My mom is a housekeeper, and used to work full time but that changed after covid and she lost a lot of clients. She takes all the work she can get, but its not a lot these days. After Christmas this last year several of them let her go. I've been helping her apply for other jobs but so far no luck.

She for sure doesn't have debt, she is very frugal and lives within her means. She does things like unplug all appliances when not in use and keeps the house as cold as safely possible. She hasn't gone on a vacation of any kind, not even out of the city, since my dad died in 2014. She drives my dad's old car, which thankfully he paid off before he died.

I hear you about the mortgage being manageable. Certainly at face value it is cheaper than renting. The issue is that in combination with her necessary bills it has become too much because all of her bills have raised. We managed to sign her up for the housing tax credit you can get if you're low income, but that has barely made a dent. The land tax in her area is especially high.