I would like to hear from anyone who has ever been in a situation where they were basically living from one paycheck to the next, and have improved their situation.

Any thoughts on how you turned your situation around would be appreciated.

Does it all boil down to higher earnings and less spending? Or is it more in attitude?

I would like to know also! I am trying a different approach than I did before, to see how it will work for me> I am a self employed cosmotologist, so I make daily deposits, and instead of putting my whole deposit in my checking acct, ( I always spend every penny that's in there) I just opened a savings acct and I will be putting money aside from every deposit even if its just 10 a deposit, I won't miss that 10 bucks in my checking if it were there I would probably just buy my son 1 more toy or buy one more thing on eBay that I don't really need! Hope it works for me I will let you know! (int the last 2 week I have managed to save 150 bucks already:)

Congratulations! Those are exactly the kind of ideas I am hoping for!

I too am guilty of buying things for son and others, and then finding myself broke...

I worry that by doing it, I am not looking far enough into the future as being able to provide more for him at some point down the line... very difficult dilemma...

I would like to hear from anyone who has ever been in a situation where they were basically living from one paycheck to the next, and have improved their situation.

Any thoughts on how you turned your situation around would be appreciated.

Does it all boil down to higher earnings and less spending? Or is it more in attitude?
pay yourself first even if it is only 5 dollars a pay and then don't touch it. Read Automatic Millionaire by David Bach it is my bible. Pay down debt, go on a spending freeze for a few months and buy only necessities. Remember pay self first, then rent, bills then live off the rest. When you can buy a home, renters never get rich. I bought my first home when I was 23. I have had many financial hardships along the way. I still am working on improving my financial picture. I am a 37 year old single mother of two, I work fulltime, I have 3 foster children and I own 3 houses. I live in 1 and rent out 2. My rentals are paying for themselves and I probably have about 60-70 thousand dollars in equity in the rental property. Good luck!! Remember pay yourself first i.e.. 401k at work ,IRA ,TSA if you have a job that offers a match at least put in what they match. Also, when you get a raise ^ your contribution by that much. For example, if you are putting 4% in your 401 k and you get a 2% raise increase your contribution to 6% you'll never miss it. I was making less than $8 an hour when I bought my first home. Again good luck!!