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Not knowing what is completely involved in a nursing degree, an Associate Degree in Arts sounds like a waste of time and money, but it’s over.
My suggestion would be to stop the food delivery, and try to get a job at a hospital, clinic or doctor office. You already do a bit of leverything in your current job, and it seems you could “get your foot in the door” by being a “gopher” at a place where you can learn things that have everything to do with nursing and would very likely have people who would support and help you get through school.
I live near Detroit and I’m willing to bet that many places would welcome a young person willing to work. That’s a limited commodity these days in that area.
If you are in an area with TV/ Movie productions, you might look into that.
Also, if your area has a community access channel (via cable TV), see if you can volunteer to work on shows. I once did that and learned about lighting, technical directing (switching the cameras, etc), audio engineer, and so forth. Most folks start out at the bottom and work up the ranks. Directors and producers learn which folks are worth keeping and hire accordingly.
I knew one young woman, who was a makeup artist, and worked only 6 months out of the year. She'd go on location, with a movie crew. She owned a big house - and had room mates / house sitters take care of it when she was gone. No credentials - no degree - but she made a boat load of money.
If I worked in a restaurant, I think I'd find a way to cop some meals even if it's just saving the untouched food others leave behind, unless that's not allowed. I can't stand food waste, and restaurants, along with schools, have to be the worst offenders. Door Dash wouldn't be a thing in my case.
I am 26 years old. I am in a financial rut. I have no money in my savings. I'm continuously dipping into my savings. My checking account is in the negative. I have a credit limit of $3,100. I am over my credit limit by 10 bucks.
I work in a restaurant. I work 37.5 hours per week. My salary is $16.85 per hour.
I take an Uber/Lyft to get to work and home 5 days a week. It costs me anywhere from $10.00-$12.00 for an Uber/Lyft.
I live with my parents. My mother is charging me $300.00 a month towards Rent. I pay $120.00 a month for utilities. I pay $40.00 a month towards my cell phone.
With food I Doordash quite often. I haven't really kept track of my Doordash expenses.
I've been dealing with some medical issues for the past few years and I've spent a lot of money on Doctor bills.
I also have my student loans going into repayment next month. I have $15,000 in total. I signed up for the repayment plan where it charges me based off my income. I only have to pay a minimum of $1.00 per month.
My mom just gave me her old car. She got two new tires for the front. It still needs a slight wheel alignment.
I also have to still be added to my parent's Car Insurance policy as a driver.
All in all I am asking you guys for advice on how I can get out of my financial rut?
The Uber is costing you $50 a week if it is both ways, if that's one way, then $100 a week, $400 per month.
Eating out can really drain money. That Doordash is probably costing you $10 to $30 or more per order. Fast food has gone up a lot in the last few months. You could easily spend $15 at McD's if you get a sandwich, fries and drink meal. Depending on what you do spend daily, this is eating up a lot of cash per week and month. As was mentioned, you're better off going to Walmart to buy some frozen food meals that you can easily pop in the micro.
People go for a coffee every morning, spending $2 for it. They may also pick something else up at $5 to $10 a day. You don't say if you do this in addition to Doordash.
Once you tighten your belt on the Uber and Doordash, figure out what gas will cost for your car, you should work on paying down your student loan because as was mentioned, it will turn into a $100k loan if you do not start paying it down.
Hey Op. Ok, you're in the restaurant industry. $16.75/hour sounds like you're just starting out. Maybe a dishwasher or a busser. Try to get yourself into a better paying role in your workplace. At your age, I knew some waitstaff that would roll home with thousands in tips each weekend, and that was in the 90's. If you move up and learn your trade, there's higher end restaurants that will pay more.
Getting the vehicle to cut out the uber is helpful, though if there is public transportation, that's always a great option so you don't have to worry about parking and gas.
When you're starting out, eating out is a terrible habit to start. Even worse when it's delivered. At that age, sometimes bad habits accompanied poor decisions like that. If that's where you are....give it up. Legal or not it's not the way to live and our bodies don't get better over time. See if you have an Aldi near you. Start super simple. Premade stuff you dice up with veggies. Get out of the habit of letting food come to you. It will change your mental picture.
Take a month long challenege with yourself. The savings....yeah, it's going to get your debts under control again. Can't be negative at the bank. Can't be overlimit on the credit cards. They'll crush you. Month by month will be ministeps, but you'll make it. If you make it while developing good habits, the rest becomes even easier.
You could start small, cooking instead of ordering. Actually, it might not even be small, since you don't really know how much you spend at the moment. But can definitely make a difference at the end of the month.
OP hasn't returned since the first page of comments.
Nope.
Most posters like this DON'T really want advice...or at least not follow it.
They either just come here to (vent), OR, if they really want the advice they don't want to hear anything that requires them to actually change or do the hard work involved in changing the behaviors that got them into the mess they are in.
If the first few responses or first page or two of comments don't include something like "oh, you'll be fine. Just keep doing what you're doing, it'll all come out in the wash" they don't bother to come back.
It's like anything else us crazy Ol' human beings do/want: we only want POSITIVE reinforcement, NOTHING negative!!
I was going to.post a reply, but as you see, why would I? Either they simply aren't coming back, or they can't be bothered to let us know they are still alive, let alone actually follow any advice given, so why bother replying?
Because others may have the same question and may benefit from our advice.
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