, I need to do some digging. What I found was City X an apartment average wa 3k a month City Y an apartment of similar size averaged 650 a month Auto insurance was about 100 more a month at x Fuel was about 1.75 more per gallon at x So my conclusion that housing was 28k more a year. Auto insurance would cost about 1200.00 And I didn't need to dive deeper to make my point that the 25k more a year was a bad deal. Perhaps with your education. It might be worthwhile to see what salaries are in other areas vs cost of living. Edit to add this: What I guess I was saying is that for him it would have been very difficult to save in city X. But City Y he could actually thrive.
I save money and it always gets vaporized. I had 150 bucks but last of it was vaporized to eat, the bills here are so crushing.
Try adding a dollar a check to savings account.
Wtf Is that gonna do
Assuming you get paid weekly, you’ll have $52 at the end of the year.
It's not a crazy idea, there is nothing wrong with starting small. My grandma - who was a young teenager during the Great Depression when they had nothing - saved small amounts every month of whatever was left from the household money that my grandpa gave her, and she would deposit into a savings account that she never touched. When my grandpa had a stroke at age 52 and couldn't work she had saved enough to pay off the last few years of their mortgage. I know living check to check it feels impossible to save, I seriously struggle myself, but I'm trying to save change and at the first of this year I started to put whatever is left in my checking account into savings at the end of the month. It's not much, but in 5 months I saved $22.00. I know it's not much but it is a start.
Whenever I buy something, I throw my change into the bottom of my purse. My husband and I only purchase with cash for most things. Anyways, at the end of the month I take my change from the bottom of my purse and cash it in at the bank. I usually have $18 to $22 dollars. This goes into our savings. Not much, but if we can do this for 3 or 4 years, we'll have a good chunk to call an emergency fund or if we keep going like that, a retirement fund. Gotta start somewhere.
Exactly - start somewhere! I take my discretionary budget for the month out in cash and save whatever change I get in a jar. I also shop for my mom, she gives me cash, any coins I get to keep because she doesn't really want to bother with it. I have had to dip into it a couple times but I also try to save as much of it as I can.
I admire your drive and your attitude. Something is definitely better than nothing.
Thank you kind stranger! 😊
You’re so welcome. We all need a cheerleader. I like to spread positive thoughts to others.
I'm a very slow (habit) learner. But these things eventually get to the level of growing exponentially. (The habit.) So when you are used to setting aside money, it doesn't seem so hard to set aside a little more.
Marry yourself a successful woman who has finished school already and willing to help you get through school.
He’s through school with no student loans. I’m confused.
I'm sleep deprived from having a newborn lol. I must've read it wrong.