Poll of the Day > I feel like I should have more of an idea of what I want to do career-wise

(+) Yeah! (+)

Especially at my age (Im 33) but like.. I got nothin lol. I think part of the problem is Ive always had no idea what kind of career Id like- even as a little kid.

The other problem is I spent way too much time working at a shitty low-paying retail job that didnt really have room for growth (that Id want to do, anyway).

I recently left that and the job I have now is ok. Im working as a dispatcher, but its essentially customer service and I kind of want to get out of that line of work.

Problem is I have no idea what to go for. Almost fifteen years at a grocery store kind of wore me out, so a physically demanding trade is a no-go. And in my mid-30s, I dont really have the time to devote to learning something that takes years and years.

Feels bad, man.

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i wanna be a housewife

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Not everyone needs to do something

we really need 6 billion people all doing stuff every week? That sounds like a disaster. Everyone just chill

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Mead posted...

Not everyone needs to do something

we really need 6 billion people all doing stuff every week? That sounds like a disaster. Everyone just chill

Believe me, if I could get away with not working or working less, I absolutely would lol.

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You do what you're interested in and if you can't, get the qualifications to do what you're interested in. If you're not interested in anything, you need therapy.
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enough people just gotta collectively demand it and not get distracted

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I just cant believe how difficult it is to find something local (ideally under 30 minutes from where I live) that has a morning shift that isnt just sitting at a desk all day but isnt strenuous either that offers benefits, the pay I need, and weekends / holidays off.

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At this point in your life, look at what programs the local community college(s) offer. (Unless you can pick up and move somewhere)

Usually, those are the high-demand jobs in the area.

11110111011 posted...

At this point in your life, look at what programs the local community college(s) offer. (Unless you can pick up and move somewhere)

Usually, those are the high-demand jobs in the area.

a lot of people land on welding


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rexcrk posted...

Believe me, if I could get away with not working or working less, I absolutely would lol.

If you don't have kids, you can for sure. Maaaybe you would need to move to another area, but even in pretty expensive areas you can get by working 2-3 days a week pretty easy.

Might need to rent a room instead of an apartment, but even studio apartments are pretty cheap in some areas.

I live off $900 or less a month and that includes $600 for rent. It was cheaper the last place I lived as I split a 3 bedroom with 2 roomates and we each paid only $400 a month including utilities an internet. I spent about $650 a month there.

If you get any job with tips, in a state that has full min wage + tips, you can actually get by working only 1 day (Know a girl going to college that works at a pizza place who does that). She makes enough between tips and the base pay per day, to pay all her bills (she makes about $300 a day total).

You don't have to be that extreme though, honestly working 3 days a week (24 hours a week), even at min wage (which is 15 or close many places), is more then enough to live comfortably on if your single. That is $360 or so base a week, or about $1500 a month. You can rent a studio apartment for $700 or so, spend $300 a month on food, pay for utilities/internet/cell phone and car insurance/gas easily with that much, and even have money saved over for entertainment or to save for trips etc.

The only reason you need to work 40+ hours at any job is because you have kids to support, or you want to live in an expensive apartment, have a new/expensive car or have hobbies that cost alot of money.


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More and more people are doing RV or van living, and I think theyre pretty smart for it honestly

I can think of a worse life than living out of a van near a shore

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Mead posted...

More and more people are doing RV or van living, and I think theyre pretty smart for it honestly

I can think of a worse life than living out of a van near a shore

I strongly considered it, and may still do it eventually. Even leasing a van etc, the payments are less than rent. If you buy one outright, you spend almost nothing per month (just gas, but you don't need to drive much).

I had a van for traveling and van life but my friend really needed it. I got a great deal on it and wasn't using it so I gave it to him instead. Now the same van is like $6000 though.

Van life has it's advantages and it's disadvantages. If you live in one area and don't travel to much, you can get a 5 by 5 storage space for about $50 a month, and you can do either Planet Fitness for $10/month (to have easy access to a shower, TV's, and well, fitness equipment), or YMCA for 30$ (as long as you show you make less then X amount of money per month you can get a membership for half price and it works at any YMCA).

I personally think the YMCA is the better deal since you can use it anywhere, and they have pools, hot tubs etc. Planet fitness also offers a black card membership that works anywhere, but it's $30 as well....so kinda silly to get that instead of the YMCA (guess it doesn't matter if you don't like to swim or want a hot tub though).

Power is actually pretty easy to handle with the new batteries they have out there, but especially if you get one of the $300 generators (holds 2 gallons of gas, have another 2 gallon container in your van, and you can run it, and charge the batter + laptops etc for about 50-80 hours of use before needing to refill). That lets you have power to play games/watch shows etc. Since you can now get unlimited internet on cell phones and use that for your computer etc, just having a cell phone plan gives you all the internet you need for casual stuff, and you can just use free wifi somewhere if you want to download a big file or something. I pay $25 a month for my verizon service which comes with 5gig of internet (that I use when I bring my laptop with me, but have never even used half of it in a month). You can buy more if you want, but unless you stream A TON of movies/tv shows etc, or download files (games etc) with it, it's all you will need per month.

Bathrooms are a pain, but there are tons of places you can park with 24 hour bathrooms around. You can also buy a portable toilet which has a plastic bag inside (for when you poop). You can pull it closed and dispose of it easily, and they are not expensive.

Biggest thing is you can easily live in places like the Bay Area CA which are very expensive (even renting a room there is generally $700 or more...though you can still get lucky). You can also travel easily if you ever want to etc. You can always "live" near work as well, so no commuting etc.

If you did van life you could live anywhere and just work through people ready or any other contracting type job only a few days a month, just getting enough money for food/gas/cell phone/car insurance etc.

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Try to look into apprenticeship programs in your area. Most don't require any experience and will pay for your training. When you get done with them you can be making $25-$30 an hour depending on the trade with potentially more down the road if you stick with it. I would say it is worth a shot

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Apprenticeship does sound like a good idea. I feel like there has to be something out there for me. I dont want to bounce around from shitty job to shitty job, but I also wasted so much of my life just dealing with working at a shitty job and thats no good either.

Im living comfortably at ~$36,000 a year but I feel like I could do (and deserve) much better.

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