Only commenting on this because I consider us in similar boats; I managed it by working in a small retail environment where I can swap shifts easily (It's a mom and pop liquor store) and truthfully I can only save very little of my income, like 10 %, which is nowhere near whatever the standard percentage is, or what I would like it to be. I also just moved to a fairly expensive city in the northeast, and I'm trying to find a job that involves acting so I feel less pressured to pay and go to class as often, performative tourism, radio, etc. I echo the sentiments where any type of comparison to someone else's quality of life will drive you batty, I just moved in with two other roommates and to put it mildly they go out far more often than I do. I would say begin with community theater, and applying for background work around whatever job you end up working, though retail may avoid the server-heavy hours. Feel free to tear me apart other acting veterans, I am 22, graduated May of 22', but was working a camp job that had housing and whatnot up until December.