Not to hijack the thread but I've been wondering the same lately. I'm 33 and a single dad and I feel like I'm getting nowhere in life. My new supervisor got the job I wanted and he's 2 years younger than I am and has zero certs while I've at least got a Network+ and Security+ (but has more formal experience in the IT field than I do). I make $40k a year and live in Podunk, MS but it feels like I can never save money or make my dream purchase...a DDR/ITG/PIU arcade machine. I want one so bad, how the fuck do so many young people save up thousands of dollars to drop on a goddamn arcade dance machine? Even two of my friends bought their own (one was $2,500 and the other was $5,000). I know I've been using DoorDash way too much lately and that shit gets expensiiiiiiiive. I need to cut that out. I also need to stop going to Target because I always go there for one item and leave with bags of shit.
Anyway, I feel like I need a second job so I'm not living paycheck to paycheck or I need to find a new job. If I were doing this work anywhere else, I'd be getting paid at least $10k/yr more, probably more. I don't know. I've already cut back on shit I don't need like Amazon Prime, Netflix, and other such luxuries. I have Sling but I might get rid of that too. I've even split my bills as evenly as I can so that my monthly payments aren't lopsided. I pay half my bills during the beginning of the month and the other half at the end of the month. I even keep a spreadsheet of my budget but I just can't seem to save any substantial amount of money. I already know I'm paying too goddamn much for this second floor, two bedroom apartment. It's $850/month. I should be renting a house instead for that kind of fucking money. Or I should find something cheaper than $850/month. *sigh* This shit is stressful as all hell...
I used to be a web developer for a start-up company (the CEO scammed me over the course of two years and still owes me $30,000. You read that correctly.) and I've thought about doing that on the side but...I don't know, I also need to balance spending time with my 11 year old after I get home from work. Being a parent makes things much more difficult, obviously. Really...if that douchebag paid me the $30,000 he owes me, I'd be able to breathe again. I've tried every avenue short of taking him to court (lawyers are expensive, I already had a couple consultations). Plus the statute of limitations on that shit has probably been reached, I quit working for him in 2016. I sent a collections agency after him, I mailed and emailed him, I alerted the IRS (because he fucked up my taxes on purpose and claimed I wasn't a full-time employee but rather a self-employed contractor so he could get out of paying taxes), I was in contact with the Dept. of Labor for a year, I even teamed up with the former VP of sales from the start-up company who also got scammed...but nothing seemed to ever be able to get done because this dude made sure to make it nearly impossible to go after him. Dept. of Labor told me to contact the Tennessee Dept. of Labor since that's where his company is located (even though he works from Mississippi) and then they told me I had to figure this out with the Mississippi Dept. of Labor but then they said talk to the IRS and back and forth and back and forth....nobody seemed to be able to have any sort of way to enforce a damn thing. They could only simply ask him to pay me, to which he can just claim he didn't owe me a thing. I've got tons of documentation and email conversations, etc, etc. It's fucked. I hope the old asshole gets........let me just stop.
/vent
