I need to fix the mistakes I made when I was younger and move out

[superstorm250]

tl;dr: I’m 27 and still live at home with my parents, I’ve also never had a girlfriend, I’m sexually inexperienced and I have no friends. I made a lot of bad choices with my career path and that’s why I now make only 20 cents above minimum wage by working at grocery store. Should I move into a 286 sq ft studio apartment with no kitchen appliances except a stove, microwave and mini fridge for $1,170 a month?

Hey guys, so I made a post similar to this one in the general discussion tab on here and got some solid advice, but I just discovered this one and was hoping that I could get even more help here. So to keep it short, I’m 27 (halfway to 28) and I still live at home with my parents, I’ve also never had a girlfriend, I’m sexually inexperienced but those last 2 aren’t as relevant to this post.

I made a lot of mistakes when I was younger by not taking my career path seriously enough and I’m paying the price for it now, I went to community college after high school but then dropped out after seeing that I was gonna have to take a bunch of prerequisites in order to get my associates degree and also saw that those prerequisites had prerequisites of their own. I didn’t want to end up spending 4 years there just for a transfer degree, so I just started working instead. The problem is that I made the stupid decision to just jump from one dead end job to the next instead of getting a job somewhere with lots of opportunities for advancement and a higher income. Because of this, I currently work at a grocery store and only make 20 cents over minimum wage.

Now the minimum wage in my state (California) is higher than most others, they just raised it to $14 at the start of this year, but the cost of living here is so high that it definitely cancels out the higher minimum wage. I was also misled when I was hired for this job, they weren’t upfront about how much I would be making and didn’t disclose to me that it was only a part time job when they called me in to interview. I applied for a different position, but they hired me for my current job of putting together grocery orders that customers placed online instead. I plan on leaving this job by summer and looking for something full time. This is a union job and I can’t decide wether or not I should stay within the union or leave it for my next job, my union represents more than just grocery stores and they provide a great healthcare plan.

As for moving out, California is pretty generous with income caps to qualify for low income apartments and they’re all actually really nice places, not what you’d expect when thinking of low income housing. This one complex in my area has their cap set at 66K per year, so you can still make a decent yearly income and qualify for these places. The one I’m looking at is an all studio complex that has a 286 sq ft unit for $1,170 a month, its a new place and was just built back in 2019. The problem is that it doesn’t really have a kitchen though, only a sink, 2 burner electric stove, microwave, and a mini fridge. So I would pretty much have to set up an external kitchen by bringing a countertop oven and ice maker and also bring an extra fridge in for more space beyond a mini fridge, but doing that isn’t much of a problem. But I actually still don’t even qualify for this place because they require that your monthly income is double the monthly rent of $1,170 and my income isn’t that high, which is why it’s even more important that I leave this job. What should I do, should I leave the union or look for another job within the union and should I try and move into this place or keep looking? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Romanemp22]

Bro for 1750 dollars you can rent a penthouse in capital city here in Europe. I suggest you to keep looking more, California is a huge state and it's a matter of time when better offer will pop up.

 

[superstorm250]

Bro for 1750 dollars you can rent a penthouse in capital city here in Europe. I suggest you to keep looking more, California is a huge state and it's a matter of time when better offer will pop up.

Yeah the cost of living in California is ridiculous, it’s the 2nd most expensive state in the US for cost of living, Hawaii is the most expensive. That’s actually the average rate for a studio apartment here in California unfortunately, I eventually plan on moving out of this state but for now I wanted to start out by living on my own here in California before I make the move out of state. There’s not many apartments available right now because evictions have been suspended statewide due to the pandemic so I might have better luck finding somewhere else once the pandemic ends.

 

[King Lion]

Stay at home!

Save that money you'd spend on exorbitant rent to get an education and raise your SMV!

Find and read Penthouse Forum (if it still exists), then cop a fine female and fvck her brains out so well she falls in love with you and wants to live with you - at her crib!

 

[Iso]

Dude, you're relatively young. I made a similar mistake and I'm pursuing a medical degree now. You mentioned how your lack of patience wrecked you in the past. Don't let it wreck your future as well. Slow down and prioritize your values. I know what it's like to be older and to live at home.. but the last thing you want to do is constrain yourself financially as you attempt to raise your value. If you really must move out, I highly recommend you not strap yourself to such a high monthly obligation. DTI (Debt to income ratio) keep that **** low bro! Unless it's a means to achieving your high-value items, I would think twice about doing it. In this case, you will be paying rent that is over 50% of your income.. so If you could avoid that by maybe rooming with friends, that would be better for an individual in your financial circumstance. This is the time where you can cut on costs by rooming with friends, and investing in yourself so you can increase your earning potential and strategize to make better moves in the future. Hope that helps bro.