I'm getting real tired of these job postings I am running into while hunting for a better job. You have the usual ones that don't post anything about pay rate. And then you have what I find to be the more egregious ones which are the ones that say they are remote but if you read the job description, it's in-person in a state that is on the other side of the country. Along with those, you also have the ones that demand 10+ years of experience and even if I had that many years of experience, the pay is basically the amount you'd expect doing the job as an entry level position.
And the suggestions I keep getting from boomer-aged folk about my financial situation… they're ridiculous. I shouldn't have to need to get a significant other in order to make ends meet. You can't buy a like-new car for $2,500. It isn't cheaper to just go buy a house instead of paying rent. It isn't cheap to move to another state when your rent is more than a single paycheck. Me not spending $7 for lunch at work on occasion because I forgot to bring my lunch isn't magically going to help me save hundreds of dollars a month. My rent has gone up. My utilities have gone up. My groceries have gone up. And I haven't changed a single thing in my routine. Even before the pandemic I never went out and spent money “frivolously”.
I'm fortunate I can afford to live on my own as is but it would be nice to be able to afford to actually get a car, even if I'm just leasing one, or move to some place with better public transportation… or even sidewalks. I'm barely able to save any money every month, especially since I had to spend money on doctors' appointments at the start of the year due to an injury.
(I'm in my early 30s in the USA with a Masters degree. I make $12 an hour working full-time at a hospital.)