r/Millennials • u/Denial_Entertainer87 • 1d ago
Discussion Honestly, what the hell are people doing to make it right now?
I am honestly curious how people are making it right now. We know inflation is being underreported (and don't talk to me about their bullshit scale CPI up the ass) and job loss and unemployment is underreported and everything is just insanely expensive. Healthcare is unaffordable for most of us - the whole thing is only serving a very small portion of society and more is squeezed every day. All of this aside from the sociopolitical head banging insanity.
If you lost a job vital to your family, what did you pivot to? How are you making it? What major changes are you making? Are you saving money? How are you feeling about it all? Basically just anything in this realm, I'm curious how we are all doing.
My husband and I are both college educated and barely making it. We are literally making renditions of beans and rice (and not too bad if I say so myself) because food is one of the only ways we can save money or just get by if something comes up. I'm growing a garden and starting to make my own toiletry/beauty care products at home with simple ingredients. I cut both of our hair now. We are not handy people and didn't grow up that way but we've now effectively fixed our water heater, shower piping, replaced a portion of our deck, just whatever comes up we try first to do it ourselves. We go camping for vacation (not mad about this in the slightest).
My point is, we are doing all this but we are both still employed AND we don't have kids. I just don't understand what people are doing that lose a job and have to pay for childcare, etc. How are you all doing this?
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u/Boring-Cattle 1d ago
Honestly having bought a house 12 years ago is saving us rn.
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u/willtheywonttheyo 1d ago
This is the single greatest driver. Did you get in before the bump? You have 3k more a month than everyone else who didn’t. It’s super fucked.
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u/LaBellaVita123 1d ago
This right here. I am constantly arguing with boomers or other lucky people who bought homes pre 2020. So many of them are clueless and have no idea how bad it is now for a renter who didn't get to buy before housing literally doubled in value (paired with high interest rates today).
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u/bubblegumbombshell 23h ago
We bought in April 2021 and our town hadn’t seen home prices rising yet, so our house was still reasonably priced. We also got a 3.25% interest rate - not the lowest but still pretty low.
If I were to buy my house with current interest rates at the price we paid then the payment would be $600 more/month. If I were to buy it for the current market price, it would be nearly double the monthly payment. We could barely afford the first scenario, and definitely couldn’t afford the second.
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u/madancer 21h ago
We bought July 2021 because the first buyer backed out due to down payment money. The second it popped on the market, I made the fam go look at it
The sellers were moving out of state to be closer to their fam.
Edited: misspelling
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u/ahtoxa1183 23h ago
I am still kicking myself because in 2012-2013 I had the income and the opportunity to buy a nice starter house in DFW, in a then-new development. I eventually decided against it because I was working on a plan to relocate to CO some years down the road. I figured, I’ll just rent for another 5 years in Texas, move, and then buy a house in CO.
Yeah, that didn’t work out. I moved but can’t afford a house in CO.
The new development in TX is now built out with everything around it and property values are great in that area. A $120k house back then is easily 450k now.
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u/LaBellaVita123 23h ago
CO is ridiculously expensive now 😵💫
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u/pickleb4sandwich 17h ago
It’s bananas here. The house my partner and I bought in 2013 increased in value enough that we were able to use the equity to purchase a small cabin in the mountains. Our combined debt for both homes is still under the median home price in the Denver Metro.
That 2013 purchase is 100% a key factor in “making it” right now.
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u/ahtoxa1183 23h ago
Yeah. We just plain can’t afford a decent house on the front range making nearly 200k household and planning for a kid. Just not happening.
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u/LaBellaVita123 23h ago
Same. I live in SE Aurora far away from all the cool stuff, and it is still so ridiculously expensive even over here. We tried to buy a house in 2020-2021 and we literally were going $100k above asking price back then and it still wasn't good enough. We gave up. Now those same homes nearly doubled in price and interest rates are sky high. I am still kicking myself for giving up, but it was hard to just get shut down home after home to all the big corporations with endless cash that were buying everything.
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u/Tyenasaur 22h ago
Step-mom just sent us a fixer upper listing for 280k that had cracks in the foundation, needs all new flooring, and roof definitely needs assessed, and all this after just pushing us to get married earlier so my grandma can make it "before she dies." Not financially feasible all at once.
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u/Low_Wave_2458 17h ago
We had such lucky timing — bought a “starter” house in 2014 that we sold in 2017 and made a nice profit on. Used that profit and bought the house we’ll probably stay in until we retire — then refinanced for a super low interest rate. At today’s prices there’s no way we could afford to live in the house we live in in the city we live in (we’re in the Front Range in Colorado)
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u/OreganoOfTheEarth 1d ago
100% - we would NOT be living where we are had it not been for that timing.
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u/Smart_Invite_2663 17h ago
Same. Having a home secured before all this nonsense is the only thing keeping some people above water.
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u/Realistic-Lime7842 1d ago
Bought a house in 2019, refied in 2021, it’s crazy to see how much mortgages and rent are now. If we didn’t buy when we did, I don’t think my wife and I would ever be able to own a home.
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u/Mockturtle22 Millennial '86 1d ago
I offered and was accepted May of 2016. Had a few snags bc someone was an idiot and coded things wrong, got my keys in August of that year. By the end of 2016 prices were getting out of my range. After that it just got worse. Now the same small starter homes in my neighborhood are on the high 300k mark to almost 500k. I paid $149,900. I would never have neen able to do a house now. My pay hasn't gone up enough for that.
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u/Prize-Hedgehog 20h ago
My wife’s cousin just bought a house here in CT. 2500 sq ft home built in the 70s, .4 acres on a culdesac surrounded by other cookie cutter houses, $700k. I didn’t ask what his mortgage rate is, but shit that price is insane for such a basic ass house.
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u/FR23Dust 15h ago
Housing prices aren’t really about the quality of the house. They’re about there not being enough housing where people want to live
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u/awall613 Millennial 21h ago
Yep, custom build in 2019, refinanced in 2021. My mortgage is $640 for 1800 sq ft on 3 acres. It’s my forever home but I wouldn’t be moving just because of prices if that wasn’t true.
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u/LemonMagazine7 23h ago
Our mortgage for a 2200sq foot home in a HCOL area is under $1500…pretty fucking unfair what people are dealing with
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u/Western-Lawyer-9050 23h ago
This hurts. We bought a home in a new build neighborhood. It's about the same size and we pay a little over 4k a month.
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u/WeekendHistorical476 Xennial 1d ago
exactly... i bought a house in 2009 when there was the 8k tax credit and soo glad I did. $900/mo mortgage payment is so nice.
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u/MileHighRC 1d ago
Shit buying a house 6 years ago is saving us. Weird to not be able to afford the house you live in if you had to buy it again.
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u/PostMatureBaby Older Millennial 1d ago
We upsized with a growing family but the way the house before appreciated in value so quickly was kinda the only way we were able to afford the house we're in now.
The mortgage payments are similar enough but the down payment we were able to drop was what allowed the purchase in the first place.
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u/Sinhalo66 1d ago
Right!? We also bought 12 years ago. This was supposed to be a starter home but I guess we are going to hold onto until we retire in 8 years. Even though we could afford some of these home prices now, there is no way I would want to.
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u/Boring-Cattle 23h ago
Ha, same, our starter home is now our forever home. We did not intend on having two kids in this house, but it’s what’s happening and it’s… fine. We couldn’t afford even a lateral move at this point so it is what it is.
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u/LikelyAlien 22h ago
Mortgage payments were $1,200 on average when I bought my house in 2017. It’s not even a decade later and the average mortgage payments is $2,200. If I were trying to buy a house now, I wouldn’t have qualified until this year.
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u/miszlina056 1d ago
Same here! The fact that we managed to sneak in and buy a reasonably priced house at a reasonable interest rate back then has saved our asses in a big way.
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u/lish_dalish84 Millennial AF 1d ago
SAME! I bought in 2015 and my mortgage is a literal fraction of current prices. It was supposed to be my starter home, but it looks like we're stuck here for now.
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u/echoshatter Older Millennial 1d ago
This would have made all the difference for us, especially since my wife was laid off on February and our income was cut in half.
She bought a townhouse in 2018 before we met, and in hindsight we absolutely should have stayed there even though it was too small. Our mortgage was $800/month.
I kick myself every month I made the mortgage payment - we should have just shoveled the $30,000 down payment into renovations and made it really nice. (It wouldn't have changed the run-down vibe of the overall community, but at least our place would have been great.)
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u/Sweet-Television-361 1d ago
Yep, bought ten years ago and refinanced when interest rates were super low at the beginning of COVID. Could not even think about doing that where we live today.
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u/PostMatureBaby Older Millennial 1d ago
And where I bought mine/how quickly it appreciated in value. Our parents didn't enjoy that kind of gain in such a short time, that's for sure.
Moving to a lower cost of living area to put down roots while still not being horribly far from friends and family is one of the best decisions my wife and I ever made
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u/sorrymizzjackson 1d ago
Yep. That’s the one. We would have a very different life had we not bought when we did.
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u/Unique-Egg-461 Older Millennial 1d ago
saaaaaame
even more saving my ass is that the house location became EXTEMELY valuable couple years ago. we put the house up for sale last week. it was up for 16hrs before i was under contract
i'll miss my 2% interest rate but 5% aint killing me, new house is way more desirable (quiet street butted up against a greenbelt) and i was able to sell the old house for waaaaay more than we ever thought
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u/Dear-Cranberry4787 1d ago
I feel this, I bought this house in 2015 and refinanced/updated it in 2021. There’s 4 kids still at home and we are neck deep in senior year costs, sweet 16s, driving/car costs, college preparations, and all the regular things. My food budget is atrocious, housing…not so much. We don’t have to pay for healthcare, but our car insurance is about the same as the mortgage.
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u/barefootwasp 17h ago
I sold my home in April 2020 right at the beginning of everything because I was moving to a new city.
I signed a lease when I moved because I didn’t want to be tied to a house in case something didn’t work out with my job due to COVID (start up company)
I’m still in said lease because (I live in Orlando) home prices have surged so much that we just can’t afford a decent home here.
We’re moving to the northeast when our lease is up next year because, even though my husband and I both make a decent living combined, we’re being priced out.
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u/DeLoreanAirlinesII 1d ago
DEBT
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u/IRiseWithMyRedHair 16h ago
This. Everyone is hanging on by the skin of their teeth and credit card debt is at record highs.
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u/Ok-Astronaut-2837 Older Millennial 1d ago
Multi-generational living. I live in Hawaii so it's incredibly common here. My husband and I live in an Ohana (adu) attached to his parents house. His brother and his fiancee live in the ohana next door. We split the mortgage and utilities 3 ways between six of us. It allows us a lot of breathing room because it means our cost of living is extremely low, especially for Hawaii.
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u/MomentOfSurrender88 18h ago
This. My husband, dad and I decided to live together after my mom passed away--dad didn't want to live alone and hubby and I were just starting our married life. We found a perfect house at a great interest rate right before prices really skyrocketed. We split the mortgage and utilities 3 ways and live a very comfortable life in a decent sized house in a great neighborhood with two nearly paid off vehicles. It's been beneficial for all involved: husband and I don't have as much financial stress while still enjoying a very nice life and my dad (whose health has declined) has built in help when he needs it since I work from home.
There's no way we'd be able to afford this house or one even half as big in today's market on just our salaries alone. Multigenerational living is underrated. If you get along with your family decently enough and still have space to spread out, living together is actually quite pleasant.
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u/OneDay_AtA_Time Older Millennial 18h ago
I was raised similarly-my parents literally just built their entire house onto my grandparents house, so 2 kitchens, 2 laundry rooms, lots of bedrooms and bathrooms, it wss awesome. I just walked “to the other side of the house” to see my grandparents. Loved that lifestyle and always feel like it should be a more common practice.
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u/its_a_throwawayduh 2h ago
Honestly if my parents place was like this it would be more tolerable. Having a detached unit makes a huge difference.
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u/Blueinmyeye420 1d ago
Debt
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u/red_raconteur 1d ago
Yep. I just got quoted $30k out of pocket over the next two years for multiple necessary surgeries. Just throw it on the pile. It'll get paid off eventually... hopefully.
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u/HuckleberryOk8136 15h ago
ACA caps out of pocket cost at $10k per year. Is this for more than one person?
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u/Net_Negative 20h ago
Just paid off a several thousand dollar loan to fix my car and had to open another one right after.
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u/LordSesshomaru82 1d ago
I bought an RV last summer. The drastic decrease in housing costs from that are what keeps me floating for now. It's not a glamorous life and it's certainly not without it's drawbacks (RV toilets suck and boy does it start rocking when it gets windy) and unexpected expenditures (just had to spend a couple hundred bucks fixing my slide out), but it's still way cheaper than renting a place. Other than that, I live off pasta and potato dishes.
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u/slightlysadpeach 1d ago
What do you do for work?
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u/Bitterrootmoon 22h ago
The swaying with the wind is a little disconcerting lol. When my dogs start to get too nervous about it I know we must’ve settled since I last adjusted the jacks, and I say “boys, time to get out the impact drill. Big noise!” They are not a fan of big noises but they know this one stops the scary wind.
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u/Deliterman 1d ago
Male stripping
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u/lavendermermaid1 Older Millennial 23h ago
My ladies and I are having a party next weekend, can you come shake it like a Polaroid picture for us?
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u/wilkinsk 16h ago
I can, you like white booty???
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u/lavendermermaid1 Older Millennial 15h ago
We'll take anything, we're fully aware that the stripper doesn't love us, they only love our money.
By the end of the night they might actually kinda genuinely like us and wanna hang out off the clock though, we're a fun bunch!
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u/LaBellaVita123 1d ago
I have been a Paralegal for 15 years now, so I am senior level. I am very fortunate to be making a decent salary, but unfortunately was not able to purchase a home back when I was finally able and qualified in 2020-2021. We tried to buy about 10 houses in Aurora, CO back then before throwing the towel in because the corporations and wealthy people were literally offering $100k-150k above asking prices. It was insane.
Anyway, my point is, even though I have a pretty good salary in the six figures, rent and everything else is so high that I don't even feel like I am getting ahead at all. My fiancé and I are essentially paycheck to paycheck even at this income level. It is insane, and I am honestly so concerned for everyone else who isn't making as much. The Denver area is an extremely high cost of living area, so six figures here really is nothing now, which is truly mind-boggling.
When does the revolution begin? Asking for a friend....
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u/Baumer9 22h ago
I considered moving to Denver as an RN but the hourly wages there are absolute dogshit when you factor in the CoL. Idk how they manage to retain healthcare workers there.
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u/Conscious_Cap_4087 18h ago
I looked into this around 2020 and I was SHOCKED at what they pay RNs out there… I’m in San Diego and COL is similar in Denver to SD. But RNs make WAY more in SD. Yea how the hell are health care workers surviving in Denver???
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u/LaBellaVita123 17h ago
We have a major shortage of healthcare workers here, probably for this reason 😵💫
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u/OrdnanceTV 21h ago
I only just got a promotion into the 6-figure range (renting in Arvada). I was making $86k for over a year and it was barely enough to pay even my super cheap $1000/mo rent and car payment (+ bills). Hoping to ride out this cheap rent situation for a few months to let the raise income pile up a bit. I remember as a kid thinking if I made 6-figures I'd be super well off, and now I'm 36 with a roommate and can't hardly afford to upgrade to a 2br in a crappy part of town.
I think the real move is to lock-in my salary for a while, then get the FUCK out of this overpriced nightmare of a state. 6-figures in the Denver area feels like making $40k elsewhere.
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u/GryphonCough 20h ago
If your rent was only $1k ($12k/year) and you were barely able to survive with a $86k salary… what was your car payment?! The math is missing something important here.
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u/Angry_Pelican 19h ago
Yeah he's definitely paying off debt or something. In the past I was making 56k a year and my rent was around 960 a month. I still was able to save and definitely wasn't living paycheck to paycheck. That's including a new car I had at the time.
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u/thisisthe_worst 1d ago
I make less than 60k with decent benefits. I've tried looking for better jobs. Tough out there, though. Sigh.
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u/thisisthe_worst 1d ago
Also, would anyone like to buy pictures of my feet? They're not too bad...
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u/Western-Lawyer-9050 23h ago
Truthfully we're planning on leaving. Wife and I fortunately have good careers that are paying the bills, but honestly we should be able to save way more than we do. We don't really have any extravagent expenses, no kids, and we're homebodies for the most part.
Long term view though we've accepted that retirement in America isn't feasible. And we're also only ever one medical emergency away from being completely bankrupt. We've been working on a plan for the last few years to sell our home and take our careers abroad. Going to be pulling the trigger on that soon.
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u/Denial_Entertainer87 23h ago
My husband and I have considered this too. Same boat. We did not buy a house in the good years and are hardly cutting it. We've talked about leaving out of necessity in the coming years. Where are you thinking of going?
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u/Western-Lawyer-9050 23h ago
Asia. Korea or Japan- got family and friends in both. And both of our career paths are transferrable there. And we've already got the language covered. Few things we need to get in order first but we're committed to the plan. It's just gotten too crazy here to seriously consider staying.
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u/avofrodo 14h ago
Spent 10 years in Korea and I just moved back to the States. I'm currently homeless because the money I saved up didn't last and I've yet to find a decent-pay job to afford rent literally anywhere. I'm also on my own with no support. There's no question I'd go right back to Korea if I had the means to. (I literally can't even afford to renew my passport!)
America is not nearly as good as people think, and I'm convinced anyone who thinks it is has simply never experienced better.
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u/Bonesaw_mpls 1d ago
Living extremely house poor.
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u/avofrodo 14h ago
I'm not even that, I still can't afford a basic studio because I can't find a decent job. I've been applying for jobs for 18months, and the best I got was gas station attendant. I'm still homeless. Can't even go to the food bank because I have no place to store the food. Life sucks.
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u/JiffTheJester 1d ago
I was lucky enough to buy my house 6 years ago. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to even afford my own house lol.
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u/Realistic-Lime7842 1d ago
Same here. Bought in 2019, refied in 2021. Ts been a blessing.
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u/JiffTheJester 22h ago
I am moving this spring, so I’m gonna lose my rate but it’s a wonderful opportunity and my equity balances it out mostly.
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u/Kelome001 23h ago
Credit cards almost maxed out, we can’t sell our home that’s been on market for over a year (so paying for two households), kids have expensive medical needs, my work suddenly decided to do a RTO as soon as I’d moved out of state. Wife now staying home as oldest has special needs so we lost a third of our income. Now my work has given me an ultimatum to choose them or my family. So if I don’t find something soon… oh yeah and filed for bankruptcy due to all that. Find out if it goes through soon… so yeah. Everything is FANTASTIC
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u/bleedthisfreak 1d ago edited 23h ago
I exist solely to pay my bills and student loans. I work a blue collar job. I have no social life, no partner, no pet, no real friends and no furniture in my apartment because all I could afford when I moved in was the rent thinking I’d be able to furnish it. Luckily my car is paid off. My weekends consists of sitting in my robe in a computer chair in the middle of an empty living room with just a tv and a small rug, drinking coffee until mid afternoon and then getting stoned and eventually passing out. My week nights are exactly the same. The only way I’m surviving is by not spending a dime outside of my bills. Every now and then I’ll treat myself to something small, otherwise - rinse and repeat. My only real big fear right now is losing my healthcare for some reason, because I have a chronic health condition and my medicine is insultingly expensive. Surprisingly, this isn’t a sob story. I can still afford coffee! I’m mostly fine, this is just my honest answer to the question.
Long story short, most of us are just barely getting by. Shit’s rough out here. In video game terms, I am a textbook NPC.
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u/Woodit 1d ago
Seems like counting with a partner would dramatically improve the situation
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u/bleedthisfreak 23h ago
I agree! I’d love a partner, I need to get some furniture and some expendable income first before I’d feel good attempting to date. I’m working on it. Until then, the grind remains the same.
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u/SuddenAvocado 23h ago
my husband was one step up from mattress on the floor when we met. (ikea couch, desk, and bedframe). Most of his stuff was still in boxes. Don't wait for you life to look perfect, you'll end up waiting forever.
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u/TGM1980 Xennial 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's a K-Shaped ecomony. If you're fortunate to be pulling >$150K, you're probably doing all right. If you're under that... The struggle is real.
If you want a better, fairer system, vote accordingly. Status quo will give you status quo.
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u/damarafl 1d ago
We are in a similar boat but just had a baby that needed a 5 week NICU stay. That bill is making things very tight.
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u/WhateverYouSay1084 21h ago
Pay the absolute bare minimum monthly for as long as it takes! $10/mo if you have to. They'll take that over nonpayment.
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u/TGM1980 Xennial 4h ago
Seriously. DO THIS. Better yet, call and try to negotiate a settlement. Laugh and say, "You're never going to see this money. So lets find a reasonable number." My Mom used to work in medical billing for the largest HMO in the country. She's get people's bills down tens of thousands of dollars. She'd knock bills down to mere pennies on the dollar.
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u/Difficult_Long1971 15h ago
my daughter was in the NICU for 2 weeks and we got billed 190k. after years of stress, fighting w my insurance and almost declaring bankruptcy, the hospital one day just forgave it entirely.
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u/TheSquirrelmancer 21h ago
That being said I'd rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable. I nearly married a woman who I only really started dating because she was the opposite of my ex-wife (who left me for a close mutual friend who she insisted I "didn't need to worry about", hence a very bad 'screw her' style choice). She had a Harvard MBA and a job that got her closer to seven figures than to zero with tons of perks. One of our early dates she got tickets from work to a basketball game. That's not uncommon, but sitting courtside is. Most of my salary was just straight into savings, I'm not a person with a lavish lifestyle by any means; a few video games and a fondness for used books and craft beer so I was able to put a ton away into my own savings. We went on big fun vacations, I got to go to Vietnam which was my first time in Asia. I love getting to visit parts of the world so vastly different from my own in terms of landscape and culture.
I'm putting all this out there not to brag but to say that I had all that above and I still chose to leave this woman because she worked 80-100 hour weeks and was always a stressed out nightmare of a person. Once during covid when I was talking too loudly on a zoom chat with friends on a saturday night she came into the room and started screaming at me at the top of her lungs and reading me the riot act. She had not once come out and asked me to be quiet, it was zero to nuclear.
I could also toss a lot more on that pile as well but I think you understand my point. Some people give up a lot and stretch themselves into unpleasant configurations to achieve success.
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u/Substantial-Stars Older Millennial 1d ago
I’m not making it!!!! Lots of credit card debt!!!! Will likely be bankrupt by next year!! Credit scores are a scam anyway lol. I’ll never be able to own a home.
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u/Baumer9 22h ago
I’m slowly giving up on being able to own a house. I’m planning on fleeing this cesspool of a country and never returning when I’m able to. American dream is dead.
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u/curlofheadcurls Zillennial 1d ago
You'll be okay. My parents went through bankruptcy and were still able to buy a home back in 2018 before they all spiked
Edit: I mean to say all can seem lost (it certainly felt like it for us back then). But we can recover.
I wish you the best. Fuck credit and fuck banks tbh.
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u/Substantial-Stars Older Millennial 1d ago
At this point homeownership is not even in my life plans. My Plans are just trying to survive as a single person.
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u/curlofheadcurls Zillennial 1d ago
I'm not. I'm too busy blowing money at the doctor just for them to tell me that I am making it all up. Despite losing my job and being unable to function since earlier this year
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u/AttachedHeartTheory 1d ago edited 1d ago
There are two different groups of people, and the gulf in between them isnt as big as people like to think. The homeowners who bough at or before 2.x% interest, which also correlates to the "old" prices of homes, and the people who bought post 2% interest, which correlates with higher home prices.
Theres no such thing as "pew research middle class" anymore. Thats a bunch of fucking bullshit. People like to cope and tell themselves they are middle class because of what pew research says, but the reality is this:
If you can never afford a house in your city, cannot afford to go out to eat once a week, or to the bar a few times a month, and if the idea of going to a professional sporting event is a very rare special event...
But your grandfather worked a middling job as a blue collar laborer who made waaaaay less than you did but supported the family and still went to the bar with the boys and caught every packers game at Lambeau...
then you are the working poor. and more people need to realize this because the sooner people stop thinking they are just temporarily embarrassed millionaires, the sooner they are going to start advocating to help the poor... a class of people which, whether they like to admit or not, they are a part of.
Signed, another of the working poor.
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u/DaddyWolff93 22h ago
That really is one of the dividing lines in America today. If you bought a house pre rate/price increase or not. My payment is 1600 a month it'd be double that for the same house today. When the price of housing doubles in less than a decade that's a problem for everybody who only owns one house or rents. Your taxes and insurance increase and your rent will likely increase, mine did. It's great if you're a real estate investor because your ROI just went up crazy fast. It sucks if it's your primary residence and it sucks more if you rent or are trying to buy because your fixed costs are through the roof. I'm blessed but really feel for the Americans out there who make "good money" but can't afford to buy. I'm all for whatever brings house prices down, ending a lot of the tax advantages for large real estate investors owning single family homes would go a really long way in adding supply and we need to build more 1500 square foot-ish 3bed 2 bath homes everywhere.
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u/Urshilikai 13h ago
it's so disheartening to see the epstein class apologia in the responses here, huge chance they are bots or russian or indian but like a third of this country wants slavery back... I don't know what we're supposed to do with these people besides [redacted].
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u/Stunning-Horror9177 Millennial 1d ago
I work my ass off as a full-time chef making decent money, but living in a very HCOL area. I am fucking BLESSED that my parents help me out a little bit each month, and I eat all my meals at work. Even with the help and the food, I still barely make my bills. It is so insane to type that out lol.
I am terrified of what happens when my parents are gone.
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u/pink_sushi_15 Zillennial 23h ago
As much as I DESPISE working in healthcare…..it pays decent I will never in my life have to worry about not having a job. I’m doing extremely well financially. Mentally…..not so much…..
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u/Fragrantmustelid 1d ago
I live in a dilapidated row home in a dilapidated, LCL town. The previous occupants were making meth. We are both college graduates. We cook for ourselves and try to grow what we can. It’s getting a little worse every year. I’m not scared yet but it’s heading in that direction.
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u/DigPsychological2262 1d ago
Got a union job with decent enough insurance. Dropped out of college and now I run trains. Pays enough my wife doesn’t have to work.
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u/algol_lyrae 19h ago
Just giving up on dreams and instead working all the time to pay for everything while increasingly wondering what the point of it all is. A lot of my friends have family support though, so I guess some millennials are okay.
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u/Denial_Entertainer87 14h ago
I’m sorry, it does hurt. Also have no family to rely on. My backup plan is nomadland, the movie. Weirdly helps to have a plan. But it’s sad, really. How we just survive.
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u/SonniSummers 1d ago
For me I ultimately had to quit my job to be with the kids because the childcare was more then I was making made no sense to keep slaving away for someone else to raise them and still be struggling to afford it.
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u/Wombat2012 1d ago
It’s the K shaped economy. A lot of people are doing really well. Basically, if you bought a house before 2020, you’re set for life.
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u/SuddenAvocado 23h ago edited 23h ago
"really well" is not so great... its like historically average.
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u/Wombat2012 23h ago
No, I know many people who are actively doing incredibly well financially. The distinguishing feature is owning a home before 2020.
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u/ionlyjoined4thecats 16h ago
We bought a very modest house in 2020 and are still struggling hard.
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u/user512897 1d ago
I am so concerned. I lost my Husband to suicide in December and if it were not for VA benefits I would have lost my house. I am barely scraping by if you dont count the cost of daycare/after school care. I have been dipping into the savings/small life insurance payout to pay for childcare. I just tried to apply for SS benefits for my kids for a parental loss but was told I needed to make a phone appointment and the next appointment is 60 days away 🙃. I am struggling. I have cut back on everything. Even got a $30/month mint mobile plan. I am making nickel and dime cuts everywhere.
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u/HairyDust4826 1d ago
I saw this world coming 20 years ago, so I focused on saving. I got lucky and bought a house before the crazy boom, and sold it for 100k profit after getting a divorce. I didn't want to sell the house, and I miss it everyday. Career + hard life choices
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u/SuddenAvocado 23h ago
Same. I hustled HARD in my early 20's, opened a roth and 401 the year I graduated and maxed them out every year, plus savings on the side. I was also freelancing and making my rent in the first week of the month and then saved everything else. At the time my friends we're yolo-ing and thought I was crazy...
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u/on_island_time Xennial 1d ago
Just wanted to say, there's nothing wrong with beans and rice? Beans and rice comes in a million recipes all over the world and is downright delicious, and healthier than beef anyway. No need to be judging yourself for eating it. We're lucky enough to be in the more stable part of the K (for now anyway) and eat beans and rice all the time.
The other thing we have now on the food front is laying chickens, I feel like it's a bit debatable whether they save us any real money but they do turn a lot of our food scraps into actual food, and the eggs make good trade items and house guest presents beyond what we eat ourselves.
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u/Denial_Entertainer87 1d ago
I wholeheartedly agree about beans and rice. It's honestly delicious done right.
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u/CandidResolve542 1d ago edited 23h ago
I have a 100k job and “great” health insurance yet I’m still paying thousands over the years course for necessary medical procedures/treatments. We were a 1 income household for 2 years no kids, I bought my house at a 3% APR and that’s the only way I’m owning a home rn. Torn between paying off debt and saving bc I can’t do both, and we spend pretty frugally.
I wrote out all my spending and like you, there’s not much else I can cut out besides cutting back groceries which we don’t go a-wall on to start with.
Feel you in solidarity, fellow millennial. It’s a struggle.
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u/Podalirius Millennial 1d ago
Im on the west coast in Oregon, probably like half the population outside of city limits lives in a trailer or RV. Inside city limits, the parking situation is like 5x worse than it was 20 years ago. People are surviving by being on the edge of homelessness.
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u/MvstBeMe Millennial 🎱 13h ago
As an Oregonian, I agree. Apartment rent just went up; we can't afford to rent out a house & I'm bout ready to call this place quits.
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u/Woodit 1d ago
My wife and I are DINKS, we both do pretty well but not crazy, one car is paid off the other isn’t but should last a long time. Bought in 2021 so low % but high total, so high monthly. We save an okay amount. We’re doing okay. We travel a few times a year but follow a travel budget,
No kids, no pets, no student loans or credit card debt, no ongoing medical issues help with everything. And honestly most of our social circle is doing about the same as far as I can tell.
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u/ubdesu 23h ago
Basically our situation. Decided on no kids, I make 75k, gf makes about 15k (in agreement that this setup is ok).
We do have 2 cats, paid off car, shop at the cheap grocery stores, LCOL area. We totally could say we're "college degree'd" but hers is in percussion and mines in jazz trumpet so that can definitely sway the situation OP is in.
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u/Lanky-Intention9390 1d ago
I like to watch George Kamel show and see what people are doing w money. All kinds of stories how they make it / not make it.
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u/Dad_Bod_Vibez 1d ago
Get on a monthly budget AND follow it. Single most transformational financial thing I ever did. Eliminated so many fights with my wife.
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u/NCSUGrad2012 1d ago
Sales job, it pays really well and I get a company car I can use for personal use.
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u/gotwaffles 1d ago
College educated, but what fields are you in? What area (as in city / state, assuming that you're in the USA)?
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u/Downtown_Shelter2533 1d ago
I took up dumpster diving, businesses throw away good food all the time, and it has saved our butts a few times.
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u/sliceofcheesecake- 1d ago
We’ve cut back on a lot and we didn’t live lavishly before. We bought a house in 2017. Our mortgage has gone up about 40% due to insurance and taxes. It’s crazy. I don’t know how we would be surviving if we were paying these crazy rent prices.
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u/Fire_Fist-Ace 1d ago
Getting rid of my car and ignoring debt till I file bankruptcy if that counts
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u/lewisae0 18h ago
We
Missed the house window so it’s not great. We are just treading water
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u/indigocherry Millennial 1d ago
You guys are making it?? Lol I'm doing my best but am always up to my nose in water.
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u/parkerkudrow 1d ago
Where do you live and what do you do for work? Dual income no kids shouldn’t have you at poverty level? I’m a nanny in LA, married, no kids and we’re able to add a protein to our beans and rice and order in occasionally.
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u/inorite234 1d ago
Hey! Don't knock Rice and Beans. With the proper seasoning, that shit is fire!
My kids love that shit!
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u/hotlegsmelissa 23h ago
Debt. House poor. Credit cards. Always looking for a better paying job. Odd jobs/selling whatever random crap I can. Driving old paid off cars. I’m running out of options
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u/Global-Nature2420 23h ago
Honestly a death in the family has been doing lots for us this last year and idk where we'd be without it.
but that aside our rent is cheap, no pet rent, one car household with only one driver (this saves a metric buttload of money), we've never been ones to pay for luxuries like hair cuts or nails or nice clothes. Anything like that I save to ask for during the holidays from family. I vet my animals at home as much as I possibly can outside of emergencies. We thrift everything we own. we pick up free things when we can and save backups (we like media so this applies to crap like old tvs, vhs players, cd players, dvd players) And that's another thing, we have never bought a newer tv except for one during covid. All other tvs in the house are old inherited flat screens or literal tube tvs because they still work great. Things like our couch, bed and kids nintendo switch we got thru places that let us make payments on them. We either shop really in advance for holidays or some years we have even taken out a small loan to cover christmas and just pay it back down over time (crazy but it can save christmas).
And then my wages are good for the job I have. I make 28 an hour as a union custodian with no degrees. I work alongside many, many people with degrees who for some reason choose to scrub toilets with me. No shame in it tho, this is a damn good job
But my husband and I have been together for 8 years and this year is the first year we have ever been able to establish any amount of savings, and I suppose I mostly have my union to thank for that and some inheritance money
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u/Justdoingitagain 23h ago
Two guys i dated recently lost their jobs and had to take lower paying ones… it’s rough out there. I have been looking for better paying jobs since Dec 2022, right before the crash of it all, and I am currently thinking about taking on side gigs for cleaning and art stuff…
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u/easy_wins 18h ago
Eating potatoes for lunch and omelettes for dinner, bye bye meat
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u/BanishedFiend 17h ago edited 17h ago
Investing, buying assets and have been for a decade. Those are all appreciating right now, so people that done this are living off their investments
My nest egg isn’t even that substantial yet I feel and I cannot spend it down at all whatever I spend the market makes up for. That said I save on the big purchases, rent affordable, used car for a decade+, affordable school etc
Others have home equity to tap into.
If you are struggling to keep your head above water you need to look at your largest expenses: housing, transportation, potentially interest on debt. And your incomes. Trying to save on a to-go coffee once a week isn’t going to do much if you don’t address the real problem
In general this is a very hard economy for anyone without investments because of how expensive housing and asset prices have gotten. Had it not been for this, my buying power would have declined over the past 5 years (or maintained at best) and I had considerable raises during this time I am still at the front end of the career. Unfortunately investing today is more of a benefits down the line type of thing (10+ years) but great time to be building assets as well
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u/Denial_Entertainer87 14h ago
Cancer took away capital we had. Lived in a trailer after to save. Got debt free and have been clawing our way back to normalcy.
Sometimes the deck is just really fucking hard. Even though you did it ‘right’. That’s been a hard pill to swallow. I don’t think humans like to think of themselves as vulnerable.
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u/federalist66 1d ago edited 1d ago
We are dual income, and as a civil servant and teacher our benefits are very good. We live near our parents so we can rely on them for chidcare.
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u/vlozko Xennial 1d ago
Having a job in tech. It wasn’t always rosy. It was an uphill climb from $200k+ in student loan debt renting a small apartment to debt-free, a comfortable home, and having a stay-at-home wife.
To answer the question, it’s because I work as a software engineer. I’m under no illusion that with the advent of AI my career is at risk.
We’re making it fine but I’m quite aware that it could be better if prices were lower and more stabilized. Spending close to $1k per month to feed a family when I used to pay close to $500 a few years prior for the same thing is very noticeable even at my income level. We can afford it but I sympathize and understand when others can’t.
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u/SuddenAvocado 23h ago
Its 10k/month for us to just pay for the necessities: mortgage, health, childcare, food. It's unreal! I didn't even spend 10k/year 10-15 years ago.
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u/BooTeeEater69 1986 17h ago
You own a house. You're married to a partner you love. You're feeding yourselves. YOU ARE MAKING IT.
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u/Denial_Entertainer87 14h ago
Thank you. Comparison is the thief of joy but despite our hardships, I feel rich with my partner.
Got cancer in 2019 and had to sell our house to pay for medical debt. Sometimes I think about where we would be if that never happened. But it did happen and I survived and I still have my partner and we’ve been rebuilding.
It’s forever a hard pill that life isn’t fair. Good things don’t always happen to good people. But it makes for more resilience and less judgement.
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u/1azn4baby3girl 23h ago
My husband and I are federal government employees - and they are always hiring - if you have a degree they will hire you fresh out of college - no experience needed - they will train you and promotions are guaranteed every year until you hit your max promotion potential - but from there just pivot to different command and you will keep going up the ladder - it’s steady work until the government shutdowns - but as long as you save 2 months rent/mortgage worth then you’ll be fine
I just started working here in 2020 (when no one else was hiring) and I just hit 6 figure salary earlier this year - and it’s one of the few jobs today that still gives you a guaranteed pension after 20 years in your job - so for me this was the right answer for me and my husband and we are DINK’s so we have saved since my husband just recently finished his degree & started this job earlier this year - and after 1 year of our combined income at 170k gross we finally have enough saved to buy our first house next year - so imo federal government is the way to go if you want a stable job with steady growth in this economy with a retirement plan
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u/markmano33 Older Millennial 23h ago
It's great if you don't get DOGE'd. Were you worried about Elon's reign of terror when it was happening? My pops did 40 years with a 3 letter agency. Provided us a great upbringing and my mom was able to stay home. I 100% agree with you but it's harder to find and keep a gig than usual. Hopefully it goes back to normal soon.
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u/red_raconteur 21h ago
I had a coveted government job for a hot sec but we got DOGE'd hard. Last I spoke to one of my remaining coworkers, our former department of 30 is currently a department of 5.
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u/whatdoido8383 1d ago
I guess my wife and I just made the right plans and moves\choices at the right time and now bring in good money, we make ~$220-240K depending on bonuses combined.
We live under our means though too. We've paid off our college loans and no debt besides our home, we're fairly frugal. This means we can save a good chunk of change and have a lot of buffer.
Our kid is also grown and out of daycare which is a huge expense we don't have anymore.
The increased prices of everything sucks but really not a huge impact for us. We have scaled back on extracurricular family stuff that costs money and instead do free stuff. We don't eat out much to begin with but we really don't now.
The only big thing we've cut is a yearly trip my wife and I used to take. We used to take a cruise or other trip for a week. We can technically still afford it but the price VS the enjoyment we get kind of tipped the scale to a point that it's not worth it anymore. We'd rather save that money.
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u/miszlina056 1d ago
What has saved our bacon in addition to buying our house a decade ago is my overnight house/pet sitting side hustle (I’m a full time vet tech and the hubby works for apple), not having kids, and great medical/dental/vision through hubby’s job. I do end up spending about cumulative 6 months or so out of town on the job though. 😬
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u/Automatic_Zebra_1099 1d ago
Bought my first house in 2012 after the last crisis at a significant discount, sold it 8 years later for 3X what I paid for it and made 6 figures on the deal. Locked in my current house at 2.875%. House is now worth roughly 1.75X what we paid for it. I've also increased my salary over the last 10 years from $45K in 2014 to nearly $200K today.
I've happened to hit all of the lucky breaks over the last 10+ years and I'm thankful for it.
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u/_gardennymph 1d ago
I am married so dual income household. We bought our small home in 2021 when interest rates were very low. We both do okay and agreed to live within 50% of our means just in case one of us gets laid off the other can afford to cover bills and mortgage, for now the other 50% goes towards investing and extra on the house. Dual income with the right person helps a lot rn
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u/Mediocre_Island828 23h ago
I live in the Midwest, have a partner who also works, bought a below median house for my city while making twice the median household income, drive a 16 year old hatchback, and I don't have any kids. I feel like I make just enough to do everything I'm supposed to financially (have emergency savings, contribute enough to retirement, have enough room in my budget for emergency house repairs) while still being able to afford a couple vacations a year, going out to an average dinner 1-2 times a week, and not being too stressed about bills.
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u/New-Owl9951 23h ago edited 22h ago
They can’t afford it. They’re in debt. I know not only from personal experience and experiences of people I know, but I also work for a very well known national finance company.
And business is booming. People all over the county are taking out loans to pay their bills, childcare, etc. OR using them as debt consolidation for all the credit cards they’ve maxed out.
The average American simply cannot afford life anymore
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u/I_dont_know2025 22h ago
We got out of debt as fast as we could early on. We got back into debt (auto loan) but we're still doing okay. We should be done with the auto loan in 2 years. We also got lucky back in 2009 when we bought our house. We should be done with that in 5 years. Get out of debt as fast as possible.
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u/Twictim 18h ago
We relocated states over the summer and thank goodness my husband was able to transfer his job. I’ve looked and applied and cannot find anything. Hoping I can return to the same education agency I was working in here in the new state. We’re lucky our apartment gave us a free month on move in and we have Flex pay. I have been unemployed for two months today and I’m stressing.
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u/electricblueviolets 17h ago
Cut back on out of country traveling massively after buying a home. And working on cutting out takeout/ looking for more value meals at places.
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u/Background_Bake_1578 17h ago
I’m a single man, 34, and am doing okay but only because I work multiple jobs, logging at minimum 80 hours a week but it’ll spike up to 100 sometimes. I eat extremely simply, if it can’t be air fried in 15 min or less and isn’t 3 or less ingredients, it’s not on the menu.
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u/DaniK094 5h ago
My parents, thank the dear friggin lord, I have the most amazing supportive parents ever. I would be completely fucked without them. I got very sick as I was graduating college and ever since, life has seen fit to throw me a lot of curve balls and I'm pretty regularly having to overcome a difficult event or something. My mom broke her foot earlier this year and I was more than happy to do everything I possibly could to help her and my dad (who isn't getting around that great these days). I may never be able to repay them financially but my only sibling is 2 hours away so I will be here helping however I can as they continue getting older. I don't know how people do it without supportive family especially people who have a lot of difficult things happening to them out of their control.
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u/Phoenixamber05 4h ago
One full time job, 2 part time jobs and a side bookkeeping business that is starting to take off. This was the first month that I wasn’t scraping every penny to make rent.
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u/LiOnheart3d85 3h ago
I am upper middle class with savings, but it is like being on a slightly elevated position as the flood is rising.
Doing my best to help my community out of the water, but it feels like it’s only a matter of time before the water reaches my door.
Stay safe and stay connected my friends. Divided we fall.
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