<prompt> Human: To start off with:Im homelessEarly 20sHave no vehicleHave no jobHave no friends of connectionsNearly an invalidHave no guidanceWant to make the right choicesMy grandfather just passed away and was one of my only family members left. He left me a small inheritance 3k and paid for me to have one full year of cell service with a data plan before his death 8 months left. I want to make the absolute best choices here to attain a normal life. I just want to have walls to sleep in, food to eat, bills to pay, a job to do, wake up, go to sleep, and live a regular life.Finding a car seems like it should be the first priority, then I can actually get around town and will have a shelter to sleep in.What do you think I should do with this 3k? Thank youAssistant: Dont get a car. The risk of not having insurance and the cost of having it is too much right now. Save the 3k. Live in local shelters night to night, and eat at Soup kitchens. The shelters will help you get a job. Take anything you can get. When you get a job, start saving up. SAVE EVERYTHING. Try to get meals for free or as little as possible from the local charities and soup kitchens. When you have 5-6K saved up about 2-3 months, rent a single room off Craigslits from some College guys. Get a free bed and furnishings off Craigslist as well. TAKE WHATEVER YOU CAN GET FOR FREE. From here, just slowly start saving up. Work hard, spend very little. And when youre well off enough to start buying and cooking at home, visit rFrugal for lots of cheap recipes. Best of luck to you. Human: Where is it a homeless person saves thousands of dollars, Im genuinely curious. On prepaid debit cards?Assistant: Im going to try to get a bank account with no minimums, as its never safe to keep cash on you where Im at. The other people around here care more about cash than food! With a debit card, I should be pretty safe. I could call or run to the bank to report it stolen if anything were to happen.Human: I hate to mention this as a possibility- it isnt likely, but talk to the bank about limiting how much is on your checking amount and how much you can withdraw or spend in a given time. God forbid you were robbed, you could be forced to make a withdrawal by the muggers. Mention this scenario to the bank assistant, and see how it can be dealt with.I second the advice about living in shelters if convenient, but if you can share a room for 400month, I think you should do that ASAP. Next move is to get a job. Doesnt matter if its minimum wage, you just need some cash flow so you can provide for the basics while you plan your next move.I know there seems like there is a lot to do- but you can do it. I would also recommend washing your clothes and getting a haircut. It will make it a lot easier to get a job. Walk into literally every store you can and ask for a job.Can you talk about what you mean by saying youre almost an invalid? I hope youre okAssistant: Thats a great idea, and I never even knew that you could make those kinds of arrangements. The shelter is something that Im willing to do under most circumstances. Like I said before, its warm where I live and there is plenty to eat, so the shelter isnt the highest priority, but a cheap room could last on this money long enough to get a job!Like you mentioned, being clean and groomed will increase my chances of getting a job. I stay right off of the interstate that runs from Florida to California, and near the state line, so I use the visitors center to keep clean. There is a great spring nearby that I drink from and plenty of fish and wild plants. In the morning, Im headed into town and Im applying at every store that I see!Thank you so much for all of the help. One day, Im going to be able to say that my grandfather and the kind people of Reddit helped me get onto my feet. Watch!  <response>: If I can give you some advice: in this thread it feel like youre trying to spend your way out of poverty with phrases like but a cheap room could last on this money. While youre right, consider that if you were living free at a shelter, then that money would last even longer. This sub talks non-stop about building an emergency fund, not because its helpful, but because the accidents, surprises and shortfalls in life are what set us back. If you live in a shelter for 12 weeks, youve now got 1,200 to buy a bicycle and a suit and decent food. More importantly, when you fall off a ladder and cant work for a week, you wont starve. You talked about buying a car, and it looks like youve settled on a bus pass which is great. I guess what Im trying to say is the thought process that goes look at this money, think of all the things I can do with it is what keeps people poor or drives them back even after some success. That goes for everyone - the banker who buys a 911 instead of a pension fund, the teenager who buys an xbox with his summer job money. If you can switch over to thinking look at this money, now Im safe if XYZ happens youll find that money becomes much less difficult to handle. Im trying not to be patronising, because that switch-over takes some people decades to make, and some never do. Just try to ask could I survive without buying this thing for another couple of weeks? before you hand over your cash. 