<prompt> Human: The past year was really, really tough. I think I made something like 7,000 last year. And I pay rent, and eat, and have a phone bill. I dont live at mom and dads. Im 27.Honestly, I sponged more than I would have liked a lot. Even living an incredibly miserly life doesnt cut it when youre earning virtually nothing. But I have a huge amount of personal pride when it comes to borrowing money and I never allowed that to get ridiculous. The sum total of money borrowed is about 750 from various friends. I achieved this by basically doing nothing ever, and eating chicken soup 7 days a week. The weight of this debt was absolutely crushing me. The embarrassment of not being able to buy my own beer and having my friends check up on me all the time was just too much.They were really sympathetic, but they just dont understand the level of poorness. They dont understand what it means to be so broke that its actually amusing that a monthly bank fee can destroy your plans of eating for the next 2 days. I mean, were not students anymore. Theyve all got careers or at least well paying full-time employment. Being poor to them means not going out on both friday and saturday. So they invite you over dont worry, well supply the beer but meanwhile youre having a panic attack because what if one calls you and asks you to grab a couple of lemons? Theyve never even considered that buying a lemon might be a supremely luxurious way to waste 50 of all the money you have in the world. Wait, can I even justify the bus fare? Maybe I could do the 2-hour walk and just apologize for turning up 2 hours late?Those are the friends who were really great though. Understandably, I pissed off some people along the way. I lost a friend who was a former housemate he kicked me out. My current housemate had late rent delivered to him, and he was more than good about it. But he was still pissed off. My brother was sometimes covering my phone bill, and he has a young child and a single income. I felt fucking awful, and like I couldnt do anything about it. So picture my lifestyle. Ive set up the cheapest possible way of living - almost no money coming in, but very little going out. Tiny room, growing apart from friends all the time, becoming more depressed every day. I had completely forgotten what financial independence meant. And every day I had the fear of not knowing what the hell I would do when my already dying phone were to break, or my clothes all to wear out, or an unexpected bill to roll in.Anyway, a fortnight ago I got a new job. A proper career job. I went from 7k salary to 58k salary. They love me there, and I love the job. Last friday the first paycheck rolled in. I got square with my rent, I paid back nearly all of my debts. I went out with my friends and bought them their drinks. And now I have enough to live on for the next fortnight without being a total hermit. And after that I will be completely fine.Its difficult to explain just how relieving that is. To think that I will have more money coming in in 2 weeks than I have seen in my bank account for nearly a year. So now I dont take it for granted. Just because I can go out and buy breakfast for 60 doesnt mean I will. This is something I used to do when I had a job and no sense of responsibility. But I never want to be in the position again of being mortally afraid of what would happen if I get so much as an an unexpected 100 bill. Anyway, just wanted to get that off my chest. I love this sub and read it every day. Until recently I felt powerless to take any advice from it though. ---Edit: holy crap, typed this up on a throwaway account, went for a beer. Came back drunk to lots of karma and comments. Thanks guys!Edit 2: A lot of people are asking how I managed to survive on 7k, and how I managed to go from 7k to 58k so suddenly. Part of the explanation for that is I guestimated the American dollars. Im in Australia. I think the money I made last year was actually 12k in Australian money, but I tried to adjust for cost of living. Im earning 58k Australian. Its a good entry level salary for an industry that I have a couple of years experience in.Why did I go for so long on such a small amount of money? Complicated situation where I was working with a now former friend and taking a director role. I was trying to make a business succeed that had failed a year before and I just didnt realise it. I was working a lot of hours, hoping that we would make that one or two big deals to change our pathetic lives into million dollar dreams. I learned a lot of lessons. Sure, I could have got a grocery job, but I wanted to make it happen. So I was already quite well experienced for this industry, I just went from self-employment to working a 9-5.  <response>: I am a social worker working with people experiencing homelessness. The awesome thing about our program is that we help people get into housing they can afford and then work with them until they can sustain it on their own. Once theyve completed the program they arent homeless anymore but they arent out of poverty. They find themselves in the situation you were in. Some are disabled, some have children, some cant read or write.. Etc What tips do you have? Both for living with little income and for potentially getting out of poverty though the reality is many wont, I still want to do what I can to empower them. 