12mo ago

How do I make enough money to live?

Yes, I do have a full-time job, and I even enjoy it, but it doesn't pay enough to survive in this hellscape of a world we live in. I lack the college degree required to get almost any decent-paying job (plus my last job hunt took MONTHS to get a lead), I don't have the skills or originality to become an online content creator, nor the artistry or patience to create and sell trinkets on Etsy (plus, that would require an initial investment which I simply do not have). Should I set up a GoFundMe? OnlyFans? I wouldn't really be offering anything except a charity basket/collection plate so that feels dishonest at best. Idk, I'm quite literally having a breakdown because I'm probably going to lose my car soon, and then my job, and then my apartment, and then my life. Any help at all would be appreciated. Thank you

29 comments

I don't have the skills
I don't really have any advice for anything else you said, except this bit. You don't have the skills now, but you can develop them. Everybody was a beginner that tried and tried again.
- adding to it. As someone that just went through the process of hiring a new person for a tech job, idgaf about college degree. I do care about their Certifications or experience. Some paths that are hiring are.penTester, coding and Cloud Admin. Also GenAI is.opening a lot of new possibilities. All of those you can learn from Youtube if you really want to and then invest in a certification.
  ps: remember that education lasts forever. YT influencers don't.
  
  Damn, you don't gaf about a college comp sci degree? I'm earning this thing for nothing.
- Nah, some people just don't have it. And it's not their fault, I'm one of them. We are just too stupid to learn some stuff and can't handle failure, for some it becomes downright dangerous to keep failing.
  
  I think that's a mindset issue. If you come at it with "I won't be able to learn this, I'm too stupid", you won't give it your all and you will self sabotage. Besides, nobody is just stupid. You aren't stupud either! Read up on intelligence types and you will certainly feel like one of those is yours, even if it's not academic intelligence. Don't give up!
First, I'm sorry that you find yourself in this situation.
Second, there's no magic bullet that's going to get you out of this. A tight budget might help, and perhaps tinkering at the edges might get you a little closer.
There's a few things that might help:
Check what your paying for what. Can you save a few bucks by switching contacts? Phone companies are crap at offering good deals to existing customers, for example. Make sure your not paying for any long-forgotten warranty given in your account.
Upskill yourself: things like Alison offer free training, and a small cost for the certificate. While not enough to match a degree, that can give you the leg up to the next pay band. Often worth checking out New Skills Academy as well for offers.
Check out your local college/university for free short courses. Many of them will do short courses that can help improve you're CV. Even if they are just in a subject you're interested in, having a university course on a CV can really help.
Google your CV type: every type of work has a different CV requirement. Some want the biggest qualification first, some want a skill profile. We've all been taught to do a CV, but there are hundreds of different ways to do it. Check out what's popular in your line of work, and update accordingly
Job hunt now: if your current job isn't paying the bills, it's time to job hunt. Look at the salary you need, then what you need to know to do the job. If you have 70% of what they are asking for, apply. Luck plays a bigger part in job hunting than we like to think.
Side hustle or not to side hustle: if you have a salaried job with regular hours, check your contract. It's always good to know what requirements your current job has on having a second job. If your not feeling like a content creator, then Only Fans may not be for you: unless you happen to be really well endowed with good features. If that's out, consider an evening job or weekend job. You might be able to pick up a few hours stacking shelves at your corner shop, or on the till/cash register. Two nights a week might be enough to help you make those ends meet. You can also try side-hustles like dog walking, or handy-person. Perhaps even a paid befriending service for the elderly (be aware there may be legal requirements in your area)
Plan: having a goal helps keep you focused. Knowing what job you'd like to do will help you work out what training and skills you need. Having a goal being that can also make the grind of two jobs easier as you can see yourself building towards a goal.
These are some broad-brush ideas that I hope gives you the idea that is it's not totally hopeless.
I'm surprised nobody mentioned that yet: talk to your boss. Do you have a good relationship? If he wants to keep a motivated good worker, he might be able to do something for you.
Also: food banks.
Are you able enough to safely operate a forklift? Warehouses in my general-labor overloaded area still pay $10 more than state minimum wage, offer plenty of overtime, and are literally always hiring.
It’s hot, dusty, physical, and usually far from downtown, but typically it’s a decent wage and can hold you down while you look for easier work. Plenty of opportunities to transition to an administrative position, too.
Try see if charitable orgs or colleges near you offer resume and interview assistance. Job hunting is shit, I’ve done it too, there are fake jobs everywhere, but seriously pinch your nose and play the game of capital during interviews. Act like a good little corporate drone, get promotions, use that leverage to lead good teams and help more people.
Hopefully any of that is at least a little helpful. If you’re in a rural area, you may have to consider driving 2hr+ a day to where the work is. It’s hell, this is capitalist hell, but you need to play the game to survive first.
There is already a bit of good advice what to do, here is what not to do: You already wrote that you don't think you have what it takes for it, but I want to stress: Don't try to make money as an online creator, on Etsy or similar. Basically everything popular with a low entry threshold is overcrowded and will only pay out if you put in massive amounts of time and effort AND are very lucky. GoFundMe is similar, it's probably not worth the effort if you don't already have a big reach or good hook.
You could try OnlyFans with a clever approach. Don't go for the obvious. Think feet or worn underwear. Alternatively you can go donate blood and plasma in some places for money. You can sell your hair if you keep it in good condition. In general I'd say get scrappy: Food stamps, discounts, free wifi only, decrease your spending wherever you can. And keep looking for better jobs. There is always a better job somewhere.
When you're living in a corporate hellscape you might as well be a survivalist. See how far you can take it. If you are dependent on your car for you job, maybe you need to move into your car and get rid of your apartment. Get a gym membership instead for showers. Research living on the street, frugality. There is a lot of valuable information online. You are not the only one going through this.
As for the mental part: Pretend you're Mad Max. If your survival depends on it, you're not far off. There is no shame to struggle in the this system. Concentrate on your survival. If you're at the bottom, you can only go up.
Honestly, get into the trades. Welders, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etc. I went to college to get a business degree and it wasn't worth the paper it was printed on.
Having a skilled trade, on the other hand, is a job that isn't easily shipped overseas. I'm an apprentice welder at a government shipyard and it pays well. Not as much as non-apprentice's do, but even with just three years under my belt, life is cushy.
I don't know where you live, but there are government facilities and military bases everywhere. Some offer paid apprenticeship training where they teach you how to do everything while on the clock. I'm in one of those apprentice programs now.
I found this job on USAJOBS.gov. it took a while to get through the hiring process, these jobs are highly coveted. And it's a lot of work, like really hard sweaty dirty work, but it's worth it.
I won't sugar coat it though, it's not a fast process to get into an apprenticeship. It's not an overnight fix. It will take time, time which you've already stated you might not have and I'm sorry.
If you need something immediate and you're in good physical health, I would recommend military enlistment. I joined the Navy some years ago, and though bootcamp sucked, everything after was easy street. If you're an inch away from homelessness, military would be a life saver. Do one enlistment which is like four or five years. You'll have steady employment, a steady paycheck, and plenty of time to plan out your future if you don't want to stay in.
- According to some sites, elevator maintenance pays 80k/year on average, so it might be worth adding that to the list. If you live close to a rural area, learning maintenance of big farm vehicles might be worth it, too.
- Somewhat related to this so I'm piggybacking here, look into power plants. Once you're generally competent holding wrenches and understanding OSHA compliance, you can easily become some form of laborer at power plants. From there, learn everything you can about power plants while getting friendly with some in-house people and you might get yourself into Operations or Maintenance. It took years and luck, but I got in as an entry level outside operator at a bit under $40/hour a few years back; after raises and a promotion I'm now operating the on-site ZLD plant for $52/hour. Control Room Operator starts around $60/hour here. This area is expensive so these rates might be higher than you'd find near you, but I've heard of higher rates than this in some plants. The only real drawback is that rotating shift work is pretty standard.
You do not need a college education to get a good job. The trades need good workers and they make pretty good money. Go down to a union hall and offer to be an apprentice at something. Build some of those skills you say you don't have!
Not something I have experience with, but have you looked at city/government jobs? You won't get rich, but afaik a lot of them have stability and pensions --- work there long enough and retirement at a reasonable age may even be possible (assuming things don't go to shit).
USPS comes to mind.
A personal friend of mine is also about to go homeless, in the uk. I live in another country and feel hopeles. Worst part is, the debt. Even if he would get a well paying job his debt will follow him for the rest of his life. Kinda same for my study debts i suppose. But main advice i can give you is, under no circumstances take on (more) debt.
also, this might be intersting as a "fuck this place i'm outta here": auroville. personally i want to go first on holidays to check it out but i haven't taken any days off since, so the comment section can maybe tell something about it.
last thing, some dude here said, if you need your car 4 work, then it might be better to lose the appartment than the car, def agree with that.
I'm sorry to hear about your situation, sadly I think this is the future for many younger individuals. A few years ago I started a side gig which I do at the same time I do my full time job. It's been steadily growing year over year and I'm finally starting to feel like I can breathe.
But that's the hard part, isn't it? The idea. I don't know what you do for work, but is it possible you can do two jobs at once? Or some kind of online work after hours? I'm trying to remember what I know one person does, but it's like they have to go online and validate certain data for websites or something. They get a set amount of hours they need to work and it's flexible so it can be done like any time, even off their phone if I reall correctly. And apparently it didn't pay too badly either.
Dog walking is a thing too. Sorry I have shit ideas, I'm not very creative either.
Start looking at jobs at your local city and county governments. A lot of them still come with actual pensions.
To give the most generic advice to all who read this: make a living by making the lives of others liveable. Many are determined to study X and have a career of Y. This sometimes works out. Many will repeatedly try to have career Y their whole life due to a fixation even if it isn't right for them at any or all those times. Some of the most lucrative success stories have been people who saw someone else in need and helped them, someone else or a subset of the population who had a problem that nobody came around to fix yet. A problem you had no prior affiliation with. Opportunity Z may be wildly unrelated to your training and/or career path, but, it may help more people moreso than your career Y. And then, your X, Y and Z skills can compound when you find your next opportunity.
I don't know what your current job is, but assuming you work 40 hour weeks, a temporary bandaid is a second job. Wait staff, coffee shop, moving company, landscaping, local bike shop, grocery store - all these offer $16/hr or more for "unskilled" (no college degree) labor. Pick up weekend and evening shifts. You'll burn out after a few years of this, but it can tide you over while you work on upskilling yourself.
- Fuck you and this mindset, I've been building on this "model" for years and even in the best of times it's a crapshoot. My life has been rocketing past me despite the years of skills and experience i have built. NO ONE should need a second job to survive and it is shit even as a bandaid. These jobs are not transitionary jobs for too many people who have children and dont get any healthcare, for too many that can Barely afford a decent life. These are real fucking jobs that deserve compensation.
  So once again fuck you for intimating that these people are unskilled or worth less for their work. Fuck you for trying to normalize the working class having to double their shifts to survive. As an educated and experienced person who has struggled, fuck you
  
  I feel like you took this very strangely... I'm in no way degrading these jobs. I brought them up because they have more flexible hours than a 9-5, and therefore you can use one of these jobs to supplement a 9-5 if you need to.
  I very intentionally put the word "unskilled" in quotes, and then clarified that that means "no college degree necessary", because I do not believe these are skill-less jobs - that's just a common term that people might see and I was literally clarifying what it actually means.
  I am an educated and experienced person. I also worked like crazy during college to afford food, school, and my rent. In addition to sometimes having an internship, I worked extra hours at a moving company running boxes up and down stairs all summer or in the dead of winter during break for $12/hr. I worked 70-80 hour weeks, 7 days a week, every week I was not actively in school classes.
  I absolutely agree that no one should need a second job to survive. The working class in the US (where I am from and assume OP is from) is subjugated to all hell. Plenty of studies have shown that employees are happier and more productive overall with 4 day work weeks instead of 5, 36 hours instead of 40, etc. Our tax dollars should be going to infrastructure and education and social health care for everyone, instead of the weapons contractors and military size that no one fucking needs. We are worked too hard for the benefit of the select few at the top and it's fucking terrible and I hate it.
  But OP asked for a solution to his problem, right now. Systemically we have so, so much to fix. But today, literally today, OP could walk into a coffee shop or grocery store or moving company and ask for a part time job and likely start one by the end of the week. It's horrible that he should have to do that to afford his car and his rent and his food. But I just wanted to share that this is something he can do, right now, to avoid finding himself homeless. That is what I meant by "band aid" fix. I truly hope that he is able to find something more stable soon. And while it feels almost impossible, I hope our society somehow learns to value the lives of individuals over the demands of lobbying corporations.
What are you interested in? You can go on YT and just talk about or do that. All you really need besides whatever props is your phone and a phone clip/tripod, which can be found cheaply on Craigslist or thrift store, maybe. I remember once a poor woman just blogging on Google blogs started getting a significant amount of donations just writing about her daily struggles. I don't remember her name, sorry.
Can you pick up side hustles cleaning homes or cars or anything? Watering plants? Pet-sitting?
I'm sorry it's like this, and hope you can pull through. The other two comments also make sense, I just didn't know if any of our suggestions are sensible for you, personally. Wishing you the best.
Just quit the shit and go to live in the mountains . Hunt animals, plant your shit. All the effort is not worth it nowadays, is like trying to mine bitcoins with your home pc .
Do you have roommates or willing to rent a room? Filter by rooms for rent on www.hotpads.com
Habitat for Humanity helps people get affordable housing plus if you are looking into gettingbinto construction part of the deal is you help build some houses are part of the payment
Focus on what you have and make it work for you. Reduce expenses. Get a roommate. Sell stuff. Most importantly, make a budget.

29 comments