<prompt> Human: This is a genuine question, not here to complain about the system or examine hypotheticals. My girlfriend and I make a combined total of 31k before taxes and its very difficult to save any money. Shes 23, Im almost 30. My parents were kind enough to let us live in a cabin they own for no rent just the utilities we use, plus our normal bills and its still almost impossible to put any money away. I think on average we save about 60 a month between the two of us, most of which comes from using the Acorn app. Shes working minimum wage, I was too when I was her age but now I make just under 10hr. We dont qualify for welfare because the total household income needs to be less than 28k in our state when there are no children in the picture. Ive saved up a couple thousand in the past three years to put toward moving out into our own apartment, but in the past few months weve had to dip into that savings a few times to pay bills and car repairs. I cant even imagine how difficult this would be if we had to pay rent on top of this. Its not like were living the high life, a majority of our meals are 99 cent TV dinners. All of our technology is five years old at least. Were not the people youre seeing on the news with brand new phones eating avocado toast. Weve tried to move out a few times but end up completely depleting our savings in six months and having to move back.I have a chronic degenerative illness Ive been unable to get any kind of treatment for because everything costs too much and the basics utilities, food, insurance come first. Im just at a total loss as to how people do this. I know it can be done because Ive heard about people who do it. Weve been contemplating buying a camper and just living in it indefinitely until things get better to save but I dont even know if that would help at this point. Right now I have the most senior position my company will offer someone without a Bachelors, I think with a Bachelors you top out around 16-18hr. I know I could get another job with a higher pay ceiling and more growth, but that would mean starting over again from minimum wage and Im not sure I could swing that for the 2 years or so it takes to get to where I am now.  <response>: A detail of your expenses would help. Rent is usually the largest expenses, but you dont pay rent. Also since you have a combined income of 31k and you make just under 10hr that means at least one of you are not working 40hr week. 