People who make under $25,000 a year, what do you do, and how do you get by?

1. I'm a security officer at a college campus. I live in the American Midwest in a city with low cost of living. I make about $13 a hour and in this area, it's pretty good but not stellar. I found an apartment two blocks from campus, so walking to and from work most days saved me maybe $200 a month on gas compared to previously. Other than that, I just don't really have much money to spend on myself. When I do buy things, they're usually from consignment shops or garage sales, sometimes I treat myself to a used video game. I live mildly comfortably but I also have no safety net. If I had some major or even moderate unexpected expense come up tomorrow, I'd be screwed. But the college I'm working for allows full-time employees to attend classes for free. I'm using this to complete my Bachelor's.. So I try to remind myself that I only have another year or so and then I can go get a better paying job.
   — Jedi4Hire


2. Husband is a mechanic. We can't afford childcare for me to be able to work. I operate a small farm, which is where the majority of our own food comes from. I sell the excess. No TV, cheapest phone/internet we can get. Our vehicles are 34 and 16 years old. We never go to restaurants, even fast food. We don't see a doctor unless we can see bone or organs. Managed to get out of a travel trailer into a house this year though! Just in time for said trailer to swim away with Harvey, so we're doing great.
   — IVcaffiene


3. 1600 a month. Waitress. Filled out about 60 job applications with cover letters in the last 5 days so hopefully ill be out of this industry soon
   — bickingbackbeinbool






4. Adjunct professor. I teach classes at various universities for very little money ($2,500-$5,550 per course per semester, usually near the low end unless at a top university) and no benefits. I have my PhD and my research is solid, but my field has, like most, shifted to exploiting the glut of PhDs to make up for cuts in state and federal funding (as well as expanded bureaucracies to a lesser extent). At this point I’ve given up hope of finding a tenure track job, because there are MAYBE 4 tenure track positions in my field that I am qualified for per year, with hundreds of people in the same position as me waiting to land that job that will turn things around. I survive with my wife doing the same, landing visiting assistantships once in a while, which give more money and (critically) actual health insurance. Plus (fortunately) help from family. We need to find other careers, but it’s only during moments of down-time (like now, when we’re between semesters) that we actually have the time to reflect and consider other avenues. In the meantime, it’s the best we can hope for to continue taking any scraps universities give us. We feel constantly exploited, trapped, stressed and overworked. I commute 2-3 hours per day to teach at various schools, and along with lesson planning, grading, and actual teaching, we both put in 50-60 hour weeks during the semester. We sell records and antiques to supplement our income, as traveling so much allows us to cast a wide net, and our extensive subject expertise helps in finding valuable shit for cheap at thrift stores, estate sales and ads - but this is only a few extra thousand a year. We’re slowly sinking and losing hope in any financially solvent future, and with each passing semester our prospects become bleaker. It sucks. **Edit:** Whoa - vent after a long Christmas and check back a day later to this - thanks for your kind words, not kind words, outrage, advice to get a real job, questions, concerns, and shitposts! Anyway - addressing a few questions and comments: - when we began our programs, both of our fields (I teach a foreign language and my wife teaches museum/design/art/fashion history/theory) were fairly healthy, and tenure track jobs were still common. By the time we finished our dissertations things were changing. We made the (in hindsight massive) mistake of limiting our job searches by location and quality of school. We should have taken what we could get. - My wife is still at the top of her field: she has two monographs at quality presses, a slew of journal articles and book chapters, presents at top conferences, has been keynote speaker at several regional and more specialized conferences, does service work for journals and various scholarly associations, blah blah blah. All the work of a TT faculty plus some as she usually teaches a 3-3 plus summer courses - often 3 different preps. She has been extraordinarily unlucky (after having been far too picky early in her job search) and is definitely still very competitive in the job market. But 5 or 6 years out and she’s starting to lose hope. - I’ve given up on landing a TT position, and I honestly don’t want one in my field anymore. A debilitating health issue took me away from my research for a long time (and others have picked up my research and run with it, which I have mixed feelings about) so I teach (which I love doing) and am looking elsewhere for work. Most TT jobs now go to native speakers and those who research pedagogy (which I don’t) anyway. I do translation work sometimes as well, but this is extremely time-consuming and also pays very poorly (another story - but fortunately that will eventually become a mostly obsolete profession). - In retrospect I should have studied second language acquisition and English, and moved abroad to teach while living where I love. But then I never would have married my wife. It’s all a trade-off. It just didn’t work out professionally. - To those saying adjuncting is meant to be temporary part-time work for those who don’t need the money coming from industry: you clearly have not been staying current with academia and the reality of the situation. This was true 15-20 years ago, but in the US at least, this is very far from what is now going on. At many R1 institutions, adjuncts do a majority of the teaching while TT positions have nearly disappeared in many departments. In smaller SLACs and directional schools it is often worse. Adjuncts form 70%+ of teachers at some schools. Obviously (or at least hopefully) departments aren’t expecting professionals from private industry to teach the bulk of their coursework. - To those considering professional degrees in the US: check out the market in your field and be realistic. Only go if you get accepted to a top program, and then only if you are extremely passionate about what you are doing, can put teaching above your research, and ideally can survive without work or while being underemployed. Most TT jobs go to ivy degrees or graduates from places with renowned programs. - The situation is not improving and will likely not improve for a long time, although academia is slowly adapting as part-time faculty unions begin to organize and departments realize what they are doing to the grunts they hire to keep their TT faculty afloat. - To the guy who started his post “Actual Professor:” I get where you’re coming from, but that post was one of the most condescending things I think I have ever read. (And please stop downvoting them - they meant well)
   — Xpress_interest


5. Family of 3 living on less than $25,000. We room with my sister and I'm the "house mom" to her kids as well as my son in exchange for reduced rent. My husband works outside of the home but all of our income essentially goes to gas, food and medical expenses. 2 years ago I made almost $60,000 a year and my husband brought in almost $45,000 per year, so this has been humbling!
   — MrsJakkJones


6. I make just under that with a wife and 2 kids. It's a very tough line to walk but we scrape by. I'm in manufacturing. Honestly, for now, it's a box we're in. If I made $1.00 more an hour, I wouldn't qualify for medicaid and would have to pick up the cheapest health insurance in our area for approx. $200 a week. Can't afford that. Currently receive about $400 a month in EBT which helps. Rent is 700 for a 2 BR trailer on an acre and paying a sub-$300 car payment. It's no fun by any means but our needs are covered most of the time. There is a light at the end of the tunnel though. Next fall our youngest starts kindergarten and my wife pretty much has a full-time job lined up making about what I am now ($12/hr) and then I plan on going to my boss and asking for the raises I've turned down over the past 3 years and we'll be good. It also helps that the car payment is the only thing we pay for on credit, we're within our means and know it'll get better soon. Edit to answer questions: Taking a $1/hr raise would equal making another $40/week but I would lose medicaid completely (racking up that 200 a week family plan insurance) and would take a massive hit to our food benefits. Also, I am in a shop, running a laser cutting machine in southern Delaware. This state is notorious for low-income jobs that pay better everywhere else because most of us are trapped, though I love it here and don't plan on leaving. And on the questions on why I would have kids in this situation, I had kids before this job was my income. I was making $40,000+/yr but was constantly travelling and never home to see my family when I was working as a construction foreman. I'd rather scrape by with our essentials than have everything but time with my loved ones. Thank the rest of you for the good wishes. My head is up, I'll be in a much better situation come September of next year when my SO goes to work. We've been worse off but made it through it and we'll be fine when it all plays out.
   — 4EverA3Fan






7. I am 27, working retail and live with family. I was in college but, dropped, I never broke out of my poor study habits from high school. I am not sure if its depression or something else. When I was younger I'd thought I would learn so many things. I lost interest in myself over the years.
   — MechAegis


8. 700 a month. Construction. How do I get by? East europe, thats how.
   — zigastrmsek


9. I'm a nursing assistant in a nursing home with a 6 month old baby. I usually have just a few dollars after rent, car payment, babies medical bills, etc. I either eat toast or ramen or skip meals, add a lot of rice cereal to my sons formula to make it last, or sometimes have to resort to selling things I love so I can buy diapers or formula.It's an actual nightmare to go from having extra money to praying you won't be evicted. Go to school and wait to have children. Don't ruin an innocent life because mama can't afford to feed and clothe her baby. Edit: I am literally crying. My heart is bursting at the seams at these comments. I cannot believe the kindness of strangers. Thank you so much, Reddit.
   — Throwawayfor223






10. Strangely enough, when I made under 25,000 a year, I was doing the same thing as I am now, which earns me over 100,000: programming. The world of startups is full of people looking to abuse your work ethic. I wore other people's old clothes. I had no car and took the bus everywhere. I walked on my shoes until they had holes in the bottom. I lived in really crappy parts of town. Every now and then, I lived solely off relatively cheap-per-calorie foods like lentils, rice, peanut butter, and bread; on a few occasions, I used dish soap as body wash and shampoo.
    — PouponMacaque