Moving out with limited income
March 5, 2018 3:37 PM Subscribe
Circumstances necessitate moving out of a family home quickly with less than $3000, no expensive possessions to be sold, no income beyond those savings, and a few bills that tap said savings at the tune of a few hundred per month. Minimalist lifestyle but no social circle I can lean on for a getaway. Walk me through the avenues I can pursue immediately and safely.
What are the bills? Are any of them things you can defer, like student loans?
Where are you located and where are you willing/able to move?
In most places you won’t be able to rent a place to live without some kind of proof of income. You need a mid-term plan for obtaining some kind of income, either a job, welfare benefit, social security, disability, spousal support as and where appropriate.
posted by mskyle at 4:09 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
Where are you located and where are you willing/able to move?
In most places you won’t be able to rent a place to live without some kind of proof of income. You need a mid-term plan for obtaining some kind of income, either a job, welfare benefit, social security, disability, spousal support as and where appropriate.
posted by mskyle at 4:09 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
If you can do the work, perhaps a cruise ship housekeep? Your minimal lifestyle will help with that. Also look for any other live in housekeeping or caretaking positions in your area on Craigslist maybe? That's the easiest thing I can think of, given the lack of income. If you need a short term place to stay while you figure out the other options, I'd try an AirBnB, they can get pretty cheap like this one.
posted by foxfirefey at 4:14 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by foxfirefey at 4:14 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
If you absolutely need a safe place for a week to figure out the next steps, you can sometimes get very good rates getting a room in someone's house via Airbnb.
posted by Candleman at 4:22 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Candleman at 4:22 PM on March 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
If you are leaving a situation where you paid some of the existing security deposit, you can ask for that back. Otherwise, look for roommates. If someone is paying 1400/mo for a 2 bedroom, can you afford 700/month + utilities? And if you can find a room like that Airbnb, that would work well. In my area, people use craigslist.org to find roommates.
posted by theora55 at 4:24 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by theora55 at 4:24 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
You haven't mentioned kids or pets that you are responsible for, so assuming it's just you: Can you find a sublet, a house-sitting gig, or, if you are currently unemployed, a live-in caregiving job? This will give you time to find a more stable and long-term living situation.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 4:29 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 4:29 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
You don’t give your age or reason for leaving, but might there be local social services to help? For instance, my city has a center that helps young people who need emergency housing. Or if this is a domestic violence situation, there are resources for that. Sorry if that’s not helpful. I assume you’re being vague on purpose, but it does make it harder to come up with ideas.
posted by FencingGal at 4:42 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by FencingGal at 4:42 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Details : 0 kids, 0 pets. Bills are only the necessary auto/insurance/gas variety and are at bare minimum levels for the area I live in. No loans to repay, as I am on financial aid. Not in physical danger but recurrent arguments with the carrot-dangled-over-head person have forced my hand in a caregiving situation (I take care of both parents even if one of them is convinced I don't) I have been in. Reasoning with clear points causes the manipulative person to hold more over my head. Looking into motels for short-term living, attempting to connect with an old school friend for a longer stay in exchange for work around their house. The manipulator is looking to convince me to stay because now they realize how much I did around here but the situation is toxic and untenable after years of dealing with this "you don't do enough but I won't articulate what you have to do to earn your keep even though I tell you that you are amazing every day".
I won't thread-sit, just giving more detail that I should have included earlier.
posted by missh at 4:52 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
I won't thread-sit, just giving more detail that I should have included earlier.
posted by missh at 4:52 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
The traditional, fastest and usually most cost effective solution to this is to rent a room in a house. Sounds like you're in a college town so this is usually relatively cheap. Would financial aid or work income cover that in your area?
posted by DarlingBri at 4:59 PM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by DarlingBri at 4:59 PM on March 5, 2018 [9 favorites]
Can you find a sublet, a house-sitting gig, or, if you are currently unemployed, a live-in caregiving job?
This was my thought as well. I live in a LA so there's volume and a lot of opportunity, but I know multiple people who - either housesitting or in-home petsitting* or child/adult care or personal assistant - do not need a permanent living arrangement. It will cost you a little bit of your savings to get bonded if you want to do house/petsitting, you might need some kind of certification or background validation to do caretaking.
*My petsitter's full rate for overnights is, I believe, $80-100 to sleep over at least 8 hours with pet potty runs before and after bed plus a mid-day visit in between other walks and visits, depending on type and number of pets; she's not just flat trading pet care for a place to sleep. Then she's doing up to another ten walks/visits during the day.
There are always people who need short-ish term roommates, at least as a means to get out of where you are and buy you a couple months to get work doing something so you have enough pay to have a larger range of options. Don't live on your savings for long, but if you need to get out use it to buy yourself a month or two with someone who just needs a roommate to finish out a lease or help them get through a financial rough patch of their own, I'd say do it as long as you feel relatively certain you can get some kind of work.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:00 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
This was my thought as well. I live in a LA so there's volume and a lot of opportunity, but I know multiple people who - either housesitting or in-home petsitting* or child/adult care or personal assistant - do not need a permanent living arrangement. It will cost you a little bit of your savings to get bonded if you want to do house/petsitting, you might need some kind of certification or background validation to do caretaking.
*My petsitter's full rate for overnights is, I believe, $80-100 to sleep over at least 8 hours with pet potty runs before and after bed plus a mid-day visit in between other walks and visits, depending on type and number of pets; she's not just flat trading pet care for a place to sleep. Then she's doing up to another ten walks/visits during the day.
There are always people who need short-ish term roommates, at least as a means to get out of where you are and buy you a couple months to get work doing something so you have enough pay to have a larger range of options. Don't live on your savings for long, but if you need to get out use it to buy yourself a month or two with someone who just needs a roommate to finish out a lease or help them get through a financial rough patch of their own, I'd say do it as long as you feel relatively certain you can get some kind of work.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:00 PM on March 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Marked this as resolved as I've made arrangements for short-term accommodations in a motel near campus that is safe and reasonably priced. Also contacted old friend and though they were surprised by the immediate need, they remember this family issue from years past. I can stay there for a longer period of time with a clear contract as to length of stay, contributions to be made to the household, and I promise them that I finish out my semester with good grades. Conflict solved and I thank all of you for your ideas - in particular, short term jobs I can work around school in the summer session before immersion in healthcare-field observation hours.
posted by missh at 6:39 PM on March 5, 2018 [24 favorites]
posted by missh at 6:39 PM on March 5, 2018 [24 favorites]
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posted by killdevil at 3:52 PM on March 5, 2018 [3 favorites]