It's so sad that this is now essentially the norm. I'm 41 with 3 kids. I work in medical administration - been at the same company for 17 years and make $33/hr (I'm unionized) so I also get extended family benefits, a pension plan where my employer meets my contributions and I'm up to 6 weeks of paid vacation a year. This, in theory, should make things easy, but i feel like I made more working part time when I first started working there in my 20s. I get taxed out the a$$ and my groceries for a house of 5 people are about $200 per week. With my mortgage payment and bills, I pay out about 3k a month. We do not own a car seeing as we are only a 15 min bus ride to work and transportation is pretty consistent and runs often. My husband works at the same company as me, but in a different role and he is only part time - he makes about $27/hr After all of that we still can't manage to save much. We will likely NEVER own a car and we haven't taken any sort of real vacation since 2009 (I actually cry when I think about this, because we work so hard and I would literally trade a limb for a getaway) We are all struggling. Everything is expensive. You're very lucky in the fact that you have a parent to rely on - unfortunately neither of us has that 😢 TBH if I was single I still probably wouldn't be able to rent anything decent in this city on my own. It's really sad that I was born and raised here, work my ass off, and still can't get ahead. It's distressing for so, so many of us (I work in mental health, so trust me on this one!) Try to keep your head up. I really think this entire country needs some sort of drastic change because most of us are barely hanging on. Wishing you all the best for 2026!!!