First, I’m sorry that you find yourself in this situation.

Second, there’s no magic bullet that’s going to get you out of this. A tight budget might help, and perhaps tinkering at the edges might get you a little closer.

There’s a few things that might help:

1. Check what your paying for what. Can you save a few bucks by switching contacts? Phone companies are crap at offering good deals to existing customers, for example. Make sure your not paying for any long-forgotten warranty given in your account.

2. Upskill yourself: things like Alison offer free training, and a small cost for the certificate. While not enough to match a degree, that can give you the leg up to the next pay band. Often worth checking out New Skills Academy as well for offers.

3. Check out your local college/university for free short courses. Many of them will do short courses that can help improve you’re CV. Even if they are just in a subject you’re interested in, having a university course on a CV can really help.

4. Google your CV type: every type of work has a different CV requirement. Some want the biggest qualification first, some want a skill profile. We’ve all been taught to do a CV, but there are hundreds of different ways to do it. Check out what’s popular in your line of work, and update accordingly

5. Job hunt now: if your current job isn’t paying the bills, it’s time to job hunt. Look at the salary you need, then what you need to know to do the job. If you have 70% of what they are asking for, apply. Luck plays a bigger part in job hunting than we like to think.

6. Side hustle or not to side hustle: if you have a salaried job with regular hours, check your contract. It’s always good to know what requirements your current job has on having a second job. If your not feeling like a content creator, then Only Fans may not be for you: unless you happen to be really well endowed with good features. If that’s out, consider an evening job or weekend job. You might be able to pick up a few hours stacking shelves at your corner shop, or on the till/cash register. Two nights a week might be enough to help you make those ends meet. You can also try side-hustles like dog walking, or handy-person. Perhaps even a paid befriending service for the elderly (be aware there may be legal requirements in your area)

7. Plan: having a goal helps keep you focused. Knowing what job you’d like to do will help you work out what training and skills you need. Having a goal being that can also make the grind of two jobs easier as you can see yourself building towards a goal.

These are some broad-brush ideas that I hope gives you the idea that is it’s not totally hopeless.

There is already a bit of good advice what to do, here is what not to do: You already wrote that you don’t think you have what it takes for it, but I want to stress: Don’t try to make money as an online creator, on Etsy or similar. Basically everything popular with a low entry threshold is overcrowded and will only pay out if you put in massive amounts of time and effort AND are very lucky. GoFundMe is similar, it’s probably not worth the effort if you don’t already have a big reach or good hook.

You could try OnlyFans with a clever approach. Don’t go for the obvious. Think feet or worn underwear. Alternatively you can go donate blood and plasma in some places for money. You can sell your hair if you keep it in good condition. In general I’d say get scrappy: Food stamps, discounts, free wifi only, decrease your spending wherever you can. And keep looking for better jobs. There is always a better job somewhere.

When you’re living in a corporate hellscape you might as well be a survivalist. See how far you can take it. If you are dependent on your car for you job, maybe you need to move into your car and get rid of your apartment. Get a gym membership instead for showers. Research living on the street, frugality. There is a lot of valuable information online. You are not the only one going through this.

As for the mental part: Pretend you’re Mad Max. If your survival depends on it, you’re not far off. There is no shame to struggle in the this system. Concentrate on your survival. If you’re at the bottom, you can only go up.

You do not need a college education to get a good job. The trades need good workers and they make pretty good money. Go down to a union hall and offer to be an apprentice at something. Build some of those skills you say you don’t have!

Honestly, get into the trades. Welders, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etc. I went to college to get a business degree and it wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on.

Having a skilled trade, on the other hand, is a job that isn’t easily shipped overseas. I’m an apprentice welder at a government shipyard and it pays well. Not as much as non-apprentice’s do, but even with just three years under my belt, life is cushy.

I don’t know where you live, but there are government facilities and military bases everywhere. Some offer paid apprenticeship training where they teach you how to do everything while on the clock. I’m in one of those apprentice programs now.

I found this job on USAJOBS.gov. it took a while to get through the hiring process, these jobs are highly coveted. And it’s a lot of work, like really hard sweaty dirty work, but it’s worth it.

I won’t sugar coat it though, it’s not a fast process to get into an apprenticeship. It’s not an overnight fix. It will take time, time which you’ve already stated you might not have and I’m sorry.

If you need something immediate and you’re in good physical health, I would recommend military enlistment. I joined the Navy some years ago, and though bootcamp sucked, everything after was easy street. If you’re an inch away from homelessness, military would be a life saver. Do one enlistment which is like four or five years. You’ll have steady employment, a steady paycheck, and plenty of time to plan out your future if you don’t want to stay in.

Start looking at jobs at your local city and county governments. A lot of them still come with actual pensions.

To give the most generic advice to all who read this: make a living by making the lives of others liveable. Many are determined to study X and have a career of Y. This sometimes works out. Many will repeatedly try to have career Y their whole life due to a fixation even if it isn’t right for them at any or all those times. Some of the most lucrative success stories have been people who saw someone else in need and helped them, someone else or a subset of the population who had a problem that nobody came around to fix yet. A problem you had no prior affiliation with. Opportunity Z may be wildly unrelated to your training and/or career path, but, it may help more people moreso than your career Y. And then, your X, Y and Z skills can compound when you find your next opportunity.

I don’t know what your current job is, but assuming you work 40 hour weeks, a temporary bandaid is a second job. Wait staff, coffee shop, moving company, landscaping, local bike shop, grocery store - all these offer $16/hr or more for “unskilled” (no college degree) labor. Pick up weekend and evening shifts. You’ll burn out after a few years of this, but it can tide you over while you work on upskilling yourself.

Do you have roommates or willing to rent a room? Filter by rooms for rent on www.hotpads.com