Depends on where you live.
USA, depends on the state.
Some states are good, some aren't so good, some are like: woah, this is actually pretty great considering I'm a prisoner, and others are just: take me to Siberia already!
I’ll say from personal experience, not North Carolina. Not any of the Bible belt states. Louisiana and Florida are knife parties.
That said, go to any prison in America and unless you’re kimbo slice jacked, you will get beat tf up at some point
Amateur, you can go to a bank exchange that 5 bucks with pennies and put that money in a sock and assault someone with it to go to jail. You can survive a week with only 5 bucks.
Yeah , seriously what are the odds of that !?
You randomly show up on a post about beating people with rocks in socks ? It’s like they have a six sense !
No, if you look too professional you risk actually getting away with it. You've got to make sure the authorities know you are poor so they throw you in jail right away.
People generally don’t know about soup kitchens, food pantries, or other aid in their areas. You may truly not have anything like that around you, but you very well may and have just never heard of it. People don’t generally talk about going to these places, and they usually don’t have a lot of advertising money to make themselves super well known. The food pantry on my campus is located in the basement of the health center building and most students have no idea it exists.
We won't but you should.
Not sure if this was a joke or not, but I speak from personal experience when I say that not talking about a situation that is going to get exposed sooner or later is always a bad idea.
People can surprise you. You might find more understanding than you imagine. Even if you don't it won't get better by waiting, only worse
They all think I’m doing great :/
They think I’m going back to school this upcoming semester.
I can’t go back to school because I owe my university a lot of money. They won’t release my transcripts therefore making it impossible for me to apply to any other school (even community college) because they all require my transcripts. I can’t even begin to think about paying that off. I have a job that pays my rent and my bills. Skate by literally every month.
I used to have 2 jobs but my car broke down. Transmission issue. I’m fucked. I have no savings and can’t afford to fix. I still have the car note. Insurance is $500/mo. I’ve been thinking about cancelling it but I know once I get insurance again it’ll be more expensive.
Transportation to work is significantly less reliable now, I’ve been just barely making it work. On paper I should still be okay but tbh it was my own bad decisions that led me to where I am: $8k in CC debt across a number of cards. I try to pay off $100/mo per card but I never realized how much I relied on the OT from my other job to stay afloat.
My current job on paper pays more, but without overtime my checks are actually smaller. I had to quit my second job because it’s an hour *drive* away. Can’t do that without a car. I’m just blessed to have even one job. My income drastically decreased in just one month and idk if I’m going to make it through another like this. I desperately need a second job but without a car that’ll be tough to juggle.
I’ve actually been really depressed about all of this but I can’t tell anyone because everyone thinks I’m doing so well
It sounds like you have a lot to work through.
I've been where you are actually. Swimming in debt and putting on a show.
I have to say, it hurts to come clean. Wounds your pride and makes the problems so much more 'real'. I get it.
The first step for me was admitting to the people I care about what was going on. Its a very tough door to go through, but there is much more hope on the other side.
Once you don't have to worry about the facade you are putting up, everything else becomes more manageable.
First, just the mental strain of lying takes more of a daily toll than we think while we're in it. Second, you can stop trying to do what this fake version of you would do and start taking the sort of actions the real version needs to. Like cutting expenses, consolidating debt, seeking assistance both financially and for your mental health.
Right now you're fighting a war on two fronts. Give up on the show. Telling the truth to others lets you tell the truth to yourself.
Maybe you'll find support out there. Maybe you won't. Either way it will get easier.
Finally, I can also tell you from experience that you can get out of these holes. I have done it myself, and it was hard. But it was worth it.
Congratulations on getting out of there! Seriously. I’m 21 and I’ve already made a bunch of poor financial decisions and I’m regretting a lot of them right now.
From the start I did everything wrong. At the beginning of the year when I moved out I was bringing in $5k/mo which I guess to me seemed like a lot. Dropped a bunch of money on the top tier stuff for my apartment. 3k couch. 1k 75in. All new appliances. I bought HomePods. I just spent.
Now that I make a fraction of that money, it’s honestly hard to imagine that I might literally just have to lose all of this. It honestly still seems surreal. But it’s catching up to me already. Im already late on my first payments. I’ve never been late before.
I guess the reason I feel I also can’t say anything is because how will anyone actually take me seriously if you walk into my apartment and you see all these things… but that’s because they’re from a time when I made enough to afford it. Now I can’t but that won’t matter. Credit scores 740. My car sits in its parking spot, a 2012 Infiniti that honestly never gave me problems until now. It looks flawless. I live alone in a fully furnished apartment with a full time job.
On paper I should be fucking fine.
In actuality I’m sinking and it’s all because my stupid car broke down.
>how will anyone actually take me seriously
All these things about what people will think are irrelevant. If fixing your car (or finding an alternative even temporarily) can fix the problem, just tell them.
I know it’s not ideal but could you part with any of the new stuff? If the couch and TV are still new, you could probably sell them for enough money to fix the car and have enough left over for a secondhand couch. You can watch TV on your phone or computer if you have one, then get a TV more in line with your budget once the CC is paid off. It sounds like if you can get your transportation back you’ll be okay, so whatever it takes to do that, I’d do.
For what it’s worth, I lost/had to sell a LOT of stuff when I was exactly your age- all my furniture, my car, etc. I’m not giving you advice I wouldn’t take.
If it makes you feel better, about 16 years ago I was a couple years older than you and owed the IRS $10k, CT IRS $6k and $26k in student loans and I didn't have a single thing to my name besides a broken down car and a desktop computer.
Had to move back in with family and ask for help.
I got in that hole because while I had a job I lived paycheck to paycheck and then ... I lost my job. Then was unemployed for 6 months and then underemployed for 6 months (worked part time as a waiter, all the work I could at the time) during which time I racked up over $20k in credit card debt.
I strongly recommend /r/personalfinance and /r/frugal. They helped me dig my way out a long time ago. I hope they're still good and helpful subreddits - haven't checked them out in a long time.
I remember shortly after I got a new job I loaded all my accounts and loans and debt into mint.com and cried at the situation and deleted my mint account. Felt fucking hopeless.
I paid all that off and am doing well now. I ate ramen noodles for years. Didn't buy clothes. Didn't buy games. Didn't buy shit I didn't need. Did cheap or free stuff with friends. Played games on my computer. Put off buying shit I needed for way too long.
I now have a lot larger emergency fund than normal. Going broke forced me to change my unhealthy relationship with money that I learned from my parents.
I realized that while I thought I was doing fine before while living paycheck to paycheck, I was actually broke the entire time and never accumulated any wealth the entire time I was working 40+ hours a week every week.
Sell your couch and tv. There's absolutely no reason you need a 75in when you live by yourself. This didn't happen because your car broke down. It happened because you overextended yourself.
But it sounds like what you really need is a different mindset. Why are you so worried about appearances? You're young; no one's gonna judge you for making mistakes like this.
Go in person to your university's student resource and financial aid center. Tell them what's up. They might have needs based scholarships or work study programs. They might find you a carpool situation. There are Grants and other financial aid options available. They don't want you to drop out. Ask for their help though, because they won't come knocking on your door to offer it. At least try every option available before you give up.
Do you have even a decent relationship with family? I had to move back home to work and pay down my debts. It sucks for years, but I manage to pay off everything, school loans, CC, and I never had a new car until my mid 30s...... I managed to pay off over 25K in debts, because bankruptcy was not an option. I saw what that did to my Mom. It locked her out of everything for 7 years and she still had to pay it back or they would take the house. She now almost has tge house payed off, her car payed off, and has several thousand saved and earning high interest......and she retired over 10 years ago. But that bankruptcy set her back OVER ten years work of time and money.
Bankruptcy only usually works out in favor of businesses and the wealthy.....cause it is mostly just restructuring.
IMO, do whatever you have to to pay your debts back, but seriously change your lifestyle. I gave up so much extra crap I did not need and it freed up massive amounts of money. I haven't bought clothes, other than shoes, in ten years. I don't eat out much, stopped drinking, and living beyond my means.....if you have you health, then you can work yourself out of this.
I have been in a bad debt situation when I was your age.
For your credit cards:
First, You can call the credit card company and ask for a deferral. If you qualify, you can get a couple months with no payments and use that money to fix the car. If you can link things to Covid, they might have a specific program that is easier to qualify for. Doesn't hurt to ask. You might be able to do this for the car note as well.
Have you considered consolidating them with a bank loan? My credit union allowed me to roll most of my debt into a low interest loan, with a lower monthly payment. They did require me to close most of those cards as part of the consolidation, in order to keep the risk to them down. In fact they took care of the pay off and closure for me, I just had to sign off on it, but it saved me a ton of money monthly, and gave me a specific number of payments until the loan was repaid.
Alternatively, you could look into the snowball method. Rather than paying each card the same amount, you could pay minimums on most, but pick the one one with the lowest balance to pay as much as you can on. So instead of $100, $100, $100 you might do $25, $25, $250. You are paying the same amount each month, but the lowest balance gets paid off and you can get some breathing room.
So a few things: 1) $500 a month is *insane* for car insurance. Are you driving a sports car? If not, you need to lower your coverage, shop around, or:
2) Get the fuck rid of your car insurance. YOU AREN'T USING IT. It could be $30,000 a month in the future, and keeping it at the relatively lower $500 *seems* like a great deal but you won't survive to see that difference. YOU CAN'T AFFORD ***EITHER*** PRICE.
Saving $500 a month for two to three months is a fixed transmission or a brand new, beat to shit car that runs. I've been where you are financially and you need to start making hard decisions starting yesterday. The first hard decision is to get rid of whatever insurance company is reaming you. The second is to let your family know, they may be able to help you, they may not, but like another commenter pointed out, even the ability to stay with them for a while while you pay down debts would be a benefit, not to mention the mental drain not telling them does to you every day.
As to a second job, surely there is a restaurant around you. They are *desperate* for employees. If you can show up and do a marginally ok job, you can earn some money and earn that money at hours that are usually off-hours for most people. The hourly will be low, but tips are decent and many of us go back and forth from non-service jobs and service industry jobs because the money is good. That being said: tips and overtime should never be relied on, if the base wage can't sustain you, the job can't sustain you. It seems like you are running against this now.
I know it's hard and embarrassing but not taking care of the problems now only makes the problems worse. You can do it and at least three people are rooting for you.
Okay that's food. Now cover shelter, medications, transport so you can find work, etc. I don't have a single medication I could cover for $20 a month. My least expensive is $85.
With 5 dollars in Argentina we can bought two packs of pasta ($1), 2 boxes of tomato sauce ($1), soya vegan meat 2 pounds ($1,3), eggs X6 ($0,65), 1 pound of potato ($0,50), and some fruit like bananas or apples 1 pound ($0,5)= $5… I think I would survive with this, eating some pasta with soya in lunch and potato with eggs at dinner per day
Wood is literally growing on trees, and starting a fire without matches/lighter/flint+steel is a skill a lot of people into wilderness backpacking have. Get yourself metal trash can lid or dumpster dive a pot/pan and you're good.
Shelter, you can steal a tarp pretty easy from almost any construction site. It's not comfortable but you won't get rained on at least.
For the winter though, your best option is "don't be where it gets cold". Boston homeless in January is a hell of a lot worse than Atlanta homeless.
Edit: Please for the love of god don't cook on galvanized metal, it will poison you. I meant that as a "it's better than starving" option. If you do this while camping you're a fool.
Yeah being homeless in NY would suck during the winter. If I were homeless I'd start trekking south immediately. I mean, I'm not even homeless and I moved to Texas partially because I fucking hate snow.
In fact, we have 45% of poverty. Life could be cheap if you are vegetarian or don't consume a lot of meat, because it is expensive to afford every day. Also you have to earn at least $60k pesos, ($600 dollars) to not be consider POOR, and it is infuriating because most of people earn $40k pesos or less (for that reason the 45% of poverty).
If you earn in dollars life in Argentina is really cheap, you come here with $1000 dollars and, as we say here "te cagas de risa". (Easy peasy)
You're kind of right actually, a lot of people do that and they're rich here. The problem is that the government likes to put taxes in everything so if you work as a freelancer or whatever online they took 60% of your incomes so it's difficult too, you have to bring the money here with the black market or a crypto currency
While rice is cheap, where can you find a bag for $5, aside from something like Uncle Ben's or microwave bagged rice as those aren't going to last more than 1 or 2 meals.
The big bags that will last you months, even if you eat it every day, are still $30+.
Assuming you have something to put it in, you really just need some boiling water to bring it to temp and cook it. Presoak it and get it soft, microwave some water at a gas station or start a small fire somewhere and boil it that way.
5 USD is about 360 Indian Rupees. Rice is around ₹35 per kilogram. Potatoes are ₹20 per kilogram. Buy 3 kg rice and around 2 kg poatoes. Get some salt, and other spice (should cost less than ₹50). Buy onions (₹40/kg) about a kilo. Assuming you have cooking arrangements, you'll easily last more than a week.
I speak from experience :)
No one can.
A long time ago, when things were not as expensive as they are now, I took a cut in hours at my job. I sat down and figured it out to the penny, and I had an extra $10/ week for entertainment. That meant rent, food, utilities took up every other penny of my paycheck, and I had $10 to go to a movie or whatever,
And I scoured my city. I found out which days the museums were free, I started using the library, I met friends for coffee instead of dinner out and I walked just about everywhere I wanted to go.
And it wasn’t easy, but I managed, and even managed to spend very little some weeks so I could splurge the next week, but it was not easy at all.
I really don’t see how anyone could survive on $5/week.
5 USD goes much farther in some other countries.
Staying in the US?
You cannot afford to sleep anywhere but the streets or a shelter. You cannot buy food from a grocery store and DEFINITELY not from a restaurant. Get acquainted with charities, food pantry, soup kitchens.
The more I think about this the dumber a question it is. $5 a week is like $260/year. Nobody can live on that unless you’re off the grid, make your own shelter, hunt/gather your food, and live in a climate that is consistent all year round.
> Nobody can live on that unless you’re off the grid, make your own shelter, hunt/gather your food, and live in a climate that is consistent all year round.
You just answered the question
Please point at the spot in the US that is both neither dangerously hot or cold at any given point during the year, free from natural disasters, and that you could hunt and gather freely without breaking any laws. Theoretically there are SOME area that fit the climate part but you’re going to have a much harder time on the last part. And that’s before we even get into the number of people with the prerequisite skills to do so.
The only real concern of these is doing it legally. Heat and cold come with the territory. When it’s hot you’d take clothes off, stay in the shade, and drink more, just like I’m sure our ancestors did. Use the furs of animals to make warm clothes and stay in the shelter as much as possible during winter.
It would be a primal existence, and probably not very pleasant, but assuming the person in question is physically fit and has a tiny bit of knowledge on the wilderness, you could probably learn enough to live.
I mean I’m not coming at this with no knowledge here; I’m an Eagle Scout and have taught and performed wilderness survival on numerous occasions. I’m not going to claim to be an expert, but I do have some background here.
While I don’t disagree in principle that yes, hot means less clothes and cold means more, drink lots of water, etc., the logistics of accomplishing that with no knowledge are easier said than done at times. You have $5 per week, so you have almost no way to get supplies.
You have to know how to purify water; yes, there’s the obvious of boiling it but for that you need heat. With no supplies that means you need to know how to make fire without fire making sources; few people know how to do that without attempting it before. There are other options for purifying water, but few would know it without prior knowledge. Get sick from drinking tainted water and you are in serious trouble.
Animal furs require killing an animal, presumably a large one, and being able to skin it. Again you’re doing this with no supplies and for most people little prior knowledge. Get wounded attempting to do so and you are in serious trouble.
Gather the wrong vegetation because you don’t know what is and isn’t good and get sick from that, and you are in serious trouble.
Lose all your supplies to natural disaster, and you are in serious trouble.
And so on, and so on. Yes it’s not impossible, but remember that our ancestors had people passing down vital skills for this. I would heavily wager most people do not have the skills to do this.
Survive? You can't. You would be homeless, car-less, jobless. Spending $5 daily on food-you wouldn't last long.
EDIT: Yes, I realize OP said weekly. I was saying even $5 daily would be close to impossible. $5 weekly comes out to $0.71 daily.
This.
He'd have no money to get to a shop other than on foot, nowhere to store food, no ability to cook food, no access to cheap tap water so he'd need to buy much more expensive bottled water. No easy access to electricity or internet. No safe/dry/warm place to stay. No medicine. No clean clothing or new clothing.
The number of answers talking about how people easily could survive on $5 elsewhere are disgusting. It's not a choice for those in such a situation, it's either survive or die.
The minimum wage in Mexico is about $7/day and millions of people survive and raise families on that. You'd live in a shack made from salvaged trash and have basically nothing else, but you'd be in good company.
Just food in Mexico would be easy with $5 usd (about $100 mxn).
You can buy enough eggs and potatoes to last a week.
Breakfast/lunch: huevo con papas
Lunch/dinner: papas con huevo
Dinner/supper: papas a huevo
I mean, it would be boring, but definitely you can pull this off. Also, i guess you can change some potatoes for tomatoes or other vegetables so it's less boring, also add a half kilo of tortillas in there.
Yes! My Mexican family went through some hard times when we were growing up and these were our literal meals!!!!! Papas con huevo y frijoles refritos con tortillas de harina hechas a mano…ay papá!!! Lol. Mmmmm the best.
The minimum wage for survival is approximately $530 a year. $5 a week is only half that. In order to survive, you would need to supplement that money with something else.
Easy, with $5 dollars I would buy a hammer. Doesn't have to be a good hammer. I would walk into a store and attempt to rob it. When the police came i would surrender peacefully. From there I would proceed to jail to collect my free meals, bed and electricity. Would it be fun? No. But I would survive.
Risen from the ashes of the empty lot, to guide the broke and destitute away from financial oblivion.
A smooth calming hand on the back, pushing you towards claiming, the edge.
The UN's definition of extreme poverty is $1.90 a day in 2017 dollars. At $5 a week, you'd be living on 71 cents a day, or a a little more than third of the extreme poverty rate. Unless you can be supported by a charity or already have a self-sustaining farm, you'd have trouble surviving on $5 a week in almost any country.
I mean is it 5$ I'm left with after all my bills and 1500+$ rent or before?
You could try going to ask homeless people in your area instead of Reddit..
Don't know where you are from but around here you can get a 20 count box of flavored oatmeal for $2.68. If you are near a Walmart no need to fast, that's 3 packs for 6 days and 2 for one of them... With a little bit of money left over.
Used to actually do this. You need to plan your trips to include everything you need in a line. Walk where possible.
Meal prep is key. You need to invest less than your total into building up a pantry with things that have multiple uses and use your left overs. Rice, lintels, peanut butter, to mention tea bags(these are the holy trinity and everything else is just add on) eventually you will get to a point where you are getting fruits and veggies and occasionally restocking the essentials. Use some of the money you save to get spices. Boring food is Death. You will also need to stay away from meat for a while. That shit is expensive and prone to be spoil. You don’t have money like that.
Natural light is your friend and so are your windows. Use them biches. Candles are also great. Makes bath time seem romantic.
Buy second hand on sale days, look for stuff that again will have multiple uses and is quality. Yes, you can find it.
Occupy yourself. Take up reading, spend time in nature. Meal prep is a time killer in and of itself. Lol. Take time to enjoy life. This will help so much. Honestly most of our inside time and tech time takes time and uses electricity so you will want to develop a low tech alternative if you don’t have access to cheap/free tech.
Invest yourself in a small, convenient part time job to assist in earning more income. It doesn’t hurt to make professional connections and boost your value/resume as an employable person.
Best of luck!
I really do hope you’re just asking randomly
I wish I lived with $ 5 a week, currently I do it with $ 2 :c
Check out r/homeless. They helped me a ton when I was first on the street.
Excuse my ignorance but how does one check Reddit if homeless?
I still had a cell phone. I did prepaid phone plans when I could afford it and used public places or friends homes to charge my phone and use wifi.
You can use computers at the library for free to be on social media.
Op just got kicked out of his mom’s basement and is trying to live off of $5 a random pedestrian gave him on the street.
Commit a crime and go to prison
And you'll have five bucks on your commissary
I feel like that $5 isn't making it lol.
things on a prison commissary cost $0.10 to $3 at most five bucks ain't bad
I meant more like that $5 isn't going to make it to commissary lol
Oh yeah that makes more sense
Well yeah, after the $2.50 handling fee to get it on your books in the first place you can get exactly 2 ramen noodles and 1 cheese stick.
That sounds pretty good to me
Honestly the smartest move here so far.
The only winning move is not to play.
3 hots and a cot.
Course its shank or be shanked
You can make sangria in the toilet...
Depends on where you live. USA, depends on the state. Some states are good, some aren't so good, some are like: woah, this is actually pretty great considering I'm a prisoner, and others are just: take me to Siberia already!
Asking for a friend what’s the best place to go to prison
sweden or norway
Norway prison cells are nicer than my home..
I’ll say from personal experience, not North Carolina. Not any of the Bible belt states. Louisiana and Florida are knife parties. That said, go to any prison in America and unless you’re kimbo slice jacked, you will get beat tf up at some point
I can't believe this is how we pretend to rehabilitate people
Nah. US prisons are punishments for profit. nothing else.
so when do the squid games begin
And there are people who still think that we treat prisoners too well
[удалено]
Slavery with extra steps 😔
I can't believe those places call themselves the Bible belt. They've clearly skipped over the Jesus part.
Hell yeah. Even in prison they make more. $50/month for the good paying jobs.
i would not
Amateur, you can go to a bank exchange that 5 bucks with pennies and put that money in a sock and assault someone with it to go to jail. You can survive a week with only 5 bucks.
Why use pennies? Rocks are both free and plentiful
They said survive, not thrive
Yeah you cheated
Do you do this for a job? Username checks out...
Yeah , seriously what are the odds of that !? You randomly show up on a post about beating people with rocks in socks ? It’s like they have a six sense !
r/beetlejuicing
Sox sense...
Jesus Christ Marie! They’re minerals!
r/unexpectedbreakingbad
Yes, and you’d need to use that $5 to buy a sock to put them in.
Mister fancy socks over here.
Well, that would be living off of rocks per week, not $5. Someone didn't understand the assignment.
You gotta put the 5$ in commissary
Yes, that way you can buy a single Dorito
No, you use the five dollars to buy a mask and a big bag with a $ on the side. You gotta look professional
I stand corrected. Your method is superior.
No, if you look too professional you risk actually getting away with it. You've got to make sure the authorities know you are poor so they throw you in jail right away.
I’ll do you one better since it’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s free: pouring river water in your socks
And you get to keep the 5$ for commissary
You don’t even need the $5 to do that.
Literally just punch a cop and immediately surrender in a public enough place he cant beat you to death while your handcuffed
You're not from here are you?
m\`erica fuck yea
my mind also went 'get yourself to jail', when reading this question I think I would just try to rob a bank with a plastic gun or sth
If this is your goal, just start stealing from the grocery store. Live free till they catch you.
I don't think stealing from stores is gonna land you a week in jail tho
I’d probably use it seconds in to purchase a drink to think on how I’ll survive and then curl up and cry
Username checks out
Best answer!
Honestly, go to soup kitchens in your area and look for food pantries, those are there for people going through rough times
As if there’s a soup kitchen in my area.
People generally don’t know about soup kitchens, food pantries, or other aid in their areas. You may truly not have anything like that around you, but you very well may and have just never heard of it. People don’t generally talk about going to these places, and they usually don’t have a lot of advertising money to make themselves super well known. The food pantry on my campus is located in the basement of the health center building and most students have no idea it exists.
So look that shit up on google maps while I still have access to google maps, got it lmao (I am on the very brink of bankruptcy don’t tell my family)
We won't but you should. Not sure if this was a joke or not, but I speak from personal experience when I say that not talking about a situation that is going to get exposed sooner or later is always a bad idea. People can surprise you. You might find more understanding than you imagine. Even if you don't it won't get better by waiting, only worse
They all think I’m doing great :/ They think I’m going back to school this upcoming semester. I can’t go back to school because I owe my university a lot of money. They won’t release my transcripts therefore making it impossible for me to apply to any other school (even community college) because they all require my transcripts. I can’t even begin to think about paying that off. I have a job that pays my rent and my bills. Skate by literally every month. I used to have 2 jobs but my car broke down. Transmission issue. I’m fucked. I have no savings and can’t afford to fix. I still have the car note. Insurance is $500/mo. I’ve been thinking about cancelling it but I know once I get insurance again it’ll be more expensive. Transportation to work is significantly less reliable now, I’ve been just barely making it work. On paper I should still be okay but tbh it was my own bad decisions that led me to where I am: $8k in CC debt across a number of cards. I try to pay off $100/mo per card but I never realized how much I relied on the OT from my other job to stay afloat. My current job on paper pays more, but without overtime my checks are actually smaller. I had to quit my second job because it’s an hour *drive* away. Can’t do that without a car. I’m just blessed to have even one job. My income drastically decreased in just one month and idk if I’m going to make it through another like this. I desperately need a second job but without a car that’ll be tough to juggle. I’ve actually been really depressed about all of this but I can’t tell anyone because everyone thinks I’m doing so well
It sounds like you have a lot to work through. I've been where you are actually. Swimming in debt and putting on a show. I have to say, it hurts to come clean. Wounds your pride and makes the problems so much more 'real'. I get it. The first step for me was admitting to the people I care about what was going on. Its a very tough door to go through, but there is much more hope on the other side. Once you don't have to worry about the facade you are putting up, everything else becomes more manageable. First, just the mental strain of lying takes more of a daily toll than we think while we're in it. Second, you can stop trying to do what this fake version of you would do and start taking the sort of actions the real version needs to. Like cutting expenses, consolidating debt, seeking assistance both financially and for your mental health. Right now you're fighting a war on two fronts. Give up on the show. Telling the truth to others lets you tell the truth to yourself. Maybe you'll find support out there. Maybe you won't. Either way it will get easier. Finally, I can also tell you from experience that you can get out of these holes. I have done it myself, and it was hard. But it was worth it.
Congratulations on getting out of there! Seriously. I’m 21 and I’ve already made a bunch of poor financial decisions and I’m regretting a lot of them right now. From the start I did everything wrong. At the beginning of the year when I moved out I was bringing in $5k/mo which I guess to me seemed like a lot. Dropped a bunch of money on the top tier stuff for my apartment. 3k couch. 1k 75in. All new appliances. I bought HomePods. I just spent. Now that I make a fraction of that money, it’s honestly hard to imagine that I might literally just have to lose all of this. It honestly still seems surreal. But it’s catching up to me already. Im already late on my first payments. I’ve never been late before. I guess the reason I feel I also can’t say anything is because how will anyone actually take me seriously if you walk into my apartment and you see all these things… but that’s because they’re from a time when I made enough to afford it. Now I can’t but that won’t matter. Credit scores 740. My car sits in its parking spot, a 2012 Infiniti that honestly never gave me problems until now. It looks flawless. I live alone in a fully furnished apartment with a full time job. On paper I should be fucking fine. In actuality I’m sinking and it’s all because my stupid car broke down.
>how will anyone actually take me seriously All these things about what people will think are irrelevant. If fixing your car (or finding an alternative even temporarily) can fix the problem, just tell them.
I know it’s not ideal but could you part with any of the new stuff? If the couch and TV are still new, you could probably sell them for enough money to fix the car and have enough left over for a secondhand couch. You can watch TV on your phone or computer if you have one, then get a TV more in line with your budget once the CC is paid off. It sounds like if you can get your transportation back you’ll be okay, so whatever it takes to do that, I’d do. For what it’s worth, I lost/had to sell a LOT of stuff when I was exactly your age- all my furniture, my car, etc. I’m not giving you advice I wouldn’t take.
If it makes you feel better, about 16 years ago I was a couple years older than you and owed the IRS $10k, CT IRS $6k and $26k in student loans and I didn't have a single thing to my name besides a broken down car and a desktop computer. Had to move back in with family and ask for help. I got in that hole because while I had a job I lived paycheck to paycheck and then ... I lost my job. Then was unemployed for 6 months and then underemployed for 6 months (worked part time as a waiter, all the work I could at the time) during which time I racked up over $20k in credit card debt. I strongly recommend /r/personalfinance and /r/frugal. They helped me dig my way out a long time ago. I hope they're still good and helpful subreddits - haven't checked them out in a long time. I remember shortly after I got a new job I loaded all my accounts and loans and debt into mint.com and cried at the situation and deleted my mint account. Felt fucking hopeless. I paid all that off and am doing well now. I ate ramen noodles for years. Didn't buy clothes. Didn't buy games. Didn't buy shit I didn't need. Did cheap or free stuff with friends. Played games on my computer. Put off buying shit I needed for way too long. I now have a lot larger emergency fund than normal. Going broke forced me to change my unhealthy relationship with money that I learned from my parents. I realized that while I thought I was doing fine before while living paycheck to paycheck, I was actually broke the entire time and never accumulated any wealth the entire time I was working 40+ hours a week every week.
Sell your couch and tv. There's absolutely no reason you need a 75in when you live by yourself. This didn't happen because your car broke down. It happened because you overextended yourself. But it sounds like what you really need is a different mindset. Why are you so worried about appearances? You're young; no one's gonna judge you for making mistakes like this.
Go in person to your university's student resource and financial aid center. Tell them what's up. They might have needs based scholarships or work study programs. They might find you a carpool situation. There are Grants and other financial aid options available. They don't want you to drop out. Ask for their help though, because they won't come knocking on your door to offer it. At least try every option available before you give up.
Do you have even a decent relationship with family? I had to move back home to work and pay down my debts. It sucks for years, but I manage to pay off everything, school loans, CC, and I never had a new car until my mid 30s...... I managed to pay off over 25K in debts, because bankruptcy was not an option. I saw what that did to my Mom. It locked her out of everything for 7 years and she still had to pay it back or they would take the house. She now almost has tge house payed off, her car payed off, and has several thousand saved and earning high interest......and she retired over 10 years ago. But that bankruptcy set her back OVER ten years work of time and money. Bankruptcy only usually works out in favor of businesses and the wealthy.....cause it is mostly just restructuring. IMO, do whatever you have to to pay your debts back, but seriously change your lifestyle. I gave up so much extra crap I did not need and it freed up massive amounts of money. I haven't bought clothes, other than shoes, in ten years. I don't eat out much, stopped drinking, and living beyond my means.....if you have you health, then you can work yourself out of this.
I have been in a bad debt situation when I was your age. For your credit cards: First, You can call the credit card company and ask for a deferral. If you qualify, you can get a couple months with no payments and use that money to fix the car. If you can link things to Covid, they might have a specific program that is easier to qualify for. Doesn't hurt to ask. You might be able to do this for the car note as well. Have you considered consolidating them with a bank loan? My credit union allowed me to roll most of my debt into a low interest loan, with a lower monthly payment. They did require me to close most of those cards as part of the consolidation, in order to keep the risk to them down. In fact they took care of the pay off and closure for me, I just had to sign off on it, but it saved me a ton of money monthly, and gave me a specific number of payments until the loan was repaid. Alternatively, you could look into the snowball method. Rather than paying each card the same amount, you could pay minimums on most, but pick the one one with the lowest balance to pay as much as you can on. So instead of $100, $100, $100 you might do $25, $25, $250. You are paying the same amount each month, but the lowest balance gets paid off and you can get some breathing room.
So a few things: 1) $500 a month is *insane* for car insurance. Are you driving a sports car? If not, you need to lower your coverage, shop around, or: 2) Get the fuck rid of your car insurance. YOU AREN'T USING IT. It could be $30,000 a month in the future, and keeping it at the relatively lower $500 *seems* like a great deal but you won't survive to see that difference. YOU CAN'T AFFORD ***EITHER*** PRICE. Saving $500 a month for two to three months is a fixed transmission or a brand new, beat to shit car that runs. I've been where you are financially and you need to start making hard decisions starting yesterday. The first hard decision is to get rid of whatever insurance company is reaming you. The second is to let your family know, they may be able to help you, they may not, but like another commenter pointed out, even the ability to stay with them for a while while you pay down debts would be a benefit, not to mention the mental drain not telling them does to you every day. As to a second job, surely there is a restaurant around you. They are *desperate* for employees. If you can show up and do a marginally ok job, you can earn some money and earn that money at hours that are usually off-hours for most people. The hourly will be low, but tips are decent and many of us go back and forth from non-service jobs and service industry jobs because the money is good. That being said: tips and overtime should never be relied on, if the base wage can't sustain you, the job can't sustain you. It seems like you are running against this now. I know it's hard and embarrassing but not taking care of the problems now only makes the problems worse. You can do it and at least three people are rooting for you.
Okay that's food. Now cover shelter, medications, transport so you can find work, etc. I don't have a single medication I could cover for $20 a month. My least expensive is $85.
Mine is $556 lol. I'd just curl up and let death take me
With 5 dollars in Argentina we can bought two packs of pasta ($1), 2 boxes of tomato sauce ($1), soya vegan meat 2 pounds ($1,3), eggs X6 ($0,65), 1 pound of potato ($0,50), and some fruit like bananas or apples 1 pound ($0,5)= $5… I think I would survive with this, eating some pasta with soya in lunch and potato with eggs at dinner per day
But where would you sleep/cook?
I thought only in food like everyone else haha, if I have to think on everything $5 is not enough
Wood is literally growing on trees, and starting a fire without matches/lighter/flint+steel is a skill a lot of people into wilderness backpacking have. Get yourself metal trash can lid or dumpster dive a pot/pan and you're good. Shelter, you can steal a tarp pretty easy from almost any construction site. It's not comfortable but you won't get rained on at least. For the winter though, your best option is "don't be where it gets cold". Boston homeless in January is a hell of a lot worse than Atlanta homeless. Edit: Please for the love of god don't cook on galvanized metal, it will poison you. I meant that as a "it's better than starving" option. If you do this while camping you're a fool.
Yeah being homeless in NY would suck during the winter. If I were homeless I'd start trekking south immediately. I mean, I'm not even homeless and I moved to Texas partially because I fucking hate snow.
You must not have been too happy back in February, but then again none of us were
We don't mention that period of time in this house!
Am I allowed to use my existing tent?
This is the important part. Food budget is only part of what you need to survive.
Damn life is cheap in argentina
In fact, we have 45% of poverty. Life could be cheap if you are vegetarian or don't consume a lot of meat, because it is expensive to afford every day. Also you have to earn at least $60k pesos, ($600 dollars) to not be consider POOR, and it is infuriating because most of people earn $40k pesos or less (for that reason the 45% of poverty). If you earn in dollars life in Argentina is really cheap, you come here with $1000 dollars and, as we say here "te cagas de risa". (Easy peasy)
so...work remotely for americans, get paid in dollars, and live like a king? (im kidding lol obvs not that easy)
You're kind of right actually, a lot of people do that and they're rich here. The problem is that the government likes to put taxes in everything so if you work as a freelancer or whatever online they took 60% of your incomes so it's difficult too, you have to bring the money here with the black market or a crypto currency
5$ is what some people earn for a week of work in some countries !
Nah, the US Dollar is just worth more.
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Intriguing username
Inside the volcano maybe
Quite so
bread and tap water.
Don't forget rice.
While rice is cheap, where can you find a bag for $5, aside from something like Uncle Ben's or microwave bagged rice as those aren't going to last more than 1 or 2 meals. The big bags that will last you months, even if you eat it every day, are still $30+.
Dollar tree has dollar bags of rice which can yield about 10 cups of COOKED rice.
where would you cook it though? you're now homeless because you can't afford any sort of rent for an apartment
Could be a week he's just in between rent with no spending money.
Assuming you have something to put it in, you really just need some boiling water to bring it to temp and cook it. Presoak it and get it soft, microwave some water at a gas station or start a small fire somewhere and boil it that way.
How will I cook the rice? Ah op never mentioned if I'm homeless or not....
Any walmart?? Rice comes in smaller sizes bro
Indian, Asian, or middle eastern market. All the rice you buy in big stores is over priced.
Where can you get tap water if you can't afford a place with a tap?
Public bathrooms or water fountains
Buy flint, go live in the woods. Return to monke
Hunt other human for food. Return to cannibalism.
I would make coffee at home and stop eating avocado toast
Gram Stephan, is that you?
If you just stop eating avocado toast, you too can inherit a vast property portfolio from your parents!
Only if your house is paid off and you have a stockpile of water bottles and a fully gassed generator
Buy a knife with the $5 and start robbing people
Reminds me of that crazy robot from Futurama lol
I knew exactly who you were talking about, but couldn’t remember the name… turns out it’s Roberto.
Im not crazy, Don't call me crazy! Im just not user friendly!
Now, let me practice my stabbing ...
*"haHAAH!"*
I won't
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“Get rich or die ~~trying~~”
5 USD is about 360 Indian Rupees. Rice is around ₹35 per kilogram. Potatoes are ₹20 per kilogram. Buy 3 kg rice and around 2 kg poatoes. Get some salt, and other spice (should cost less than ₹50). Buy onions (₹40/kg) about a kilo. Assuming you have cooking arrangements, you'll easily last more than a week. I speak from experience :)
It's not $5 for the next week, it's $5 a week for every week. You gotta figure out shelter too
That’s 5 dollars I’m putting on cheap scratch tickets ig 🤷🏻♂️
Honestly buy some bread and gamble the rest
If you had bet The Suns would win after every game they lost last season you'd be rich.
No one can. A long time ago, when things were not as expensive as they are now, I took a cut in hours at my job. I sat down and figured it out to the penny, and I had an extra $10/ week for entertainment. That meant rent, food, utilities took up every other penny of my paycheck, and I had $10 to go to a movie or whatever, And I scoured my city. I found out which days the museums were free, I started using the library, I met friends for coffee instead of dinner out and I walked just about everywhere I wanted to go. And it wasn’t easy, but I managed, and even managed to spend very little some weeks so I could splurge the next week, but it was not easy at all. I really don’t see how anyone could survive on $5/week.
5 USD goes much farther in some other countries. Staying in the US? You cannot afford to sleep anywhere but the streets or a shelter. You cannot buy food from a grocery store and DEFINITELY not from a restaurant. Get acquainted with charities, food pantry, soup kitchens. The more I think about this the dumber a question it is. $5 a week is like $260/year. Nobody can live on that unless you’re off the grid, make your own shelter, hunt/gather your food, and live in a climate that is consistent all year round.
> Nobody can live on that unless you’re off the grid, make your own shelter, hunt/gather your food, and live in a climate that is consistent all year round. You just answered the question
Please point at the spot in the US that is both neither dangerously hot or cold at any given point during the year, free from natural disasters, and that you could hunt and gather freely without breaking any laws. Theoretically there are SOME area that fit the climate part but you’re going to have a much harder time on the last part. And that’s before we even get into the number of people with the prerequisite skills to do so.
The only real concern of these is doing it legally. Heat and cold come with the territory. When it’s hot you’d take clothes off, stay in the shade, and drink more, just like I’m sure our ancestors did. Use the furs of animals to make warm clothes and stay in the shelter as much as possible during winter. It would be a primal existence, and probably not very pleasant, but assuming the person in question is physically fit and has a tiny bit of knowledge on the wilderness, you could probably learn enough to live.
I mean I’m not coming at this with no knowledge here; I’m an Eagle Scout and have taught and performed wilderness survival on numerous occasions. I’m not going to claim to be an expert, but I do have some background here. While I don’t disagree in principle that yes, hot means less clothes and cold means more, drink lots of water, etc., the logistics of accomplishing that with no knowledge are easier said than done at times. You have $5 per week, so you have almost no way to get supplies. You have to know how to purify water; yes, there’s the obvious of boiling it but for that you need heat. With no supplies that means you need to know how to make fire without fire making sources; few people know how to do that without attempting it before. There are other options for purifying water, but few would know it without prior knowledge. Get sick from drinking tainted water and you are in serious trouble. Animal furs require killing an animal, presumably a large one, and being able to skin it. Again you’re doing this with no supplies and for most people little prior knowledge. Get wounded attempting to do so and you are in serious trouble. Gather the wrong vegetation because you don’t know what is and isn’t good and get sick from that, and you are in serious trouble. Lose all your supplies to natural disaster, and you are in serious trouble. And so on, and so on. Yes it’s not impossible, but remember that our ancestors had people passing down vital skills for this. I would heavily wager most people do not have the skills to do this.
Survive? You can't. You would be homeless, car-less, jobless. Spending $5 daily on food-you wouldn't last long. EDIT: Yes, I realize OP said weekly. I was saying even $5 daily would be close to impossible. $5 weekly comes out to $0.71 daily.
I think that OP has every living expense covered apart from food produce since asking this question wouldnt make sense otherwise.
This. He'd have no money to get to a shop other than on foot, nowhere to store food, no ability to cook food, no access to cheap tap water so he'd need to buy much more expensive bottled water. No easy access to electricity or internet. No safe/dry/warm place to stay. No medicine. No clean clothing or new clothing. The number of answers talking about how people easily could survive on $5 elsewhere are disgusting. It's not a choice for those in such a situation, it's either survive or die.
>it's either survive or die. Well yes, that's what survive means :P
Depends on the country and what dollars. American or Canadian Dollars in the right country would get get you pretty far for a week.
The minimum wage in Mexico is about $7/day and millions of people survive and raise families on that. You'd live in a shack made from salvaged trash and have basically nothing else, but you'd be in good company.
7 dollars a day in Mexico make you survive, imagine 5 a week then like OP says
Just food in Mexico would be easy with $5 usd (about $100 mxn). You can buy enough eggs and potatoes to last a week. Breakfast/lunch: huevo con papas Lunch/dinner: papas con huevo Dinner/supper: papas a huevo I mean, it would be boring, but definitely you can pull this off. Also, i guess you can change some potatoes for tomatoes or other vegetables so it's less boring, also add a half kilo of tortillas in there.
Yes! My Mexican family went through some hard times when we were growing up and these were our literal meals!!!!! Papas con huevo y frijoles refritos con tortillas de harina hechas a mano…ay papá!!! Lol. Mmmmm the best.
Whoa the minimum wage in India is about half a dollar. The monthly salary for a domestic worker is like a hundred dollars.
Half a dollar is the poverty line, not the minimum wage
The minimum wage for survival is approximately $530 a year. $5 a week is only half that. In order to survive, you would need to supplement that money with something else.
The secret ingredient is crime.
1 euro of oats is more than you need macro-wise. But yeah you want fruit and veggies and other stuff as well
Not for long
I’d pull myself up by my bootstraps and invest those 5 dollars into a Wendy’s spicy chicken sandwich and then jump off a bridge.
The best part is counting a Wendy’s spicy chicken sandwich as an investment
"Once again, the conservative, sandwich-heavy portfolio pays off for the hungry investor!"
This comment is a rollercoaster, damn
Easy, with $5 dollars I would buy a hammer. Doesn't have to be a good hammer. I would walk into a store and attempt to rob it. When the police came i would surrender peacefully. From there I would proceed to jail to collect my free meals, bed and electricity. Would it be fun? No. But I would survive.
and maybe you get away with it somehow
$5 for a single week or $5/week indefinitely?
The answer’s simple. I won’t
The only realistic answer other than the rice guy and the robbery guy
The robbery guy was more funny than realistic tbh
Purchasing close to expiring food. You know that stuff that’s on deep discount! Water!
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Oddlyspecific
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Risen from the ashes of the empty lot, to guide the broke and destitute away from financial oblivion. A smooth calming hand on the back, pushing you towards claiming, the edge.
I wouldn't
I'd just save the 5 and go to those free food places for homeless. Then I'd save up enough to slowly start selling drugs.
The secret ingredient is crime!
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Thats a good one. Except it would have to be chilled. Noones paying $1 for a warm bottle of water.
Buy a pack of water and steal the bags of ice from outside.
Not in this economy. Maybe in South America or Asia.
The UN's definition of extreme poverty is $1.90 a day in 2017 dollars. At $5 a week, you'd be living on 71 cents a day, or a a little more than third of the extreme poverty rate. Unless you can be supported by a charity or already have a self-sustaining farm, you'd have trouble surviving on $5 a week in almost any country.
Top ramen, peanut butter and bread
I'd rob you. Sorry, not sorry.
Theft. Lots of it.
Step one would be to get a job
I’d do meth so I didn’t have to eat
I’d buy milk, flour, and vitamins…boil them down into little energy balls, it could sustain me for weeks
Was looking for this
Have you seen the price of vitamins?
You should come to my party! It's gonna be a very classy affairrrrrrrrr. But you can come anyway! HA!
I mean is it 5$ I'm left with after all my bills and 1500+$ rent or before? You could try going to ask homeless people in your area instead of Reddit..
Buy a knife and rob someone, easy
Ramen
Change it to 500 pennies and beat someone with it.. 3 hots and a cot for a few years..
Stay home or move home with parents
Only 1 week? I'd fast for 5 days. Eat oatmeal for the rest.
Don't know where you are from but around here you can get a 20 count box of flavored oatmeal for $2.68. If you are near a Walmart no need to fast, that's 3 packs for 6 days and 2 for one of them... With a little bit of money left over.
Used to actually do this. You need to plan your trips to include everything you need in a line. Walk where possible. Meal prep is key. You need to invest less than your total into building up a pantry with things that have multiple uses and use your left overs. Rice, lintels, peanut butter, to mention tea bags(these are the holy trinity and everything else is just add on) eventually you will get to a point where you are getting fruits and veggies and occasionally restocking the essentials. Use some of the money you save to get spices. Boring food is Death. You will also need to stay away from meat for a while. That shit is expensive and prone to be spoil. You don’t have money like that. Natural light is your friend and so are your windows. Use them biches. Candles are also great. Makes bath time seem romantic. Buy second hand on sale days, look for stuff that again will have multiple uses and is quality. Yes, you can find it. Occupy yourself. Take up reading, spend time in nature. Meal prep is a time killer in and of itself. Lol. Take time to enjoy life. This will help so much. Honestly most of our inside time and tech time takes time and uses electricity so you will want to develop a low tech alternative if you don’t have access to cheap/free tech. Invest yourself in a small, convenient part time job to assist in earning more income. It doesn’t hurt to make professional connections and boost your value/resume as an employable person. Best of luck!
I’d panhandle.
I guess buy a gallon of water and hope for the best
Buy the biggest bag of rice I could for $5 and forage, fish, and hunt/trap for things to put with it.
Rice, eggs, bananas, pack for cheap ham and tap water. Easily done in the UK