9 Things I Learned Making Under $18k a Year for the Last 5 Years

Photo by Josh Appel on Unsplash

I’ve made under $18k every year for five years. Actually, I’ve made under $18k every year for the last 27 years. I already know you don’t care about my financial position and that’s not the point of this article.

The money I made came from working low wage jobs, part-time jobs, selling old pairs of clothes on the internet to barely make rent, and bartending. Most of my money came from bartending. I never really had money to do anything.

The idea of what money is has grown on me.

I should probably get my life together. This is the third day in a row I’ve only barely afforded beans and rice.

This has been a recurring thought bouncing around in my head for a while now. Understanding money meant understanding myself, specifically that I’ve been really lazy, haven’t had the upbringing of most of my rich friends (all of whom claim they “started from the bottom”), and am still clinging to the hope that some day I won’t live paycheck to paycheck.

Here’s what I learned scraping by.

It wont’ make you a better person

There are arrogant people everywhere who make a lot of money and treat people like…