(apologies for formatting, mobile)
I'm 25.
From the day I was legally allowed to work I was expected to pay rent to my parents. I've never had the opportunity to save money. Never went to college because even with financial aid I wasn't able to afford it.
I've worked many types of jobs. Not a single one of them provided a liveable wage for the state I live in(TX). I still live with one of my parents because neither of us can afford to live alone. My current job is the best so far but they expect more and more and more every day and I've felt physically broken and exhausted to the point that I don't have the energy to do anything but sleep on my days off.
The prices of everything keep going up. It costs $35 to fill my gas tank and that gas lasts 2 days if I'm lucky. A few years ago groceries cost about $120 and now we're paying almost $200 – $250 per trip. Rent goes up so much that we have to move to worse and worse neighborhoods every time our lease is up.
I've thought about dropping everything and leaving. But I look at every place in this country and it's all the same. “Work for us, we'll pay you next to nothing. Itithe best option you have.” It doesn't even feel useful to job search anymore, since every single job website I find it crammed full of those scammy door-to-door commission only sales jobs. Everything else demands years of experience and degrees that cost $50k or more and they still offer you barely above minimum wage.
TLDR: Trying to be an independent adult in this country is fucking impossible and I'd like to give up trying at this point.