I Work Overtime Just to Pay Rent. Is This Normal, or Am I Doing Something Wrong?

You make $2,400 a month, but your rent is 1880. That's not a budgeting problem.That's a real question from someone working overtime every single week just to keep a roof over their head and getting called cheap for it. The math behind this story might make you angry, and the fix isn't what you'd expect. So stay with me today.We're getting into the real numbers right now on the. Div. Hello and welcome to Financially Confident Christian.I'm Ralph Estep Jr. And I just want to thank you so much for spending a little time with me today. And today we're going to talk about what happens when you're working hard, but it still doesn't cover your basic cost of living.We got somebody who sent in a question. They're working overtime just to pay the rent. They're cutting expenses. No vacations, no extra shopping.They're actually even selling things to scrape by. And at the same time, they're being called cheap while they're barely making it.And the exhaustion of doing that myth every single month and still coming up short, that's exactly what we're going to unwind on today's show. If you've got a question for this show, you know, I'd love to answer questions. You can go to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/questionAnd we'll put a link in the show notes for you. But that again, it's financiallyconfidentchristian.com/questionWell, let's get right into our listener question today, and I want to start with the subject, because when I saw this subject, I was like, oh, I got to listen to this one subject. Read this. I work overtime just to pay rent. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong? Now, I could have stopped right there.But let's get into what the listener actually asked. And he wrote this. He said, hi, Ralph. Is anyone else severely struggling and worried about their rent and other bills?Constantly I'm trying to figure this out if it's me doing something wrong or my job paying like garbage. I constantly work overtime just so I can pay my rent every month. All I ever do is work and go home. I live on my own. I don't go out.I don't shop for myself unless it's things for the house or work items on Amazon. I don't impulse buy or have any hobbies that cost money. I haven't bought clothes or shoes for myself in years.I haven't been on vacation in years because I can't afford to I'm constantly trying to sell things I don't use or need in my apartment just to scrape something together. My average monthly spend. Here's what I spend, Ralph. Groceries, $300. I spend 140amonth on gas, work, snacks, 20 bucks. My phone, 113. WiFi, $100.My rent, like I said, 18, 80. Electric, 70. Car insurance, 100. Even help my parents out. I send them $75 a month, and I get my hair cut. That's 35.Now, my usual monthly income is $2,400. But, Ralph, I'm tired of people telling me I need to take care of myself more when I feel like I'm already doing my best.I'm tired of being called cheap when I've got 40 bucks in my pocket. Thank you, Ralph. Well, thank you for sending in that question. He certainly laid it all out for us.But the best part of this is I've got an answer today. But we got to start off with the obvious thing. When Your rent is 78% of your income, and that's what we're talking about here.Rent is 78% of this guy's income. The problem isn't your spending, it's your housing. And honestly, it's not about cutting more. You're already cutting to the bone.We're going to look at the real numbers, and we're going to talk about two things that you can actually change today. I want to start off with this. You've got to see that structural problem for what it is. Like I said, rent is 1880 against income of 2,400.Now, I'm good at math, but you could put that in a calculator and you find out that 78% of this person's money is going to housing. Well, I did a little research, and the standard guideline for rent is about 30% or less. Well, you're running at 2.6 times that number.That's broken math. That doesn't mean you're broken. But there are a couple of things you can trim because I want to throw these out to you.Your phone at $113 a month, and. And Wi Fi at 100. There's some soft spots.You might be able to cut those and maybe free up about $50 a month, but that's not going to fix the structural problem you have here. And of course, you've got groceries and gas and. And helping your parents, but those aren't leaks either.The problem is you can't budget your way out of math. That just doesn't work. So let's dig into this housing issue. We got to look at both sides of that. We got to look at your income and your housing.$2,400 A month isn't a living wage where you're paying 1880 in rent. You already know this. The frustration in your voice. You get it. That's the job. That's not a failure on your part.So as I'm thinking about how to help you with this, let's talk about your income first. Is there a job nearby paying meaningfully more for the similar work? Maybe that's where you got to start.Can you go find a job that will pay you more and more? It sounds like based on your income, you're probably living in a more high fluent and a higher income area. But maybe that's not the case.Maybe you need to go get some skills or some certification, anything to open up a higher paying lien. The goal for you is to work smarter for more pay, not just add more overtime hours. I commend the fact that you're doing that.But you've still got a baseline structural issue. So that's the income side of this. Now, on the housing side, a lot of people don't want to go there.We actually did a show about this a couple weeks ago. Maybe a roommate is the answer. It's not giving up. It's not throwing up the white flag. It's just simple math. So think about a roommate.Maybe you move to a cheaper neighborhood and that's not settling. Again, that's just the math. Or maybe a smaller studio apartment in a. In a different area could run half of what you're paying now.I'm not telling you to go do anything right now. Just start to research this. You don't need to commit to anything yet. Your housing cost is the one number that you can actually change.Everything else may be complicated, but then I want you to build an escape plan instead of a survival plan. What I hear in the tone of your voice, and of course this was a written thing, but right now you're in survival mode.Right now you're thinking about Ralph. How do I get through the week? If I can get through the week, how do I get through the month? And then it's just this vicious cycle of repeating.But an escape plan asks a different question. And the escape plan needs to ask what needs to change to make this sustainable. And as I said, this could be a better paying job. Maybe a roommate.Maybe you look at a cheaper area or maybe even a different city. So just Pick one option this month and actually research it. Now, I'm not saying pick 12, but write down what you find, even if it's small.Because what I found working in this field for 30 years, if you're stuck in a survival plan, you're not going to get out of that. An escape plan actually helps set you free.Now, one of the other things you mentioned in here, and I want to go a little bit deeper in this, you said you're tired of people telling you to take care of yourself while you're drowning. And I hear that. Because in my view, you're doing everything you can do. You're not lazy, you're not careless. You're not spending money frivolously.You're doing everything right. And. And the numbers still aren't working for you. Well, that's what. Here's what faith doesn't promise as we mention this.This is a show about faith and finance. Faith doesn't promise that hard work always pays off. It's clear to me you're putting in the hard work.It doesn't promise that doing the right thing will make the math balance. Clearly, the math is not working for you. But here's what faith does promise. It promises that you're not alone in this. God sees your diligent work.He sees those overtime hours that you're putting in. He sees the fact that you haven't taken a vacation in years. I love what the psalmist says in Psalm 69, verse 3.It says, I'm exhausted from crying for help. My throat is parched. That's what exhaustion sounds like in scripture. And that's where you are right now as you contemplate what to do.The answer in the psalm isn't, try harder. What is it saying? It doesn't say, oh, go try harder. It says, cry out. God isn't asking you to manage an impossible situation better.He's inviting you to ask a different one. And listen, you're allowed to be tired of this. You're allowed to want out of this vicious cycle. That's not weakness. That's wisdom.And I just want to encourage you something. You're not failing at life. You're failing at a math equation that was never built to work. Those are two very different things.And once you name the real problem, that's the first step towards fixing it. So here's your win for today. I want you to look up one housing alternative that you haven't actually researched.As I talked about earlier, maybe that's an apartment listing in a cheaper neighborhood. Yes. Maybe it's getting that dreaded roommate. Maybe it's picking up and moving to a different part of the city, or maybe even a new city.And don't commit to doing anything right now. Just find the real number and give yourself one option. Because as you reframe this, you can't choose a door you haven't found yet.So today, go and find that door. Which brings us back to Psalm 69:3. That's our Bible verse for today. And I want to read that again because it is so appropriate for today.It says, I'm exhausted from crying for help, my throat is parched, my eyes fail, looking for my God. And I want to give you a little context here. David wrote this from inside an impossible situation, not from the other side of it. He was within it.And he didn't fix it by managing better. He fixed it by crying out for a way through it. So friend, you're not, you're not broken for being exhausted. You're just human.And the path forward isn't squeezing yourself smaller. You've tried to do that. It's not working. It's finding a situation that actually fits. And how about we pray together right now?Heavenly Father, I bring before you today someone who is exhausted and it's not because they're lazy. It's from working constantly and every month coming up short. Lord, they've cut everything they can cut and it still isn't enough.So right now, Lord, I just want you to open their eyes to those options. They haven't seen things like a better job, a different place to live.And Lord, give them courage to look at those choices that feel scary, but it might actually lead to their survival. And Lord, release them from that self blaming and that math that never was going to work out in the first place.Help them build a plan that leads somewhere instead of just keeping them afloat. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen, friend. You're not cheap, you're not failing. You're caught in math that was never built to work.But now you know the real problem. It's not your spending. And now that you see that, it changes what you do next. So here's my takeaways for today. See that structural problem?Rent at 78% of income is never going to work. Look at both sides as we talked about. Look at your income, look at your housing options, research some alternatives.Build that escape plan instead of a survival plan. And I truly believe you can make this work. And if you're suffering something through like this as well, and you don't know what to do.I want to encourage you to send me a voicemail. I want to hear your voice.You can record that by going to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/voicemail I'll put a link in the show notes, but again, that's financiallyconfidentchristian.com/voicemail. Thank you so much for joining me today.I want to encourage you, as always, stay financially savvy and may God bless you and you have a great day today.