Since I was 18 (27 now) I've been doing blue collar work; landscaping, construction, warehouses, roadside auto repair. None of these jobs allowed me to live on my own, to get anywhere besides the next paycheck.
After a less than successful attempt at college, I found what would be my career: Sailing.
I joined the Seafarer's International Union, a labor union based out of the United States.
The primary reason I'm so pleased with my decision to work for them is this: While I'm working they're feeding and housing me, my only bills are the phone bill and car insurance so I'm saving like 95% of all my paychecks after taxes.
Work contracts have a tendency to be 2-4-6 month in length, but if you don't want to leave you just don't put in for relief, or if someone wants to leave and you're also due to leave you can just be their relief. Contracts are not compulsory, not assigned, when you're done there's no obligation to pick up another contract. So you could work for six months saving all your money, then just take 3-4 months off before doing it again.
The pay is alright, the real money is in overtime pay. As an OS(basic first rank) the average pay is 2500/m but with overtime is gets to about 5000/m and realistically what else are you gonna do when you're out on the ocean but work? The rank after that is AB and with overtime their pay can reach about 10k/m.
I know its not for everyone though, but being someone who doesn't go out anyway it isn't a very different change of pace for me. Likewise being separated from friends and family for that long can be a bummer, all I can say is that phones work both ways.
But yeah financially speaking I'm in a much better place than I was a year ago and all it cost me was a year of my time and effort. I'm probably gonna buy some shitty apartment in Vegas to keep my stuff in, then once I have enough saved build(and fully pay off) a house somewhere cold and just read books, play video games and voice act. My estimates tell me it'll only be 13 years of working and proper investments, and then I can retire.