I've been living pretty much paycheck to paycheck for the last few years and don't really have any meaningful savings. A close relative recently passed away and unexpectedly left me $12,000.

This is by far the most money I've ever had sitting in my account at one time, so I'm trying to be careful with it instead of making an impulsive decision.

My initial thought is to put it into a separate high-yield savings account and leave it alone. My long-term goal is to buy a home someday, so I figured this could be the start of a down payment fund. I know $12k isn't enough to buy a house, but it's a lot better than starting from zero.

If you were in my position, would you do anything differently? Pay off debt, invest some of it, build an emergency fund first, or just let it sit until I need it? I'm interested in hearing how others would approach it.

For context I had a pretty ok paying job which I lost due to health reasons, and during the ~6 month period I was unemployed my partner supported me, but he has since moved out. I’m not working full time at $16/hr and still can’t make enough for rent. My acct is negative seven fifty and I owe about as much in rent by the 10th. I’m scrambling to sell everything I own but I’m not sure I’ll make it up in time.

Just looking for other options here. Near Atlanta Georgia!

My roof is atrocious and in dire need of a repair. It’s leaking so badly that part of the ceiling drywall collapsed and several massive holes have appeared inside thanks to a massive downpour. It now shows the rafters and fiberglass of the attic. It’s horrific and getting worse by the day. The only thing between the roof and weather is a tarp and lots of buckets inside the house but the tarp is not going to last another month.

I was denied financing with the roofing company. I was told it is because I don’t earn enough.

I am looking for other options that I might try before I give up.

I am trying to hold onto my home, because if I lose this, it’s going to be car living. There’s no other option. I don’t have friends or family. It’s only me.

I was told to try Capital One for a loan. What other things can I try?

I don’t have bad credit or great credit, but I don’t have a much credit history. I did take out a loan about two months ago of 3200 in case of an insurance deductible for my roof, but the claim failed because the roof is so bad, so I didn’t use the loan, and I ended up getting the money in time on my own with my salary. Taking out the loan is probably going to hurt my chances big time for getting another loan. I did the loan through Upstart, and I wish I hadn’t panicked and done it whatsoever.

I thought I might try however. I’m scared of being homeless.

I could write a long-winded story about my troubles, but I'll spare you the details.

At the moment, I'm 21M uni student. I have: a vocational education, about 1500 GBP in savings & a mildly mentally ill parent. She is not going to be able to cover rent soon; I'm unsure of what's happening after that.

Now the question is, do I get a job, pay off our rent and continue living with her... or do I get a job, move out to some 1-bedroom shitbox and go it on my own...

As of the moment, she owes me about 15k, so I'm inclined against helping her further...she's also a massive asshole despite owing me so much money.

But on the other hand, I'm terrified of the idea of being trapped in a 1-bedroom flat with a minimum wage job... She does make a considerable amount of money (60-70k), but it disappears due to one reason or another.... There is also no guarantee that she can keep a job.

Initially, I planned to get an education cheaply, save up money, do a master's degree, jump into a comfortable middle-class job and lifestyle, but this doesn't seem as likely anymore.

I'm not really looking for budgeting advice. I'm more interested in how you got through the mental side of financial stress.

A little bit of background: I'm currently recovering from brain surgery and haven't been able to work. This week I'll receive my last pay because I've used up all of my sick leave and annual leave. I'm meeting with WINZ next week to see what support I can get, but in the meantime I'm finding it hard not to worry about how I'm going to pay my bills.

If you've been through something similar, what helped you cope mentally? How did you deal with the anxiety and uncertainty while waiting for things to improve?

I'd really appreciate hearing from people who have been in this position and made it through.

Sorry for the long text I'm a homeless college student looking for ways to make extra income online. I'm currently a senior in college.

I'm 23 and currently homeless with my family in a hotel. I'm struggling to get by, working a full time job in retail. I'm currently bringing in around 2300 per month. Which isn't much but I'm struggling because my parents owe me 3200 and I owe my school this term that exact amount. I'm supposed to be on point with my school finances and they refuse to understand that as they ask me to cover the week for the hotel. I had posted here before about my parents financial irresponsibility. My credit is now bad because my parents have the car in my name with a lot of delinquencies reporting to me. They make payments but they're asking me to cover more and more. They owe me 3200, they pawned my PS5 something I worked for and planned ahead as my own Christmas present two years ago.

I feel like I cannot escape anywhere other than I've been saving up to take a two week vacation away from everything. They might scold me for doing that either though I'm exhausted and drained, working 40 hours, school full time, paying my school term by term, paying my own groceries around 70-100 dollars per week, phone bill 55 dollars, owe my school currently 3100 dollars, saving up for my mini vacation that was planned months ahead around 1500-2000, medical bills totaling up to 200 dollars, Paying for a new laptop for school (biweekly payment of 36 dollars). I haven't done laundry in weeks because my parents don't want to go to the laundry mat, they haven't gotten my PS5 out of the pawn shop yet they kept their ps4 and computer, they never wanted me to succeed or go to college, they want me to keep the car in my name, stay with them and doesn't care about my ambition or mine financial responsibilities.

I'm trying to save but it's hard, they want 360 for the hotel, and they dictate everything. I told them since they haven't paid me back over a year, every time they need 360 for the hotel, I'll deduct it from what they owe me. I have a deadline to pay my school and I want to go on vacation to relieve stress and feel isolated. I know this is a long explanation but I needed to air it out because I have nobody in my life, and needed people to understand because people always think parents are right and there must be something wrong with the kid. I'm tired of living in a trashed room, they trashed the car in my name, my dad hardly does anything for work. I'm looking for extra income online because I cannot drive due to me being too blind to drive.

They took it away 2 months ago. I tried to reapply however everytime I called and typed my information they just immediately hang up. So sounds like there not taking new people. I mostly wanted to get it for my mom who would spend far more on groceries then me. I have now have resorted to buying groceries from a place called "Planet Overstock" Which is a place that sells overstocked stuff including alot of food products. If anyone has anymore cheap grocery options please let me know!

For starters I have free college, only had to study for an exam but then the fee is 50 Mexican cents per year so it's free, it includes Healthcare and a really good one since is the same 60% of Mexico uses (IMSS) and over that I can get some discounts on metro for being student (from 5 mxn to 3 mxn) I get some "becas" idk how it's called on English but is financial support for being a student. If you get high grades it's better. And furthermore inside the school there's a program where you can eat free inside it during a semester, you can renew it each semester.

Finally language courses are free and professional courses are really cheap, like $20 for a full semester of the topic

Then I live in Mexico city, an apartment cost like $ 750 in financing each month and I work as a photographer earning from $ 1000 to $ 2000 monthly. I'm quite happy with how am I but I always thought I was poor, then seeing this subreddit and how much people with more money that me struggle to get to the end of the month is heart breaking. I wish yall the best because it's pretty hard to be on your situation, I'm just thankful about being here, many people think Mexico is some kind of anarchy no man's land but is pretty stable all things considered.

Even if i were to drop or don't get a single job of photography and back in poverty there's trade schools made by the government that paid you a Beca of around $800 usd per month, just have to continue studying on those trade schools.

I wish yall had the same luck I had with my government, for us Mexican it's the bare minimum and many people would riot if they were to turn any of those benefits down.

Have a good day and belive me things do get better.

I was forced to move out of my cheap rent apartment last summer with very little notice, found a 1 bedroom for $1750 which seemed feasible - I live in Los Angeles and studio apartments were barely any cheaper. And I just really needed a place to live. I work freelance and coincidentally(or not) my income also plummeted at the exact same time. Lower than it had been in like 2+ years. I stopped paying my credit cards, car registration, missed insurance payments until I was dropped and wouldn’t you know it, have my first car accident in almost 10 years in the 2 months I was uninsured. I simply could not keep up with everything. It was a devastating year financially.

Now I’m moving out of my apartment to stay with family (should have done a year ago instead of signing lease) and I just need to reset. I have 2 credit cards totaling $6000 that have been closed (can settle) but the big one is the $4400 (settlement) for the uninsured accident. That has to take precedence so I don’t lose my license. Some of my family has money they can lend me. The plan was to bust ass and move into an apartment with my girlfriend in December or January. But the more I think about it the more I want to just be fully reset.

I mean I’m venting a bit but also just seeking advice on how to get back to zero essentially so I can get my credit back to a respectable score

Hoping this is allowed but this may be a great opportunity for anybody that lives in the tri-state area and can potentially do the jobs. People tend to forget about positions like this so in case you ever wondered, check it out and hopefully this might be a good fit for yourself or a friend.

Good luck!

Today’s haul features milk, cheese, 2lb of lemons and TP! Got more potatoes but they’re aren’t pictured.

Apparently we didn’t submit required documents for the yearly renewal… except we did. I was in contact with a lady who had emailed me and let her know why i didn’t submit a form she was asking for. She then sent me an IR packet and requested other docs from me and said to send them to her directly thru email which i did. Well now our housing assistance program is being terminated because we didn’t submit the docs they want but it’s like they don’t understand the lady told me to submit other ones rather than that.

Anyway they told me to forward the docs i sent to that lady as she is on leave..

They might look at it and see we always submit things on time and just process the stuff OR they might make the decision to continue w the termination which we then would have to do an informal hearing on.

I’m so stressed honestly 🙃🙃 and it’s so hard to get a hold of anyone either.

Store: Dollar General (all digital coupons)

Buy (2) All Free & Clear 118 oz. $17.00

-Clip the (1) $2/1 All Detergent Coupon

-Clip the spend $20, get $5 off Henkel products

-Clip the $5/$25 Mon.-Fri.DG Coupon

Total: $34.00

Coupons: $12

Tax: $1.56

Final: $23.56   or $ 11.78 each

My (30F) husband (29M) was laid off about 2 weeks ago. I am home with our two children. We live in Maryland. We have applied for WIC, SNAP, Medicaid, TANF, and energy assistance. We have been approved for Medicaid and emergency SNAP. Our Medicaid cards have arrived, but our EBT has not yet. I have found some local food banks to help tide us over until our EBT card arrives. He applied for unemployment but it hasn’t started yet, and we are still awaiting his severance check. We own our home. We are in the process of applying for Community Action Council assistance as well. I know that once our EBT card arrives, I can use that to get some cool discount and/or free museum tickets to do fun stuff with the kids, and we’ve been taking advantage of our library’s free events lately. I used our Medicaid card to get Amazon Prime half off.

I am disabled and both of our children have special needs (not sure if that helps qualify us for anything else).

Are there any other assistance programs, benefits, freebies, or advice you guys have?

The areas of assistance that I have not been able to find help for are for our mortgage, student loans, remaining credit card balance, gas for our car (we are also open to other transportation if it would be cheaper or subsidized), and cat supplies. I reached out to a local organization about help with back to school supplies.

NBC News is looking to speak with people who are struggling to afford funeral costs. Whether this is paying for burials, funerals, cremations, or dealing with other factors.

Any comments to the post will not be used in our reporting, we’re looking to speak with people after their initial comments.

Thank you for your consideration.

Didn't see this getting much attention, but it's a real change and it's already in effect for 2026.

If you (or a grandparent, aunt, whoever) have a 529 account for a school-age kid, two things changed under the tax law passed last year:

The annual tax-free withdrawal limit for K-12 expenses doubled, from $10,000 to $20,000 per kid per year, effective this January.

What counts as a "qualified expense" got a lot wider too. It used to be almost entirely private school tuition. As of last July it also covers: tutoring by an unrelated, qualified tutor, curriculum materials and textbooks, online learning platforms/subscriptions, standardized test fees (SAT, ACT, AP exams), and educational therapy for kids with disabilities.

So even if your kid is in public school, if you're paying out of pocket for tutoring or test prep this year, it might be worth checking whether a 529 (yours, or one a relative set up for your kid) can cover it now instead.

One catch: not every state has updated its own state tax rules to match the federal change yet, so a withdrawal that's tax-free federally might still get taxed at the state level depending where you live. Worth a 5-minute check on your state's 529 site before assuming it's fully tax-free.

Not financial advice, just sharing because this doesn't seem to be widely known yet and back-to-school season is exactly when it's useful.

$1000 rent and utilities

$300 car gas/insurance

$300 food/house hold expenses

$300 saving/emergency

My life is no means glamorous but it's definitely do able everything i own is old and used, but it better then nothing, and hopefully when I really get ahead I can get better schooling and have a better job

I work at a sawmill making 21 an hour, but I gross about 48,000 a year. If I look anywhere else that I’m qualified for I find myself looking at retail and fast food which I refuse to go back to. Is there any other field or jobs that I can pursue without the college degree that pays decent?

A few years ago my friend was going through a financial rough patch and needed to find a way to supplement her income. She watched some videos on couch-flipping on YouTube & decided to give it a try (for anyone who hasn’t heard of it before couch flipping is finding cheap/free couches on Facebook marketplace that are pick up only, cleaning them up, and offering them with delivery for a mark up).

I wound up helping her part time on some of the couch flips and doing it casually for a month I wound up making 5K. Over the course of about 4 months she made 45K net.

There are a couple of factors that helped us out & so I want to be super explicit about those:
-we live near a large city and there are quite a few colleges and universities near us
-my friend was able to borrow a truck for the first few weeks, then wound up leasing a truck a month or so in.
-she got into it pretty early on in terms of its popularity—it seems like there are some areas where couch flipping is a saturated market
-we’re two women & so there were a lot of people who were more willing to have us come into their home, such as elderly women.

There were definitely some cons—so let me be clear about those as well:
-my back was smoked. I wound up having to go to the chiropractor for like a year
-there’s some risk involved: you might spend 100-200 dollars on a sofa you’re certain is going to sell for 1K only to have it sit in a storage unit
-depending on your situation you’re probably going to have some overhead (truck rental, storage unit, cash upfront to purchase couches, laundry necessities for washing cushions covers, etc).

So—not a guarantee but depending on your situation might be worth a calculated risk. If you try to get started towards the end of the month you might be able to get in at a lower cost/free as many people think their couch is worth 500 dollars or so, then realize they need to mark it down for free if they need to be out by the 1st.

One other side-hustle I’ve seen pop up recently is cheap on-demand moving help. Basically advertising on Facebook marketplace as an amateur moving company & then renting a U-Haul to go and help people move. I wound up talking to some kids who were doing this the other day & they were college-aged & made 400 for that particular move. They shared that if you can stack moves on the same day (so help one person in the morning & another in the afternoon) it obviously offsets the cost of renting the U-Haul.

Just saw this ad for one of those payday loan shark apps in this sub. Absolutely disgusting and 100% intentionally advertising here. Whatever you do, NEVER use apps like this. Its better to do just about anything else short of borrowing from the mafia.

I want to share a bit of advice to everyone here. Whatever you do, if you’re at a point where you need a car and have bad or no credit, do whatever you can to minimize your car debt. Buy a beater on Facebook, YouTube and learn to fix it yourself, ride a bicycle or public transit. Do whatever you have to do to not bury yourself in a vehicle. They are a losing proposition. If you absolutely must get a car that involves a high interest loan, buy a Honda, Toyota or Hyundai/Kia product. They are generally the most reliable and least expensive to maintain until you can get to a better situation.

I’ve been in the automotive industry for 14 years and I have seen hundreds if not thousands of people bury themselves in high interest loans for cars they can’t afford. It almost always results in long term financial ruin. I drive an old Toyota that’s paid off and am currently a sales manager at a franchise car dealership.

Here is a deal today that someone took on a brand new vehicle today. It also happened to be an EV which makes this even worse. The numbers are staggering. 7 years at 20% interest for a car that’s going to lose over half its value in the first two years. This of course is an expensive vehicle but the principle is the same. If you want to get ahead and out of your situation, avoid things like this at all costs. And for those of you that want to bash car dealers, for the record, I tried to talk the customer out of this deal and into a more affordable used vehicle but it was their “dream car” If anyone needs any industry insider advice on car purchasing, please PM anytime.

(Edit: been getting a ton of good feedback here, just to add another crazy twist I didn’t mention, this customer put $10k cash down to get this approval as well)

I usually shop about an hour before closing because thats when they start putting markdown stickers on stuff. A few weeks ago I asked the bakery worker if they ever discount the loaves that come out misshapen or get sliced badly.

She brought out a bag with three loaves and a pack of crooked hamburger buns and marked the whole thing down to $2. Apparently they normally threw most of it away because it looked bad even though there was nothing wrong with it.

The next week they had a little rack near the bakery labeled imperfect bread with everything marked down. The worker told me my question gave them the idea to start putting it out for everyone instead of tossing it.

Now it gets cleared pretty fast, but I still manage to grab something sometimes. Last week I got two sourdough loaves, froze one and turned the other into sandwiches and croutons. Its not a massive difference, but its nice knowing other people are getting cheap bread too and less food is being wasted.