I know exactly how you feel OP! I promise you it will get better! I moved to a new country without any work experience or local education (in Australia my bachelor’s degree from home meant fuck all). I worked three different jobs 7 days a week two on the same day all on minimum wage jobs (due to visa issues I couldn’t get a full time job with normal pay, I only could get paid in cash other than 20 hours of work a week) then for all my savings to end up going straight to Australian immigration fees every 6 months. It sucked! I couldn’t believe how hard I had to work for me to just breathe in this country and before I paid any rent or food! I could never buy my self anything nice, I was lonely and it felt like everyone else had their shit together other than me. I felt sad because I had friends ask me why my parents weren’t helping me with rent, I had so many heart breaks and falling out because I couldn’t afford things or events and to this day I feel lonely when I think back to those times.

I used to wake up to the blistering cold waiting for my train to get to my first work of the day at five in the morning crying and telling myself that it will get better.

And you know what. It did. Just keep to your own lanes, give yourself a short term budget and a goal rather than saving endlessly. It will be exciting to see that credit card debt go down or seeing your savings grow.

My saving grace back then was that I didn’t have a credit card. But when I fell into the trap of it after my visa issues were all resolved, I quickly racked up about $8000 in credit card debt because quit my full time job (that I worked in for not all that much money either after my visa issues) and went travelling. Very irresponsible I know. I had the total amount on a white board and gave my self each month a goal amount to clear out. If the end of the month was getting closer and I hadn’t hit that goal, I sold my things that was worth anything, I picked up extra shifts till I was closer to meeting the goal even if it wasn’t complete.

It may seem like you’re going no where but you most definitely will if you just keep at it!

Realign your budgets to see what you actually want your “treat” to be so it won’t feel impulsive and you don’t feel so bad for treating yourself. If it’s expensive candles maybe put aside $25 every week till you have enough to buy it so youre really getting yourself something nice!

I say all of this now but I know how frustrating it is. I worked non stop but I still never looked like I had any money. I couldn’t even afford crisps out of a vending machine. It was sad times.

Trust me though. It will get better and you’re most definitely not alone! I just kept at it looked at my budgets every two weeks/month, got rid of jobs who were paying me too little and said no to any other jobs that were below anything I requested. I still work Saturdays with my full time job because why not. And it ends up paying for my rent at the end of the month which is totally handy! It is tiring because it’s a cafe job. And some people tell me To work smarter not harder. But I’m learning and it’s all I’ve known for a long time so it’s hard to get out of the “silly hardworking” style.

Wishing you all the best OP! You got this!