Have you ever been completely broke and jobless? How did you recover?

Yes, my entire life. Still am.

You get a job and you work. Then you save as much as you can

I lived with relatives for a few months. During college I lived in my car for a month

You need to examine how you got there. I almost ruined my life with meth, but didn’t think I had a problem for many years. Even off the drugs and drinking I struggled for years. The three biggest issues I learned with a decade of complete sobriety-

1. Take stock in your life and shift your attitude through being grateful. Learn how to value yourself and “change the tapes” of your subconscious that are telling you you are unworthy. This kept me using for many years, involved with people that kept me under their control, and stuck in dead end jobs. Everything external changed when I changed my thinking internally.

2. Turn your passions into work that doesn’t feel like work. Make a list of what you’re good at and enjoy. On the other side, what you do not want to do. Read a few self help books and market your skills to new employers or learn new ones that contribute to what you already have. One thing I did was a lot of job interviews even when I wasn’t looking for a job. I realized I had it pretty good at where I was and the practice helped me understand my industry better.

3. Be frugal and be flexible and find happiness other ways than “Keeping up with the Jones’s”. I had a roommate for decades because it was so much cheaper than living on my own, I was able to fix my credit and save money. My goals shifted when I turned 50 and I’m happy where I am but it’s very different than what I expected in my 40’s.

I truly believe most of the world’s unhappiness is because we’re marketed the “ideal” of happiness through social media and advertising and so many people are far disconnected from it and cannot reconcile the difference mentally.

There’s a saying, “A man that lives in a mud hut is happy until someone tells him he shouldn’t be living in a mud hut”.

You're not in a hole. A hole is foreclosure, $20,000 in credit card debt, other unpaid loans and bills and debts...

You're just sitting on the ground. So get up and go get two jobs.

Even just get one job and hold into it! No need for overkill.

You have your phone (or computer, however you are posting here) so go browse the job listings on the zillion job sites and start applying. Consider learning a new skill so you have an easier time getting a job in the future.

You should tell us how you lost your last job so we know how much to berate you for it.

I love these idiots who blithely say 'get jobs' as if it were that simple.

I know someone who has been trying for over a year to 'get jobs' he can't get anything at his level as he is over 40 and looks it, so he has tried for literally any job, but even with a dumbed down resume google trips him up.

"You wouldn't be happy here, you are overqualified."

Pretend you're a Mexican immigrant who has just jumped the wall. Wow! You're in a land with so much opportunity going begging you can hardly believe it!! Open your eyes. You're half-asleep. Wake up! Life's short. Grab it.

R6 yet OP did not post that he had done any of those things, so you can shut down the unnecessary admonishment, thanks.

I don't understand this whole two jobs in America thing. How can you have two jobs? Doesn't a job takes at least 8 hours a day, for six days straight? Not counting the time it takes to get to your workplace and get home again. How can someone have two jobs? Also, can you be registered at two different places? Where I live, you can only have one job registration at time.

R9 where do you live that you think a work week is "6 days straight?"

I've been broke before, OP. I might not be at the moment, but I remember it well. In my case, I was being a dumbass, and wasting money. I was eating out all the time, buying drinks, stupid shit like that. I started making my own sandwiches at home instead of going to get lunch while at work. When home, I ate very cheaply. I didn't travel for a couple of years. I went over the top "penny pinching" and it really helped. I'm still a cheap m.f.

"I've been broke but I've never been poor." - Mike Todd

In the early 2000s I couldn't find a job to save my life, it seemed. My dad helped me out financially until I bulldozed my way into a private dining club five minutes by foot from my place. I was a dishwasher there from April 2005 to October 2005. I saved 4K. After that I worked steadily until 2012. I cashed in my 401k & pop helped me out. I'm very grateful for his help.

Yep, I joined the Army. Twenty years later, I retired. Now, I have a pension. Not bad, if you can do it.

I’m only offering this to make you feel hopeful, not as a “you don’t have it so bad!” story -

My grandfather’s best friend had a very full career and life in Europe back before WWII. He was Jewish and when the Nazis invaded his country, he barely managed to escape with his life. He arrived in New York on a boat with $4 in his pocket. He went into real estate—helped along by the booming post-war housing market—and died a millionaire many times over.

From that, I always took the lesson that if you’re forced to start over, see it as an opportunity, not a punishment. If you have no job and no home but you’re break-even with no debt, you are a totally free man! What do you want to do? Where do you want to be? The world is your oyster in a lot of ways, even though life now is not as easy to jump into as it was in the post-war boom.

Learn to entertain yourself for free, also. Got a tablet and wifi? Any public library has tons of free books to download into the free Kindle app. Many have free genealogical accounts as well - do some family research to kill time. Drop all subscriptions if you haven't already.

Super poor? Local food banks will provide meals. Not quite poor enough for that? Shop at thrift stores if needed, and eat cheap food. Look at job sites in your area - even Reddit has some good insight for local opportunities.

I hope you crawl out of this hole soon!

I found a job eventually and started getting paid again. It’ll happen eventually, OP. Or you’ll wind up homeless. But statistically speaking, you’ll probably find a job.

[quote] Where I live, you can only have one job registration at time.

I don’t even know what a “job registration” is. We certainly don’t have them in the US.

R17 in the rest of the so called civilized world, people sign a contract of employment and usually it includes the stipulation that you won’t be working a second job. In return you get protections and cannot be “fired at will”. You also get paid enough so that you only need one job.

R14 That immigrant with $4 in his pocket probably was in organized crime. Do you have a mafia you can join, OP?

I am so sorry, sweetheart, wish I could help you.

R18 Yeah that’s the difference with the US a non obligated society to work as you please as long as you pay taxes. All monies earned is taxable. Hell you can have four jobs if you want to and can do it as long as pay Uncle Sam while do it.

R18 : We don't have that in Canada either.

OP, try looking for a job as a self-store facility manager with an apartment onsite. I did that and was able to save a lot of money. Apartment and utilities were basically free. Plus, it's a very low-key, solitary job which suited my personality.

OP posted this and hasn't responded, given the lack of detail I'm guessing this is a troll, or OP is dead.

Caring for the elderly is a hugely growing business and they desperately need people. You can work onsite at a retirement facility, or do home healthcare.

The Boomers are heading into their 80s.

Moved back in with my parents. Got a crap retail job. Got treated for my depression.

OP, are you Jeff Garlin?

OP, yes. I went from working 3 part time jobs simultaneously to pay my tuition to being jobless shortly after I graduated. I could have continued at any of those jobs to be honest, I just decided to quit them instead. It was a weird feeling at the time considering I had been working several jobs at a time since I was 16.

Honestly, it was kind of cathartic and gave me a kick in the ass to find (and land) a job I really wanted instead. I wanted to get into web dev at the time, but wasn't confident enough back then.

When I was just starting out in my career (advertising), I had a second job at a bookstore Thursday evenings and all day Saturday. During the holiday season I worked the retail job every night, 6 - 9 and full shifts Saturday and Sunday. I also worked doing coat check at night for tips whenever I could. I was too tired to go out anywhere and was able to save up a bit of a cushion. When my full time job became more demanding, I had to give up the bookstore, but with more responsibility, I also started getting raises.

Back to OP’s problem though. Elder care is definitely something to consider if you think you can handle it. You may be able to get a live in position. My bf pays a lady $25/hr/4 hours a day / 3x a week to look in on his elderly mom. She cleans up her breakfast, does laundry, makes her lunch, plays cards, goes for walks, and just engages her in conversation. This lady has several other people she cares for each week so has to be pulling in at least $1000 cash per week. It’s worth looking into.

R10 "where do you live that you think a work week is 6 days straight?" I don't think,I know it is. Croatia. So there's no chance of having two jobs at the same time. Law also doesn't allow it. You can "illegally" work after your regular job. But then all you would do is work and sleep. So I don't understand how you can have two jobs in USA.

The two (or more) job thing is only in the US. I can confirm that in Latin America you sign contracts that don't allow you to have more jobs.

R31 But when do you have time for two jobs? Don't you work for 8 hours every day, from Monday to Friday or Saturday? Or is it the second time only part time, like few hours in the evening?

R31 I meant that you can not have more than 1 job in most Latin American countries.

What job did you lose, OP? What region of the US are you in? Tell us more so we can help, brother.

[quote] My grandfather’s best friend had a very full career and life in Europe back before WWII.

There were A LOT of people helping these folks out. American Jewish organizations raised a lot of cash for them--American relatives also helped--and some were able to get reparations from the German gov't.

There are lawyers still today (a few of them) who are still suing for reparations for living Holocaust survivors or their children. (I met one at an event a few years ago.)

R32 a lot of corporations in the US like to keep employees below the "full time" limit of 40 hours a week because then they don't have to offer benefits. So working 40 hours or more is unusual unless you are a "salaried" worker, in which case you are expected to work 50+ hours a week.

So some people will have two part-time jobs then.

I have told this story before but I went from riches to rags. I made decent money at work, but quit a well paying job with no notice and my industry is small. My dad supplemented me a lot, reluctantly and with lots of arguments, but I never went without. He got remarried and cut me off. I literally had $.38 in my account which I have a screen shot of as a reminder. The rent was literally due tomorrow. I didn't know what to do so I become an erotic masseur on an impulse. This eldergay told me he would teach me the basics as I had never given massages before, so I went to his disgusting house and he taught me some tricks.

I did this for a year but was extremely depressed. I did the job just enough to pay my bills, but not enough to save. I hated it! The massaging became more escorting light (no anal). I kept looking for job opportunities in other cities where I knew I could make money, start over and I found a good one. I moved to new city, moved in with an awesome roommate based on just an ad and a long phone call, site completely unseen. It was a killer deal in an expensive place.

This is when I learned the concept of saving, which I just didn't get having my dad as a safety net. I never told anyone about the escorting year except my shrink. I eventually moved back home, but while I was away, I got my life sorted. Money terrifies me though and though I learned the lessons the tough way, I think I have some major issues as a result. I'm not a big fan of tough love.

In my late thirties I got laid off and my whole field went to cheap overseas workers, fortunately I'd been thinking of going to nursing or paramedic school and had been taking night school classes, so when I got laid off I found a couple of temp jobs and spent my life's savings on nursing school. When I finally graduated, found a job, and paid my first/last month's rent on a new apartment, I had $1200 left in my bank account, because I'd spent everything I had in a desperate gamble on starting a new life.

So my new life has... been a slice for the last couple of years, but at least it's paid off financially.

Yes, often.

I pick myself up, dust myself off, and take sudden, bitter vengeance.

Start sleeping around with the guys on the ground floor and then work your way continually upwards. That's how Joan, Loretta, Barbara and many others did it.

Fairly recently. I did Uber eats delivery for a couple of months till I got a new job. I had to swallow my pride and ask my mom for a loan too. But things are better now. Do you have family/friends? As long as you're not all alone you know your ass isnt going to end up on the streets so don't let the uncertainty overwhelm you.

R25 and R29, a friend found herself broke after a divorce and unable to go back to her old field, and took up elder care. Since she can't do heavy lifting, she does "companion care" for frail elders who can't get around, which usually involves cooking, cleaning, companionship, safety monitoring, taking clients to doctors, etc. Depending on her hours, she can get $1000-$2000 a week in cash, but the work is irregular. She lives with a roommate and gets by.

FYI if you're a strong youngish man you can earn more, and there is a HUGE demand for men willing to do home health care with the elderly, disabled, or seriously confused! You can get a CNA's license in a couple of months, or just do home care without one, whatever suits your needs. You can find employment through agencies, board and care resedences, friends and family networks, you can find part-time work or full-time. If you're on the edge of disaster and have any capacity for helpfulness on a personal level, look into this.

Delivery work can earn somewhat decently to at least get by for awhile...I made between 400/500 a week as a walker..you can make more with a car but you have to have one and invest in gas . Bikes are a good option if you're a decent rider. It's about miminum wage here in NYC but its something....and its the quickest, fastest way if you really need an income fast.

Is there any kind of temp work you can do? Reach out to social services for healthcare and food. Are you able to make rent? Can you find a caretaker position that will allow you free rent? Make sure your utilities are covered and you can afford a mail box. Once you have all the basics covered, enroll in a community college training program that will lead to a steady job of some sort. Then, when all this comes together, get free credit counseling and do some long-range planning.

It will be tough going but things will get better.

R37 left out the “to riches part.”

And I’m sure this thread is full of the same people who say black people ain’t shit.

I was homeless in New Orleans, homeless by choice. I lived in my car and found a job as a bar back. The manager of the bar found out I was living in my car and allowed me to live on his couch until I could get up enough bread to find a place. The answer to your question is actually in your question. If you are completely broke and Jobless, the obvious answer is to find a job.

[quote] "I've been broke but I've never been poor." - Mike Todd

That’s me. I had a comfortable, middle-class job that i utterly DESPISED! (The post office; its a miserable place to work!). I quit and moved to NYC, knowing only a few friends of friends who let me crash with them for a month.

I went through a variety of menial jobs, and I’ll second the suggestion of temp agencies. I worked for several years as an office temp, and several more as a cater-waiter/bartender. Those jobs kept the lights on.

A few years into my NYC adventure, I declared bankruptcy to discharge $50,000 in debt coming from living just slightly above my means for quite some time. Within a short time after, i lost my most current job, and my apartment burned down. Only the intervention of a friend kept me from a cardboard box on the sidewalk, especially with a zero credit score as i now had.

Today I’m fifteen years into a career i find about a thousand times more fulfilling than the post office, my credit score recent went to ‘excellent,’ and I’ve got about ten grand in the bank. With NYC being shut-down for so long, i took half-a-dozen trips this year. I’d say I recovered, digging out of the pit I’d dug myself into. It took a long time, including hard lessons about living within my means, but my life is better than its ever been in many ways. I turned things around (over a LONG period of time!) and so can you! Your life isn’t over; this is just one phase of it. And the thing about practicing gratitude is true. Others have it worse than you; it helps to count your blessings.

[quote] I know someone who has been trying for over a year to 'get jobs' he can't get anything at his level as he is over 40 and looks it, so he has tried for literally any job, but even with a dumbed down resume google trips him up

This is true; age-discrimination is rampant. After a certain age, your chances of getting work drop exponentially. People won’t hire someone two decades older than them; they just don’t. Medicare should kick in a fifty, so older workers can get a job a Walmart or McDonalds, (who WILL hire you, but try paying medical expenses with one of those jobs! And there WILL be medical expenses. The body just wears out and needs more maintenance than when you were twenty-one!) but still have health care.

Christ, yes. I’ve been stranded and alone with no family or friends for thousands of miles. As much as it can be annoying it hear, you have got to keep on the grind to find a job. What’s the alternative? Yeah, it sucks and is hard but that’s how it is. There’s no one listening to complain to about that and something will eventually work out.

I was completely jobless in NYC and had to find an apartment to live in during the dead of winter. I have also had a rough fucking ride in LA. I’ve lived in extremely dangerous neighborhoods in CA because it was all I could afford.

I’ve since moved to Colorado where life is easier. I’m in real estate now and it’s great.

American here who has had 2+ jobs while being a college students. Lots of jobs are only a few hours per week. I had a part-time restaurant job that was only 2-3 shifts per week, 4:00 to 8:00 p.m., i.e., “happy hour.” Happy hour is longer than an hour, occurs Mon. thru Friday and involves discounted drinks (alcohol). You can cobble together a couple of jobs.

I'm a professional musician. It's quite common for musicians to have 4-8 jobs to assemble a living wage - often teaching in several locations, performing in paid ensembles such as symphonies, church musician jobs, adjudicating, coaching, arranging, etc. Musicians are almost never wealthy, but they are almost never unemployed either. My mom's piano teacher during the Great Depression, supported herself, her brother and her mother by teaching piano lessons, one after another, for 25 cents a lesson, played the theater organ for silent films, and had a church job. As a matter of fact, I have never sought a job in the traditional fashion (sending out resumes, going on interviews). People have called me and offered me work, including a professorship at a major university in my mid-20s. But high-level skill acquisition and maintenance is a must for musicians. Once you have a certain skill level an have demonstrated ability and reliability, you will be in demand and work will come to you.

I have been self-employed for decades. That doesn't seem odd to me, but it is VERY odd in the US and difficult to explain to people who are not in the same profession.

FedEx and UPS are hiring like crazy right now. It would be a start.

Amazon has a sign on bonus, I think it's $3000. Though I hear it's a horrible place to work, but at least it would be a job.

R47 That doesn't sound like you were homeless by choice.

There are tons of retail jobs right now and they are paying way over minimum wage. They aren’t good jobs but if you are desperate… I’ve been there

I modle my ways to Mannhatan , than get job as 'goodtime girl', interttaing the welthy mens at partys an things of these Natures. These how I met The Donald. Never give up you dreams !

get a job at Amazon like everyone else

Retail? Dude get a work at home service job and just have the company send you a computer.

That way you don't have to deal with cunty assholes in person.

During the Great Recession I worked two jobs and I have chronic health conditions due to the stress and exhaustion of overwork. Be careful you don’t trade one problem for another. When someone talks about the proverbial bootstraps, I tell them they got pulled off a long time ago.

If you have a car, sign up to drive for Lyft or Uber or do deliveries for one of the many food delivery services out there.

Hit up the food banks for food. There is no shame in it.

Contact the folks at the Salvation Army. I know they have a bad rap for their shit about gays, but they will help you out. I knew of someone who went through them and they housed her in a hotel for a few months until she could get on her feet. There are a lot of resources out there for poor people, OP. Use them.

Get a restaurant job. I worked in restaurants for five years. When I finally stopped (went back to school), it was amazing how much food I had to buy. Meaning: I was eating a lot (free or low cost) at the restaurants. I was also drinking a lot of free soft drinks. I'd eat when I got to work and eat before I left, as well. I'd also eat mid-shift, depending on the job.

Restaurant jobs almost always ask for experience.

I'm doing doordash right now while I look for a regular job and it's okay. I don't know if you have a car OP but you can earn $160 a day (after gas) if you're willing to bust your ass. It's not fun but it's better than working in an Amazon sweatshop and it definitely pays the bills.

Do you by chance have a huge hot cock?

R62 restaurants (and retail) near me have to cut hours because they don’t have staff to stay open. They would gratefully train someone who could show up.

Fact: Anyone in the US who says they can't find a job is 100% full of shit.

I understand why people wouldn't want to work at fast food restaurants, an Amazon warehouse, driving a truck, or on a farm. However, while it might not be easy to find a job that allows you to fund your needs AND your wants, money is money and the people who claim they can't find a job really mean: "I can't find a job making $____" or "I can't find a job in my chosen careerfield."

I know from firsthand experience how hard it can be to swallow your pride and take a job you don't want, while giving up irresponsible spending habits. However, I've also traveled the world and have met people who truly know poverty and hopelessness.

I have. I just married up. ;-)

it can be hard to get a job when one is completely broke thus without transportation, for example. But for OP the only solution is find a solution to get a job and keep it. I'm sorry you are going through this OP.

I've always had some savings/cushion but I've been jobless a ton. I only work part time now.

R68 if you live in a major city you can sign up to do deliveries on foot. You don't have to invest in gas and its a good way to get fit and get paid at the same time. I averaged between 400/500 a week working 4 days a week doing it.

OP is there anything you're good at that you can do on the side until you find a permanent job? I make about $600 a month fixing antiques for collectors while working my retail job. That money covers my bills and I'm able to save my retail paycheque. My cousin works as a hairstylist for older Italian ladies in their homes who don't speak much English and don't want to go to salons. She works at a grocery store during the day as a cashier.

I hate having to leave my house to go to work. I'm envious of my aunt who's an accountant and works from home. She worked in an office for 20 years but after getting into a car accident while driving to work in a snow storm, she said fuck that shit and and opened her own office in her house.

It’s never been easier to find a job. I’m not buying this. When I immigrated it was hard and I had to work retail until I landed a corporate job. You gotta go what you gotta do.

Sorry folks, but being white and over 40 or 45, it is NOT so easy to be reemployed, at least in a professional or paraprofessional job. You can scoff at that all you want but it's absolutely true. And God forbid you're overweight, or bald or less than trim and stylish. HR groups and even hiring managers, regardless of their sex or race, are blindingly biased against 'traditional' workers or those who don't suit a demographic they want. They WANT their offices buzzing and moving with lots of diverse-looking GenZ's and Millennials. It looks super cool. They want office "cultures" that remind them of their favorite TV shows. Trendy, bright and happy, right? Makes them seem and feel like a "modern" company on-trend. And this is driven, mostly by people over 40 and white.

This bullshit about there being a glut of 10 million wonderful jobs just there for the taking is abject fiction. A complete lie.

During the Great Recession I found myself broke and unemployed. I got a student loan to attend a truck driving course in Oklahoma. I was employed a month later and able to live in my rig so didn't need to spend money on rent. i did that job for over 2 years. Another friend of mine was in a similar situation and became a CNA. Both of us have advanced university degrees but still couldn't find work in our field at the time.

If you have a driver license you can get work even if it's just for a car service. Otherwise people are hiring for min wage jobs everywhere and if you can post here you can do a lot better than that.

Keep on keeping on OP. Summon the physical and mental stamina to do what you have to do. If you are young (ish) and reasonably healthy, remind yourself that there are lots of people with a job and savings that would swap their situation for yours. All to play for. Good luck.

R70 true. I see bike messengers out here too, even in the winter. Major city but one of the smaller markets.

r74, that is very true, and for many professionals over 40 they may end up taking several freelance assignments with multiple employers. The days of being an on staff professional are probably over for many people. It's been that way for more than 10 years. Welcome to the gig economy.

However, if one is completely broke and jobless, benefits have run out, there are plenty of retail and service jobs available.

I wish there was more to life than working and just surviving. I work, come home and then go to work again. I can't afford to do anything else.

Agree with the person upthread that there are well-paid openings in elder care going begging. If you can fuck an arse, you can certainly wipe one.