Submitted by flamethrower78 t3_124t4qa in personalfinance
I turned 25 this year, and am still living with my parents as we have a good relationship. I have a long-term girlfriend of 3.5 years who is doing the same. The reason I say single is because she is finishing her masters degree in art therapy, and will have upwards of 80k in debt, and won't be able to afford to move out since she'll be making 40-55k a year after she begins working in her field. That leaves me to look for apartments alone. I work in an IT support position, making $24 an hour. I live in the midwest, about an hour of any major city, and I'm still struggling to find somewhere to live that won't drain my bank account. Trying to create a budget, and following around the 30% rule for rent, I can only afford around $900. And that either gets me run down apartments that haven't been updated since the 80's, or decent apartments in sketchy neighborhoods. I do have around 30k in savings, but I don't want to drain that just to live on my own for a bit, I've tried going to school and swapping majors 4 or so times and it just never sticks. I'm so worried about being financially stable in the future as it feels I'm going to be broke and barely surviving without a degree, but I can't seem to find anything that keeps me interested. And even if I started something new now, it will take me 5-6 years from this point to earn a bachelors degree if I am working full time and going to school part time. I feel hopeless, and feel lucky that I'm making even as much as I am, because there's lots of people making less than me and I have no clue how they are surviving.
If you have any advice or general guidance I'll take it, as I am extremely worried for my future, but don't have a clue on how to begin securing it and leading a path to financial security.