A woman so poor she lived off free food samples from a local gas station and only used candlelight \u2014 revealed the three things she\u2019s done to turn her finances around and save $44K in three-and-a-half years.<\/p>\n
Reyjka Elle, 32, grew up in poverty and fell into even harder times when she had to begin providing for herself at age 18 while living in Florida, Georgia.<\/p>\n
For the following six years, she budgeted to the extreme \u2014 selling all of her furniture as well as switching off her electricity and living by candlelight.<\/p>\n
She secured a job as a therapist assistant by \u201cpure luck\u201d and has since met her husband, graduated with a degree in psychology, and is working as a content creator and writer, earning $4K per month.<\/p>\n
Despite being financially stable now, Reyjka says her previous years in poverty \u201cstill affect\u201d her, and she \u201cfeels guilt\u201d when she buys things.<\/p>\n
Reyjka Elle, 32, grew up in poverty and fell into even harder times when she had to begin providing for herself at age 18 while living in Florida, Georgia. Reykja Elle \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
She says saving is \u201cmulti-faceted\u201d and the three things she does to help her budget are keeping a track of her income and expenses, investing in high-yield accounts, and working from home to avoid having to live in city centres in favour of quieter neighbourhoods with lower rent.<\/p>\n
Through investing her money, as well as side hustles, Reyjka and her husband have been able to save $45,300.<\/p>\n
Reyjka, a content creator now living in Mandel, Norway, said: \u201cGrowing up in poverty, I always had a budget mindset.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really kicked in once I was on my own and had to provide for myself.<\/p>\n
For six years, Reykja budgeted to the extreme \u2013 selling all of her furniture as well as switching off her electricity and living by candlelight. Reykja Elle \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to think strategically in every aspect.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the USA, you get paid roughly $50 to donate blood.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was having to donate blood constantly just to get a meal or two.<\/p>\n
\u201cI almost joined the military for a place to sleep and earn money \u2014 I didn\u2019t have an apartment at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I had 50 cents left in my account and did not get paid for another week.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI had to live on free food samples at the gas station.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow things are so much better.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband and I started investing, and that\u2019s where our money started to multiply.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo this day, it definitely still affects me. I\u2019m afraid to spend on things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I had 50 cents left in my account and did not get paid for another week. \u201cI had to live on free food samples at the gas station,\u201d Reykja said. Reykja Elle \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
Reyjka was 18 when she began sleeping on friends\u2019 couches as she couldn\u2019t afford an apartment of her own, even living in her car for a short period.<\/p>\n
After getting a job at Target at age 23, she began renting a room in a house with friends in Florida, Georgia.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI was working, but with my co-workers, when there was a pizza party, I would have to eat the leftovers because I didn\u2019t have food at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy electricity was turned off all the time, so I would have to use candles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would buy clothes and keep the tags on them and wear them, and return them because I couldn\u2019t afford to keep them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was like from age 18 to 26 \u2014 that entire time period where I was doing these crazy things to save money and get things for free.\u201d<\/p>\n
At 26, Reyjka got a higher-paying job as a therapist assistant, hitting it off with the hiring manager who gave her \u201ca chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
She met her husband in 2019 and was able to get more schooling with his support, graduating with a degree in psychology from an online university in 2021.<\/p>\n
Reyjka said, \u201cWe moved to Norway two years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a child, age three now.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the best decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reyjka still budgets and is careful with her money.<\/p>\n
She said, \u201cI have guilt when I buy things.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t do anything in terms of cosmetic application like hair, nails, or make-up.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, I think it looks beautiful, but to me, it feels like wasted money.<\/p>\n
At 26, Reyjka got a higher-paying job as a therapist assistant, hitting it off with the hiring manager who gave her \u201ca chance.\u201d Reykja Elle \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing out to eat is not a thing more than once or twice a year, max.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always think \u2018I can cook it at home\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still use coupons even if I have enough money in my account; I use coupons to get the best price.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reyjka makes a detailed spreadsheet every payday of her income and expenses.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cOur monthly income on average is $7,000 to $7,500 before taxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe pay our bills first and allow ourselves to have $400 to $500 of \u2018fun\u2019 money \u2014 like eating out or taking a trip.<\/p>\n
Through investing her money, as well as side hustles, Reyjka and her husband have been able to save $45,300. Reykja Elle \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rest immediately goes into savings.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore, my monthly income was less than $1,000 per month.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just wanted people to know that if you\u2019re born into a hard situation like me, and it can take years to get out of, but you can resolve this.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to feel less than because you\u2019re struggling with money.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no shame in it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman so poor she lived off free food samples from a local gas station and only used…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3093],"tags":[8953,51,474,388,2499,3028,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-375515","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-budgets","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-lifestyle","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-savings","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115096309444995724","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}