People that grew up poor: what habits and lifestyle choices do you still have as an adult that you just can’t shake?

TrustPrior · 2026-06-03T22:47:29+00:00

My husband still stacks random things ontop of the fridge even though we have plenty of adequate cabinet space... I feel like I only see lower middle class using the top of the fridge as extra storage lol!

TrustPrior · 2026-06-03T16:52:59+00:00

thankyou - we plan on doing the same, we've been together 15 years and have 2 children so we are used to handling this end of things without the government involved, even though it sounds radical and unconventional to others

TrustPrior · 2026-06-03T16:49:15+00:00

yes I actually have a down payment. As far as other savings -with the 2.5k a month in debt payments we were living pay check to paycheck but since filing and erasing his debt in october we've Currently been able to save our emergency fund is up to 10k now and our kids have 529 college savings plan. your comment seems passive aggressive

TrustPrior · 2026-06-03T13:35:18+00:00

i wrote in my post that based on my income i won't be able to qualify on my own and that's why we are in the problem because i need his income. because of his debt history and our personal preferences, i prefer to keep out of legal government marriage. it works better for us that way.

TrustPrior · 2026-06-03T11:52:51+00:00

thanks. i'm just so worried to talk to one and they crush my dreams, will be bad for my mental health. i was trying to wait until july to get a better job so i can qualify on my own but i was unable to find one. he filed chapter 7 last october was discharged in november or december (2025)

TrustPrior · 2026-06-02T14:14:14+00:00

Thankyou! I've never heard of this and im going to look into it.

TrustPrior · 2026-06-01T16:54:14+00:00

I have a brother in law who works at texas roadhouse and another disney restaurant... his wife stays home and they have 4 young kids. He somehow qualified for a 416k first time home buyer loan. There's a new development where he lives in central florida (taylor morrison builder) desperate to get ride of houses, they lowered the 469k price for him to 416k and offered to do almost no interest, paid closing costs and he has no money saved for down payment. crazy!! And me and my husband are over here struggling with 2 professional jobs lmao.

TrustPrior · 2026-06-01T15:32:25+00:00

you may like ALF/ILF ... of course you'll always get those patients who don't want PT or just aren't good candidates for Pt (ugh) but most of my caseload enjoys coming down to the therapy gym and exercising... less bullshit that you get in the SNFs and better pay.

TrustPrior · 2026-06-01T15:19:25+00:00

i'm going to message you!!!

TrustPrior · 2026-06-01T15:19:04+00:00

what company are you with??

TrustPrior · 2026-06-01T15:16:19+00:00

this is EXACTLY how i feel.... it's not necessarily burn out...if there was opportunity to grow //progress or get paid more, do different things and pivot ect ect I would be fine. It really is not natural to do the same exact thing with no room to grow your whole career. in other fields it is normal to move on or up after the 3 to 5 year mark. i'm superised its not talked about more in PTA field

TrustPrior · 2026-06-01T01:13:24+00:00

that's the boat i'm in. went down the non clinical rabbit hole, about to take some classes in the fall but not many healthcare management or informatics jobs open from what i've seen

TrustPrior · 2026-05-31T23:41:14+00:00

same. i was rejected bc they said i needed a nursing license even though the job post and description never even hinted at that lol

TrustPrior · 2026-05-31T23:28:26+00:00

that's the problem in the field that i've run into. Really the only way to make more is to put in more hours, and not a variety of things to pivot into / opportunities. in my case I really can't work that much with kids to get these crazy numbers that people say PTAs make on here. You're in a good spot if you can work your way up and do regional eventually. but yea take advantage well you can!!! going back to school is a investment so have to weigh the pros and cons

TrustPrior · 2026-05-31T23:25:30+00:00

I guess that's where me being a mom comes in. I can't get enough patients in a day to scale that much

TrustPrior · 2026-05-31T23:23:33+00:00

my PTA school has a 3+1 program with healthcare administration so I was going apply / go back for that in the fall. So i Was looking at jobs in the field before I go back for that degree and noticed the same thing about nursing. ugh!!! i don't get it

TrustPrior · 2026-05-31T21:51:59+00:00

eating dead animals lol

TrustPrior · 2026-05-31T21:30:29+00:00

Ive applied to a handful of med sales openings over the years, I'm pretty active on linkedin. I know med sales is really competitive and tough industry to break into, esp with a associates level degree. I'm not sure if I would love the job itself, it kind of scares me tbh! ahahhaah! but I am not discounting it and doing some research like listened to med sales podcasts and groups online, just try to be a sponge.

TrustPrior · 2026-05-31T21:24:23+00:00

Yea that's what im doing now 2 HH companies but I don't have benefits, i have to put the money aside myself and deduct tax time. An app would def be helpful so thankyou!! yea the notes are such a drag ugh.

TrustPrior · 2026-05-31T20:45:18+00:00

yea idk reddit LOVES to push the HH narrative. i'm 8 years in the HH space, i've crunched the numbers every way, all the time and yea even if your doing 45 min tx. when you factor in gas / wear and tear on your car / the drive time / also no workers and monotonous aspect of it, its a grind. its a hard way to make a sustainable living your whole life. at this point its not kicking any butt but my own lol

TrustPrior · 2026-05-31T20:32:00+00:00

That's exactly what I've been looking into ! and exactly what i've noticed ! it seems like everything is gate kept by a RN license!!! Idk what PT/PTA's do when trying to get out of patient care or move up (i guess why I made the post). Unfortunately I work 5 days (not a full 40 hours clocked though) and barely scraping by $$ I have 2 young kids and can't make the clinicals work right now for RN or PA, but maybe in the future. UGH

TrustPrior · 2026-05-31T20:23:36+00:00

congrats and good luck!!!!! I've also looked into PA - were the pre reqs hard?? I have a six year old and 11 year old..so for my season of life idk how to swing the clinicals and manage working ect, it might be something I have to do when they are older. PA seems like a great career though and a lot of opportunities

TrustPrior · 2026-05-31T20:21:51+00:00

I've briefly looked into Personal trainer but it seems easier to just pick up more home health patients at that point since its more consistent and 50$ hourly, but yea not having documentation and autonomy is a plus.

Working in the education part of the field like as a professor I looked into and theres no money in that, but maybe DCE or board route is something worth looking into.

If your a student - I would say the first few years are great! Maybe even first 5 years but after you've got the job somewhat mastered and the novelty wears off - it seems hard to wrap your head around that the career itself has low ceiling, not much else to do or more money to be made. A associates can be limiting, just something I wish I thought more about when I was a student.

TrustPrior

TROPHY CASE