A recent life story, a plea for help, a rant, a begging for knowledge and advice.

Hi, my name's Jack. I'm 22 years old, and need some advice. Please share your knowledge and experiences.
If you hate walls of text you can read the short version and reply or email me at
Or if you are bored and want to read a rant, you can skip down the random questions or the "Long Version"

Short Version:

I have no job. I have enough money to survive for 2 months without working. So I need a way to make some quick cushion money. And I need a way to make a living in the long run that is worth me investing all my time into learning and doing it. I have no college education. It costs me about $800 a month minimum to live. So I need to generate at least $27 a day working 7 days a week. Or $40 a day if I work 5 days a week. Shouldn't be too hard right?

I'm looking for someone to help me progress in life. To share your experiences and give me advice on what I could do differently. What works for you?

I don't want just another crappy low paid slave position job.

A few random questions:

What do you do?
What can I sell on eBay?
What kind of business can I start with low funds?
What advice can you give me?
What were you doing when you were 22 years old?
What would you do differently?


Long Version:

Hi, I'm 22 years old. Unemployed. Pretty blessed for what I have. I could be in worse shape, but I could be in a LOT better shape too. I see many friends that I went to school with that are ahead of me. Some very far ahead, some very far behind, some have not left the partying stage and enjoy working a very crappy low paid job, and just drinking their money away. Others work very very hard to support their newly made family, and others I can't really tell what behind or ahead is, because they have a great job, but they're $50,000 in debt with student loans, and $25,000 in debt with their car, and another $130,000 in debt with their house. lol

Skip this next paragraph if you don't want to read about my pity party directed at my in debt mother.

About my mother:

My mother is 49 years old, and has a few medical issues, so she only works 20-26 hours per week, making $8 per hour. Barely enough to live. She has $40 in her wallet, and to her name, as her bank account is negative. She owes around $3500 in credit card debt. She has no savings. No 401k, no retirement, nothing. She's kind of given up hope. She blames her medical issue, but I think 90% of it is lack of power of will. I wish I could help her, but I'm not sure that I know how. I've told her to move to a city, and use her degree to get a better job, sell her house, get out of debt, downsize.. but she said "I'm too old, I live day by day" It's like she's laid down and given up and is just waiting for death. I feel that this downer has held me back, and I don't want to live too far away from her, cuz I want to help her. But at the same time I want to move 1500 miles away to a more beautiful state that I'd enjoy more. But it feels almost like it'd be selfish, like I'd be leaving her behind.. I wish she was better off, and happy. I feel that if I had money, I could solve her problems, and be able to live where I want and still visit her, but in the state I'm in now, if I moved, I wouldn't be able to afford to come back.

Ok.. Back to my story:

I don't want to be like this. I don't want to be poor for the rest of my life. I've read LOTS of books on personal finance, how to save money, how to invest in real estate, all that good stuff. I live very frugally, but I don't hardly have an income right now. This is what I need help with. And maybe some head thumping to set my thoughts in the right direction.

I'm sorry for this wall of text, but I'm seriously wanting advice.. because I feel like if I don't fix these problems that my happiness will someday crash. If I stay still too long, and don't progress, everything will seem somewhat pointless. I hope that makes sense. I don't want to be poor forever, I don't want to live in a crappy apartment forever. I could survive, but the reason I'm so joyful these days, is for hope of a better future. While this great hope is present, I want to progress.

A little background on me:

As earlier stated, I'm 22 years old, unemployed. I graduated high school, but have no college. If I asked any similar question about life, my automatic response from majority of people I know would be "Go to college" well I'm looking for an alternative way.

Expenses:

I live in an apartment that costs $419 a month, which is split with my girlfriend, and all expenses including electricity, phone, internet, netflix is about $121, which is also split two ways. Plus food is $260 a month. I pay $180 a month for my car payment, and $60 a month for insurance, lets say $60 for gas, and $100 for anything extra that can come up, entertainment, clothes, household items, etc. So since most living expenses are split with the girlfriend, I'd say I can live on $800 per month, if I don't go out to eat, buy junk food, go to movies, or anything like that. But I like to do a little stuff, and have little luxuries. So I probably spend closer to $900 a month or even $1000. Anything extra, I save. When I was 18-20 I saved nothing from my jobs. When I was 21 I read books about saving, and finally started saving. Over the next year, I saved $6000. Then I moved 180 miles away from home, bought furniture and all that. Cost about $2000 total to move and all that. Had $4000 left. I got a job here and made enough money for expenses and to stay floating. As in, I couldn't save much if any, my job sucked, I worked 22 hours per week. But I was happier doing this than the job before that, where I worked 12 hours a day, minimum wage, no overtime pay. Was commission based with a $1500 "draw". I hate being a low paid slave. I feel I created no value doing the jobs I did. I was just filling a spot. So I want to do more, create more, be more. Give me some direction!

My make money online experience and what I've been doing lately to survive, and why it's no longer working:

I sell on eBay lately to make a few dollars. I buy junk from garage sales, flea markets, thrift stores, craigslist, and Aliexpress.com it started with selling junk around my house and making enough money for a tank of gas. Then I though whoa! I can make money with this, so I searched for something I could sell that is easy to ship. I found SD cards, lost $300 trying to buy direct from China without an escrow. Bad deal. Finally got someone to send me what I purchased.. $240 worth of SD cards! Great price too. I sold them on eBay, and finally got some returns and angry emails. Turned out they were high quality counterfeits from China.. dang.. I quickly quit that. Moved on to Android Tablet PCS, bought 1 at a time, 2 at a time, and moved on to 5 at a time, and eventually 10 at a time. I ordered them from Aliexpress.com and sold them on eBay, making $20-$60 each, which I thought was great as I could sell one or two every day. Then I got tired of returns, and quit that too. I think 25% of them turned out being returns because the quality of the tablets sucked. Poorly made, break easily, crappy battery, etc. Then I found P90X wholesaler... those turned out to be counterfeit. Had my listing removed, stopped that. Then my friend wanted me to find him a Hip Hop Abs! Found it but I had to buy 5... sold him one, made $10.. Then I was stuck with 4, for months. I didn't want to sell them on eBay cuz my P90X experience. But I ended up saying eh... what the hell. I sold all 4 in a day.. Ended up buying 5 more, 5 more, then decided to buy 20... then 25... then 40.. then 45.. 45.. 45.. I've sold so many of these on eBay.. but once again, after a few returns, I quit. They are just high quality copies. The customers love them. But it's against the law, and I could lose my eBay account and even be sued for $20,000 to $100,000. Which would probably ruin my life. So I quit that too. Now I am buying iPhones, Ipads, silver and stuff on craigslist and selling on eBay. This is a very slow process, as not everyone will sell to you at a price low enough to make profit after eBay fees, Shipping, etc. I need something new. How can you help me?

I have enough money saved to live for 2 months without a job. Longer if I can find a way to make money within that time period, and longer if I can sell these dang iPhone 4's that I paid too much for, and this 40 ounces of silver that I paid too much for.

I'm looking for your experiences, advice, helpful words, compliments, or anything really. How do you make money? Offline, online, whatever. Tell me to start a business, tell me to do something unique or unorthodox. Tell me how to get a job that isn't just another low paid crappy slave job. Tell me how to progress in my life. Thanks in advance for all posts, and to anyone who reads this.

Feel free to email me personally at
or reply to this thread, as I have it bookmarked and will check it every day.