Somehow I only made a little over $10,000 last year. My tax return will be a little over half of what I made. Some of this was the result of working as a Work Study employee at the college. Americorps was another low paying gig. I've probably made most of that total in the past 4 months at my current day job.

I knew money was tight this past year but I didn't realize it was to that degree. I just attributed some of that to my rent being higher than it's been in the past (while paying it alone anyway).