11,771 to be exact. Anyone know what I could do with it?

I know, I know, middle class is an increasingly confusing and obsolete topic. But I've been seeing it come up a lot on Reddit and it's made me think.

There's no one view on what "middle class" is. Everyone and their mom thinks they're middle class. From people making $15k USD a year to those making $300k.

But, some popular metrics are:

- Those who make $200k USD a year

- Those who can afford multiple vacations a year, a car, possibly a house

- Those who can have an emergency and not need to break bank

I've come to the conclusion that dreams of middle class are beyond me.

Not... everyone can have much money. That's a feature of our society. Some jobs and careers just don't pay enough. K-12 teachers, social workers, service workers, and retail workers are never gonna make six figures. These jobs are necessary but the pay just isn't there.

I don't know anyone who makes over $120k a year. In all honesty, most people I know don't even make $40k a year. I grew up in a family and area where most made $10k to $25k a year. I didn't know I was poor, though. I thought I was a middle class kid.

In my mind as a child, "poor people" were the ones who needed to thrift, go to food banks, have coats donated, could barely make ends meet, etc. I had a PS2 and a Gamecube, so how could I be poor? I helped poor kids when I donated cans of food and Box Tops For Education. I wasn't poor myself...

Of course, as I grew older, I realized things were not so black and white. Others around me didn't, though. I had to recently break it to a family member on SNAP and Medicaid that he was not what the media considered "middle class".

Thank goodness for government assistance and disability. I can't imagine what my childhood would have been like without them.

I'm not gonna spend my time "hustling" to try and maximize my profit. That's a drain, and not everyone is gonna make much money. You spend so much time and effort chasing the Almighty Dollar that you lose any free time. Your youth will pass you buy.

I many know chronic workaholics who make $100k a year, and I know many people who do side-hustles or sell stuff online for cash. It's a hard life.

Generational poverty is a bitch. But, maybe any future kids I have (if I have any) can break out of this cycle.

I've learned to make due with being working poor. My goal is to make $50k-$70k a year on my own ideally. But, anything above that? It's a pipe dream.

The situation:

Grad student with no classes left. A severe illness left me with nothing. No parents, no family members, no car, mountain of debt, high survival skills. I have to come up with $260 every week to stay housed in an infested padsplit with four unsavory men. I sometimes earn $100-200 a week from tutoring and the rest is from survey sites and apps.

What I've tried:

Moved into university library, sold all my belongings, airbnbs all occupied, stayed with friend until her house became too dilapidated, programs/shelters don't accept women without children, have accounts on every tutor app, applied to every job, filed unemployment, taken on odd gigs (instawork, jobstack, and PUSH Models have been lifesavers), stopped eating and lost too much to donate plasma, and I've reached the end of any and all forms of help from my university.

What I'm willing to try:

Move anywhere, AI, hard labor without lifting over 50 lbs.

Any advice or resources I'm not aware of?

THREAD FAQ:

- "Have you tried applying to THIS one?"

Yes. I've applied to every job in every industry. My field is struggling under Trump. Basic employers WILL learn that I'm overqualified in the background check.

- "Live in this cheap place to save up"

I can't afford unassisted relocation.

- "Apply to this winter job"

If it isn't paid within the week, that isn't helpful advice for me. I need suggestions to make $300 before the 21st. A helpful suggestion would be a brand ambassadorship, event helper gigs, or product activation.

Edit: I'm not going to sell porn of myself to pervert reddidiots. Stop looking into the poverty subs for that, losers.

Hey everyone.

Found these unopened in the trash (presumably tossed by another dormer). No leaks, no dirt, but they are dented. They're canned sardines, so I wouldn't even need to cook them.

Since I'm planning to make these my meals for the next three days, I want to double-check if it's actually safe.

Any advice would be awesome. Thanks!

Im a single mom to one kid. No child support. Working full time and I cannot survive. We have food stamps and the state pays for her childcare. I am -$6 in my checkings, $0 in savings. My work shoes are literally hanging my threads. I havent had money for laundry so Ive been wearing the same work uniform for 3 days now. My daughter is starting to realize we're poor. Not looking for advice just maybe solidarity. I feel so shitty about my situation and guilty for having a child that I cant afford. I love her more than life itself and I want to give her the world but mommy cant afford it 😓

First the lawyer completed a sale of a property that couldnt be legally sold, then we hired a general contractor and electrician to do a full gut renovation and obtain CSA certification, they never got the permits, did rough in inspections, lied on their declarations. I paid $78k for the house, $79k to renovate it and now next month we are going to lose it because we cannot repay our $65k private mortgage because the home cannot be legally lived in, insured, remortgaged or sold without CSA. I went to Technical Safety BC and if I don't agree to allow the ones who I alleged defrauded me to do the work they won't punish them they will fine me the homeowner tens of thousands of dollars for illegal work. Our only failure was paying and relying on professionals who were apparently fuggin liars 😩

I don't understand what went wrong. I was a good person. I gave without expecting anything in return; I helped who I could, with what I could. Stuck by family in their hour of need, no matter the cost. I didn't ask for anything because other people have it worse than I do, and I can always make do. That's how I was raised. But now I can't. And I don't know what else to do at this point.

I'm twenty-three, and I've lived my entire life for other people. For fucks sake, I dropped out of school so I could take care of my grandmother before she passed because no one else would. Got a job as a PCA and everything. But everything is too expensive now. I can't support myself on my paychecks; almost all my income goes to bills or loans, and I get kicked out at the end of the month. I can't get my own place because even $975 a month is too much with all the debt I took on to help keep a roof over my family's head. It isn't a lot of debt in the grand scheme of things, but it's too much for me at this point. I'm going to be homeless. I'm going to lose my job, my dogs. They're the only reason I'm still kicking. I can't let them freeze with me. But if I put them in a shelter, they'll die anyway. They're pits, and it's Alaska. Not exactly the best environment.

I feel so numb, I can't even cry anymore. I'm sorry to the people who read this; I just have nowhere else to get this out. I'm scared. I don't care about anything else, but if I lose them, I won't make it to see another year. No one will help me. Why won't they help me as I helped them? Thousands of dollars given away with nothing to show for it. No friends in state, an absent parent who doesn't want to get her head out of her ass, and a little brother to worry about, too.

I've been good, so why hasn't it worked? Why can't I just be an adult and budget and save and do everything that I'm supposed to? Why can't I just have a modicum of stability? I feel like a complete failure, and I'm going to freeze for it.

I can't do this anymore.

I work less than 30 hours a week. i’m in my senior year of undergraduate education, and i pay all my own utilities and rent…

and i have less than $50 to my name for the next week. I’m about to be promoted at work, if i can pass a certification exam that I can’t even afford. I got a second job to help with the bills and I’m thinking of getting a third job.
i did the math, and I will barely have enough money to pay rent next week on payday. i’ll have maybe $200 left.

I feel very hopeless right now. there isn’t the brightest of lights at the end of the tunnel, and I just need some advice on what to do and how to feel more hopeful about things eventually looking up.

I am in need of a new mattress (almost desperately, I'd say) and I am striking out trying to find a mattress that isn't the price of a beater used car. Most of what I have seen online from the large home furnish stores toting "sale prices" are still easily 2k and above. I would prefer not to go used as well but definitely cannot be spending thousands. I remember years and years ago Goodwill used to have mattresses for sale that were new, is that still the case?

When I have some money left over, I try to stock up on certain non food items. I have a little stock of toothpaste, shower gel and shampoo for example.

Any other things you guys would buy in bulk?

I was thinking of annoying extra bag of dog food maybe?

19M, I have 2 minimum wage jobs, I live and rent a studio, where I live by myself, but I didnt have any credit so its under my grandmas name, so I dont even get good credit in return for paying it, and I still dont have any credit or qualify for any government aid on this, literally all my money goes to bills and I have to eat in homeless shelters some days, for example, rn I have 1.19$ on my checking account, a $500 debt that I managed to get even without credit through different apps and I get paid on Friday, and theres just no way I see myself getting out of this situation or literally any way to get out of it neither in the long or short run

I was homeless for a month before this for context

I'm trying to help my dad who has recently had a colon resection. I am disabled and only receive ssi he will be out of work for the foreseeable future due to complications. His doctor recommended a low fiber diet he is also diabetic eats a low carb diet. We can't afford much right now my money just barley pays the bills. I need help with what I can make with >$100 a month that is both low fiber and low carb.

I have a major shopping problem, have accrued 17k in debt over the last two years. I'm feeling hopeless. I am in dire need of help. What are some good DA meetings for newcomers?

Ive been applying to jobs for months and cant seem to even get an interview. Ive even had my resume looked over by a job center in case it was that, but i definitely think its the huge gap i have on my resume. I was homeless a few years ago and living out of my car. I did have a good job then but then was able to get into a shelter. because of the strict curfew rules and me providing what I can to get extensions for earlier curfew times (they wouldn’t accept my manager texting me to go in earlier), i was let go. since then i havent had a “real” job. I did instacart for the past few years up until the beginning of this year because my car died on me and i couldnt afford to fix it. im glad i have my own apartment and thankfully I have some government assistance so that i can pay my rent, but I need a job asap. ive been depressed because of it, i feel homeless in my own home.. i cant afford food sometimes, i cant go out for a coffee, i cant afford laundry so i handwash. i always have to ask someone to let me borrow $20 so that i can get just basic necessities.. and to top it all off my dog just passed. idk man im only 25 and have already had such a hard life. i really need a job i think itll bring me out of this funk. i’ve applied everywhere you can think of. i dont have a college education and honestly my past jobs were so long ago i feel like i dont have experience for anything anymore. i cant even get hired at mcdonalds. i have no friends and my mom is really the only person i can count on but it seems so unfair to her since she has my siblings and is also struggling. i just want a better life for myself and its so hard to not give up

Hello everyone, I hope someone can offer some guidance or share a similar experience.
About 20 years ago, I was a lawful permanent resident of the United States, and during that time, I was issued a Social Security Number (SSN). I no longer live in the United States. I currently reside in Mexico and have a valid U.S. tourist visa.
I still remember my Social Security Number from memory, but I no longer have the physical card.
Earlier this year, I established an LLC in the United States, which I manage remotely from Mexico. I have used the SSN I remember to open a U.S. bank account, register my tax information on eBay, and complete the paperwork for my LLC, including obtaining an EIN from the IRS, which was approved immediately through the IRS online application.
However, I am concerned about whether the SSN I remember actually belongs to me and whether I can continue using it, considering that I am no longer a U.S. permanent resident.
I also attempted to apply for an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) to properly comply with my U.S. tax obligations, but I was informed that I am not eligible for an ITIN because I was previously issued an SSN.
I tried to verify my identity through the official Social Security Administration (SSA) website, but I was unable to complete the identity verification process.
My main question is: How can I confirm that this SSN actually belongs to me and that I can continue using it for my business and tax-related activities in the United States?
Has anyone experienced a similar situation? Do I need to visit a Social Security office in person, or is there a way to verify my SSN from Mexico?
My only intention is to make sure my information is correct and avoid any future issues with the IRS or my bank accounts.
I would really appreciate any advice or experiences you could share.
Thank you in advance!

Normally I wouldn't ever go this route, but I'm at my wits end. I'm being kicked out of where I'm currently staying at and I am only a few hundred short for my new lease that of course starts today. I've been looking for a while now but they either don't offer loans in my state (Iowa) or I don't qualify. Even for payday loans. I'm 19 so my credit score isnt all that good. The landlord can't push the date any further. If you know any that I could look into please let me know.

Honestly , I just checked new phone prices and they are ridiculously overpriced for the specs they offer and looks like my old phone cant be repaired too ! Ahhhh

Right now I have a Capital One platinum card. I have about 2 years of history. My score is currently 753, and limit of $3000. They’re offering a free upgrade. I want to get a 2nd card but am unsure. I dont really care for the cash back or rewards. Do you have any recommendations? Want to boost my credit as high as possible

Seeking general advice around a tricky financial situation :/ no judgement please!

So I recently was going through a pretty hard time mentally and went on a spending spree to make myself feel better. The dopamine of it was nice as you can imagine, but now I sit with the guilt of spending more than my means and have credit card debt that I won’t be able to pay off right away.

This isn’t the first time it has happened (in a different way) and I am very aware of how bad it is, but it had been YEARS since my last time.
I recently acquired my 2nd credit card (cancelled my first one after going to collections etc…) and I’ve been really good with paying off the full balance every month for around half a year now. Except now I have a remainder of ~530 from last month’s spending and a new statement balance of over 3,000.

I’m crushed. Mostly because I worked so hard to be good with my credit card and NOT overspend, just to ruin it all in one month :(

I know 3,000 might not seem much to some however I am a student who works part time (12hrs a week) and rents in an expensive city.

I was worried about not paying it back in time and accruing interest (my cards interest rate is 29.99%) that would make it harder to pay off… so I called EasyFinancial to apply for a personal loan, just so I could pay off my credit card right away, not use it and just pay back the loan as I work.

I am wondering if I’m making a big mistake here by applying for a personal loan…

The stress of this is just crushing me. I fear that I could ruin my credit score after building it up for years to the point that it’s “good” now.
So I applied for a 2nd job where I can get up to 40hrs a week (right now I’m working 30) and the wage is a lot higher than my part time job. Should I just accept that I won’t be able to pay it off right away? And pay down the balance as much as I can while I work? Or should I get the loan from EasyFinancial and just pay that down and not use my credit card anymore if I can…

Any advice appreciated! For reference I’m 25 if that helps anything.

I want to write about a thing I got wrong for years, and then built an app partly because of it.

For a long time I thought I knew what my month cost. I had a number. The number came from an app, the app read my account, and the account was real, so the number felt real.

It was wrong in a specific direction, and it was wrong for a boring structural reason rather than because I was bad at money.

Here is the reason. A budgeting app that links to a bank account can only read accounts you control. That is correct behaviour. You would be alarmed if it were otherwise. But it means the app is not showing you your spending. It is showing you your payments. Those are two different lists and the second one is shorter.

For a lot of people between 18 and 24, quite a lot shorter.

Run through an ordinary week and count the things you used that never touched your own card. The phone on a family line. The car on a parent's policy. The wifi billed to whoever signed the contract. The streaming login shared between four people. The grocery run somebody else did. All of it is consumption. None of it is a transaction in an account that is yours.

So you end up with a total that feels manageable, attached to a month that does not feel manageable, and no way to reconcile the two.

The numbers on how common this is

Wells Fargo's 2026 Money Study was fielded by Versta Research across 3,773 US adults and 215 teens, between 19 November and 17 December 2025. Sixty four percent of parents with children aged 18 to 28 said those children rely on them financially. Fifty six percent of those parents said it was straining their own finances. Forty six percent of the Gen Z respondents described their financial lives as messy.

Savings.com surveyed 1,001 US parents of adult children in February 2024 and itemised the support. Among parents giving regular help, 83 percent cover groceries, 65 percent the phone, 63 percent rent, 54 percent health care and 44 percent something car related. The dollar figures in that study are two years old now, so I would treat the shares as the finding.

Bank of America and Ipsos surveyed over 2,000 US adults in February 2026, including 1,133 aged 18 to 29. Thirty four percent get family help. Among 18 to 22 year olds, 51 percent.

Roughly half the youngest adults in these samples have part of their cost of living recorded on a statement they will never open.

The thing I find interesting is what that does to a person who is actually trying. Because the trying is clearly happening. Forbright Bank published a survey on 13 October this year, run by Qualtrics across 3,241 people in April and May, where 72 percent of Gen Z said they are comfortable talking about money against 31 percent of boomers. Wells Fargo found 90 percent of everyone wants to be more intentional about spending, up from 84 percent two years earlier.

Nobody in those numbers is avoiding the subject. They are short a list, not short of interest.

What I think the actual fix is

None of this is about who should be paying for what. I have no opinion worth sharing about anyone's family and neither does any piece of software.

The practical version is three moves.

Write the list once. Names, not numbers. Phone, insurance, wifi, streaming, gym, groceries, prescriptions, anything you use that does not leave your card. The list is usually longer than people expect and writing it out is most of the work.

Put rough numbers on it. Half of these have public prices. Ask about the other half. It is a short question.

Then change the moment. The reason this spending never gets recorded is not that it is hard to add up. It is that nothing happens at the time. No alert, no receipt with your name on it, nothing to react to. So somebody has to write it down deliberately, right then, and that somebody is you.

And for anything genuinely shared, split it once and keep the share as a number rather than a feeling.

Why I ended up building something

I kept trying to do this in a notes app and it kept not sticking, and when I looked at why, it was always the same thing: the gap between paying and recording was too long. Five taps and a category picker is enough friction to lose to a conversation you are in the middle of.

So bud is mostly an attempt to make that gap short enough to survive real life. You type it the way you would text it. "12 groceries". About seven seconds and it fills in the rest. It does not link to a bank account at all, which sounds like a missing feature until you notice that the spending in this piece was never in your bank account to begin with. Splitting is built in for the shared half.

It is an iPhone app.

But the part I would keep even if you never download anything is the first move. Make the list. You are probably not bad with money. You have been reading the short version of it.

Will they go bankrupt? I don’t really get the reasoning for this limit.

I'm a second-year UG student at a college in Assam, and honestly, I'm in a really bad situation right now. I don't even know where to start.

When I first got admission to my college, my parents gave me ₹25,000 to keep for emergencies. It wasn't money they gave me to spend. It was supposed to be there in case something important came up and we needed it.

But over the last one and a half years, I ended up spending all of it.

It happened slowly. Going to cafes, visiting restaurants with friends, eating out, and spending ₹300–400 here and there. At the time, it never felt like a big deal. I'd spend some money one day, then some more another day. I never really stopped to think about how much I'd spent in total.

I know it was stupid. That money wasn't mine to spend like that, and I should have been more responsible with it. I don't have any excuse for what I did.

The problem is that my parents need some of that money now for my admission. They don't even need the entire ₹25,000. They need around ₹16,400, but I don't have anything left to give them.

When they found out what I'd done, things got really bad.

They took me from my hostel back to our home, scolded me, and beat me multiple times. I don't even know how to describe everything that's happened over the last couple of days. I've been dealing with all of this, and I haven't eaten anything since yesterday.

Right now, they're even talking about making me leave my UG course and putting me to work instead.

And that's what scares me the most.

I'm already in my second year. I've spent so much time studying for this degree, and I don't want to leave it halfway through because of a mistake I made. I know I messed up, and I know my parents have every reason to be angry about the money. But I never thought things would reach this point.

I'm not saying I'm innocent here. I made a mistake, and now I'm facing the consequences of it. I wish I'd thought about all this before spending that money.

But right now, I genuinely don't know what to do.

I need around ₹16,400 for my admission, and I need to figure out how to arrange it as soon as possible. I've tried asking shops if they need someone to work, but so far, nobody has hired me.

I'm willing to do honest work. I don't expect to earn a lot immediately. I just need a way to start making money and prove that I can take responsibility for what I've done.

At the same time, I don't want to give up my education. I want to finish my degree and build a life for myself, but right now, even figuring out what I'll do tomorrow feels difficult.

I keep thinking about how I managed to spend all that money without realising what I was doing. Back then, ₹300 or ₹400 didn't seem like much. Now, I'm struggling to arrange even a fraction of what I've spent.

I know I can't undo my mistake. All I can do is try to fix things from here.

If anyone has been in a similar situation, or if anyone has practical advice on how a college student can start earning money quickly, please tell me what I can do.

I'm not looking for sympathy. I just need some advice because I genuinely don't know how to handle this anymore.

i’m currently a 19 year old college student and i’m soo stressed about money right now. my parents agreed to pay for my rent but changed their mind.

i don’t have a job but currently trying to look for one but in the situation i’m in right now trying to balance everything out. i doubt i can find one and pay off my rent in time. actually i’m ready behind in rent. i’m half a month behind and i just won’t know how to come up with $1,500.

my credit card limit isn’t high enough to put it on that, i genuinely don’t know what to do. i don’t know how to come up with the money. i don’t have family or friends that can lend me money. i’m just screwed honestly.

edit: i already looked around for community colleges that have the same classes or equivalent to the ones at my college so i can transfer the credits and get my degree at this university. the classes are too complex and accelerated to have equivalent classes somewhere else and i already took all of my pre requisites so i can’t even substitute those classes at another college.