Personal Finance

That sucks. Sorry.

In your shoes, I would be shopping for a cheap beater car immediately. Put the word out among any friends.

Don't be afraid to buy a beater. You can make a beater get you reliably from point A to point B with YouTube and a cheap tool set from Harbor Freight.

Also, let your boss know what's up, if they're not awful. They may have a lead on a vehicle. As the boss, calling in a favor to help a team membsr buy and maintain a cheap car is a hell of a lot easier than hiring a new good team member.

And to answer your question, I'm well past that stage now, but back when I made $20 / hour:

• I write out a budget, every month (I still do.) I didn't use software, at first. I used to fold a piece of paper in half. On the left side of the fold I write each budget item description, on the right side of the fold I write each dollar amount. Then I add it up on my $4 solar calculator. Every month. It takes 20 minutes and it's at least 50% responsible for my current wealth. The hourly rate of return on this stupid trick is mind bogglingly good. It's easily the best investment I've ever made.
• I ate at home. I learned to cook three simple meals and ate them over and over again. One was scrambled eggs. One was a balogna sandwich. One was a tuna sandwich. I'm now still famous for my scrambled eggs. I don't eat bologna or tuna anymore, if I can avoid it.
• I got very good at repairing my shit box fully paid off almost worthless car. I could still, today, land a job as a master mechanic's apprentice, thanks to how much my beater broke and needed me to fix it. I was incredibly lucky to have mentors who could teach me car repair before YouTube existed. I can almost guarantee my shit box car was more reliable than any car you're still paying off, after I fixed it so many times. Most shit box cars can become rock solid reliable with enough sweat and junk yards parts. I routinely put 300,000 miles on shitty brands of cars, before I reached the kind of wealth where I am now. Now that I'm living large, I buy four year old cars, with less than 100,000 miles on them. It's quite the luxury, but I can afford it.
• I always repair my own appliances. Life is so much cheaper when a $17 part solves what could have been a $600.00 repair. YouTube has been incredibly helpful for this. I still repair almost all my own stuff because I now have more experience and a better handy-man track record than most folks I've ever hired.

I'm sorry you're dealing with this. I hope things turn around for you.