10 people share what drained their finances, highlighting the modern-day cost of living crisis

The financial crisis is dreadful

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger or perhaps, broke in this case. Many of us have faced moments of crisis in our lives which has drained us financially. Somehow, we might have worked hard to recover from that period of crisis and some of us are still working to recover from a significant monetary loss. Whether it is about people spending money without keeping track of it, making bad decisions or simply falling victim to an accident, situations like these are a few examples on an endless list of ways in which we can go broke. Recently, Reddit user u/createanewaccountuse popped an interesting question to the community which read: "What didn't kill you but ruined you financially?" Netizens flooded the comment section with personal stories which caused them to lose money and eventually ruined their lives. But with hard work and hope, these individuals are hanging on and still working to recover their lost dimes. Here are ten of the most interesting and relatable responses to the question.

1. When bad luck hits hard

My wife and I quit our jobs in Canada to move to Tahiti to open a VR arcade. As luck would have it, we opened literally a week before the COVID-19 pandemic. That hurt us hard. We are still very much in the hole (but climbing our way out) u/AnotherDrunkCanadian. Bummer on the timing. I had a buddy who did a soft launch of a food truck in the fall of 2019. Needless to say, he's back working for someone else. u/telemon5

2. Rehabs are expensive

My son’s rehab from an opiate addiction. Totally worth the nine years of sobriety he has under his belt. u/cybercybinz. Almost three years sober here. My addiction will never be over but I’m doing well keeping it in check. I can vouch for the cost of treatment too. I was out of my mind and got taken to a place outside my coverage. Ended up owing like 35 grand for three weeks of in-patient. u/isimplycannotdothis

3. The bittersweet side of divorce

My divorce itself didn’t cost me a lot and yes it was worth it, but I had us on a solid plan where the house would have been paid off in 15 years, and would have been able to cash flow college for kids while still building for retirement. Now my living expenses take up way too much of my income, college is on loans and let’s not talk about retirement. u/strugglingwell. Same. It was really hard letting go of the dreams I had of what the future would look like. u/idkifyousayso

4. A bill-saving hack that might help

I work with mentally ill people and I myself have clinical depression. I go on leave regularly for mental health to do partial programs and I just helped a person drop an ambulance bill from $5,000 to $1,500 who I work with. If you get sectioned and go inpatient, you need to take an ambulance to an emergency room no matter what if you didn’t go to one yourself. Imagine being sectioned for mental health and coming out with 5k due to an ambulance company. People who get sectioned are rarely actually in a state that needs to be transported. My best advice, drive yourself or an Uber to an emergency room if you are suicidal and avoid crisis centers. Tell the emergency room you are suicidal. Save yourself the bill. u/Ant10102

5. The victim has to pay the price

The woman who ran my son and me over. She was a crack addict who had no insurance. I have a broken tooth and severe trauma. I can’t afford therapy. I have to pay extensively for my son to get his teeth fixed because he lost two adult teeth and two baby teeth. They closed the gap of the missing teeth and his teeth all shifted. Super fun being run over and being the one who’s paying in the end. Just thankful more than anything we are even alive, let alone my son being perfect. u/DickeTittenn

6. Make your own meals

Not making my own meals on a daily basis. Didn't ruin me financially but good lord, cook your own food people. That 5-10 dollars on fast food adds up. u/DIABLO258. I looked at it once to have food delivered to work because I was extra busy, but after seeing they marked the price up of the menu item, charged extra for the straw, napkins and free condiments, then charged a delivery fee and other fees plus expecting a tip, I decided not to do it. I’m not paying over $20 for something that only costs $5.00. u/cvfd13

7. Hospital bills are the worst

I wouldn't say ruined because I did recover eventually. We had a large hospital bill and though they suck, they are pretty flexible with making payments and they don't charge interest. One day I was on the road and the bill was due so I called my wife and asked her to make the hospital payment for me. Apparently, I wasn't clear in my instructions so she called the hospital and quite literally paid the entire balance off on my credit card. I think it was like 10 grand, I was devastated. I tried to call and get them to cancel the transaction but they told me I was out of luck. I bet paying off that hospital bill I paid it at least twice because of the interest. -u/h4terade

8. Even cops have to pay back

I used to be a cop. They made me repeatedly work understaffed, with little to no backup. It was horrible working conditions. So I quit. They made me pay them back $7,500 for “training expenses” since I quit in under 2 years. I only made $48k a year. Then I did door-to-door sales for a while, didn’t have money for rent, was at my low. Now I work from home making six figures and am grateful to have left the field! u/cheeseburghers

9. Splurging on cosmetics

Mary Kay Cosmetics! We were newly married and my wife had gone back to school so we were perpetually broke. A friend of hers was coming over to pitch selling Mary Kay, my wife thought it would help her make a little bit of side income to help us out. This “friend” and her husband convinced my wife to call our credit card company and get the limit raised so she could buy in “for the best value”. It was around $4,000 bucks (in 1990) and absolutely devastating for us to pay back at 28% interest because MLMs only work when you know a ton of other people to ruin over apparently. u/ChippyVonMaker

10. Never give in to any addiction

Alcoholism. I lost my husband, kids, home, cars, etc. I took a huge fall and ended up a pathetic drunk, living on the streets. I've been sober for 14 years today, and I'm tremendously grateful I have my kids back in my life, but I'll never get close to the kind of life I was living before alcohol took over. u/jerseygirl1105. Alcoholism almost killed me several times. Now six years sober. u/Ghostkai92