This story is part of CNBC Make It’s Millennial Money series, which details how people around the world earn, spend and save their money.

In January, Symone Austin was working a pretty typical day in her UX designer job when she got an email that made her stomach drop.

The 11 a.m. email from HR instructed her to clear her schedule for the day and be ready for a meeting in an hour. Austin, 33, says she’d been expecting the message for at least six months since her manager and several colleagues were laid off in mid-2024.

“I felt a wave of emotions: scared, very nervous, very anxious. I cried,” Austin tells CNBC Make It. “I just had a gut feeling that it was going to be the time that I was going to get laid off.”

Austin says she was, in fact, laid off over Zoom that day, along with around 20 of her co-workers. She wouldn’t know it yet, but she’d soon turn her hobby making YouTube videos into a new stream of income.

Austin, who lives in North Carolina, says she has since retooled her budget to cover her nearly $2,800 mortgage every month, make payments toward her student loans, avoid new credit card debt and barely touch her $40,000 emergency savings. Here’s how.

Austin previously earned $131,000 per year designing the user experience for a retail company’s apps and websites.

She got her last paycheck in February, which included payouts for her accrued vacation time, and later received her last bonus and a small severance package.

She immediately filed for unemployment and qualified for 12 weeks of benefits, paid at $600 per week, for a total of $7,200 in jobless aid.

The bulk of Austin’s earnings this year have come from her YouTube channel. She started making lifestyle videos in 2015 as a creative outlet after graduating from college; in 2018, she was in a car accident and began tracking her year-long journey of buying a new vehicle, and has dedicated her channel to covering personal finance ever since.

Austin recorded the aftermath of her layoff like she would for any big financial moment. It took her three weeks to build up the courage to post it.

“Even though I know a lot of people have been laid off, I felt a sense of embarrassment around it,” she says.

The video went viral within hours, racking up close to 100,000 views and a flood of supportive comments that same day, Austin says. The YouTube clip now has over 700,000 views, and a version on TikTok reached 1.6 million views. Viewers wrote about how they appreciated Austin’s authenticity and transparency; some said they were going through the same thing, while others said they’d been there before and were able to bounce back.

Austin continued documenting her layoff experience, committing 30 to 40 hours per week to creating three long-form videos and shorter social cuts of her new routine.

Her YouTube channel, Life and Numbers, is monetized in three main ways: ad revenue, sponsorships or brand deals, and a “super thanks” feature where people can donate to her directly.

The month before her layoff video, Austin says she made about $900 from her channel; by February, she earned $5,900 thanks to her viral video. She’s averaged around $2,000 per month from YouTube earnings alone, totaling $21,000 for the year as of October.

Austin also sells digital products through her channel, like a budget template and job-search tracker, as well as physical merch like T-shirts and sweatshirts. She’s earned about $3,000 from these for the year.

Outside of YouTube, Austin works as a virtual assistant for a local Pilates studio, where she earns $300, plus free classes, for 10 hours of work per month.

Here’s how Austin spent her money in October 2025.

• Mortgage and utilities: $2,962 for her two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom house. About $2,746 goes toward her mortgage, and over $200 goes toward Wi-Fi, water and electricity.
• Food: $475 for groceries
• Debt repayment: $423, including $223 to her student loans and $200 to credit card debt
• Health insurance: $352
• Gas: $78
• Discretionary: $77 for a car repair, accidental AMC charge and a professional course
• Phone: $25

Austin’s biggest monthly expense is far and away her housing, including her $2,746 mortgage, which includes property taxes and insurance.

Austin bought her house on her own in 2024 after saving for about two years; she purchased the house for roughly $340,000 with a $10,000 down payment and $4,000 in closing costs.

Austin has spent a lot of the year worried about making her housing payments and debating whether she’d need to move. She recently decided that in January, her friend will move in as a roommate, which means she’ll be able to stay in her house and significantly lower her housing costs.

She’s currently making minimum payments toward her credit card debt, which totals around $15,000 and is from buying her home’s furniture and appliances last year. She still uses her credit card for everyday purchases to rack up travel points, but pays off those purchases immediately. “I’m determined to not go further into credit card debt,” she says.

Austin is also making payments toward her roughly $33,000 in student debt from her master’s degree in interactive media.

Aside from a big chunk for private health insurance, Austin keeps the remainder of her expenses low. She cut her budget down to the basics after her layoff, estimating that she spends about $1,000 less per month now than she did a year ago. “My brain has been rewired around how I see money,” she says.

Austin started the year with a $40,000 emergency savings fund and only recently dipped into it to cover her monthly expenses. She says she fully intended to rely on it after her layoff, but “every time I’ve gone to pull money out of it, I’ve gotten money from somewhere else.”

“I’ve been very grateful throughout this whole year that it took until month 10 for me to finally have to use my savings,” she says.

Many of Austin’s videos get real about the challenges of being out of a full-time job for nearly a year. Long-term job seekers say the experience can take a toll on their emotional and physical wellbeing, on top of their finances.

Austin says it can be hard to depict those feelings in her videos, but that it’s made her aware of what keeps her grounded. Staying physically active through yoga, Pilates and going on walks with friends has been crucial to her mood, she says.

She also leans on her support system, including friends and family members. Long-time friends continue to invite Austin on trips and will cover things like the hotel stay in order for her to make it.

“I’ve still had moments where I get to do fun things throughout the year,” Austin says, adding that her sister bought her ticket to see Beyonce perform during this summer’s Cowboy Carter tour.

“I’m walking away [from] this year with a much deeper appreciation for my support system,” she says.

Austin leaned on her faith during hard times and says her relationship with God “has gotten so much deeper this year.”

“I’ve just had to really trust that God has a plan for my life,” she says, “and I may not know what that plan is right now, but eventually, everything is going to work out.”

Austin’s biggest priority for now is to keep covering her bills and to land another steady job.

The designer and creator says she is open to new work opportunities, whether it’s another 9-to-5, contract work or consulting. She recently got certified in accessibility design and is eager to incorporate that into her work.

Now that she’s built her own YouTube following, she’s also open to social media and content creation roles.

With a steady paycheck, Austin says her next financial goal will be to pay off her credit card debt as quickly as possible, followed by her student loans.

She’s interested in one day becoming part of the FIRE community, which stands for financial independence, retire early. “I’m looking forward to when I’m financially stable again, so that I can start building the foundation to achieve that one day,” Austin says.

Her No. 1 piece of advice to others going through a layoff is to not take the circumstances personally and to give themselves grace. It’s easy to burn out on finding a new job and ignore the things that make you happy, Austin says.

“Remember that this isn’t going to last for forever,” she says.

It’s been a tough year, but Austin is proud that she’s been able to pay all her bills on time and found ways to be resourceful.

“I’ve learned that I’m a lot stronger than I thought I was,” Austin says. “At the beginning of this year, I was panicking. I was very scared. Throughout the year, I’ve still felt a lot of anxiety, and sometimes depression, but I’m still here.”

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As a mom, a researcher, and a writer, I’ve spent more than a decade diving into the science of happiness.

Along the way, I’ve collected what I call “Secrets of Adulthood” — the lessons I’ve learned, with time and experience, about how to create lives that are happier and more meaningful. Many of those insights come back to one of the most important roles we play: raising happy, well-adjusted kids.

So I’m sharing 12 simple and practical parenting rules I always live by.

If you have big plans for the day but your child isn’t cooperating, be willing to adjust your activities to suit your child’s needs in the moment.

Sometimes I have to remind myself, “This is supposed to be fun.” It’s no good visiting the zoo if my daughter is throwing one tantrum after another.

When I interviewed parenting expert Aliza Pressman on my podcast “Happier,” we talked about the fact that by working to stay calm ourselves, we help our children stay calm.

Children don’t want the pressure of feeling that a parent’s mood or outlook depends on their behavior; they want to be able to rely on a parent’s steady support. 

This small action makes a huge difference for kids by boosting the atmosphere of tenderness and attentiveness in a household.

Say hello and goodbye with genuine attention and warmth, and if possible, add a hug or some kind of physical touch. I want my kids (and my husband) to know that I’m just as happy to see them as our dogs are. 

My silly April Fool’s Day pranks and my “holiday breakfasts” for Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day are a big source of happiness. They’re quick, fun, and make a day feel special and memorable.

Wear a bright red shirt with bright orange shorts? Sure. Sleep with your head at the foot of the bed? Fine. Samuel Johnson said, “All severity that does not tend to increase good, or prevent evil, is idle.”

For instance, figure out whether your child is an Obliger, Questioner, Upholder, or a Rebel, and adapt your parenting style to suit that particular child. Read more about my “Four Tendencies” personality framework here. If you want suggestions about how to apply the framework as a parent, look here. If you want your child to practice the piano, for instance, you’d take a very different approach depending on your child’s Tendency.

This includes being willing to laugh at yourself. I remind myself of the Secret of Adulthood that “Mishaps often make the best memories.”

Instead of yelling when I saw that my daughter had scattered every single pot and pan across the kitchen floor, I laughed and reminded myself that one day, this mess would make a very funny memory.

“You’re so resourceful,” “You have such an original imagination,” “I wish I had your ability to remember names and faces.” For children and adults alike, it can be hard to identify our own strengths. Parents can help children recognize areas of excellence in themselves. 

It can be tempting to say, “That person was just joking, it’s not a big deal,” “You won’t have any trouble memorizing the multiplication tables once you focus,” “You’re not afraid of clowns.” We may think that we’re being encouraging, but in fact, when we deny children’s feelings, they feel frustrated and ignored.

It’s more helpful to respond with empathy: “Last time we went to the circus you thought the clowns were very funny, but right now they seem scary,” or “That comment really hurt your feelings,” or “It’s hard work to memorize the multiplication tables.” 

I recently discussed this principle on the podcast “Laughlines with Kim and Penn Holderness.” Sometimes when talking to our kids, we ask questions that prompt them to focus on the negative aspects of their day. “Was that class still boring?” “Was that kid mean to you again?” We want to respond with compassion if a child wants to discuss a tough topic, but we don’t want to encourage them to focus on the worst parts of their experience.

Tasks that are easy for adults can be frustrating and difficult for children. Try to make things easier: Use hooks rather than hangers, store useful items on low shelves, keep a lightweight step stool next to the kitchen counter and in the bathroom.

When your child is driving you bonkers, keep your sense of perspective by recalling that soon, this phase will retreat into the past. It’s easier to stay serene and good-humored when we remember how fleeting the days of childhood were. One of the best ways to make your child happy is to be happy yourself.

Gretchen Rubin is one of today’s most influential observers of happiness and human nature. She’s the author of many books, including the bestseller ”The Happiness Project.” Her books have sold more than 3.5 million copies worldwide, in more than 30 languages. She hosts the award-winning podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin, where she explores practical solutions for living a happier life. Her new book, ”Secrets of Adulthood,” is out now.

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When it comes to her work, Ashley Cleveland has found a happy medium.

Cleveland, now 41, spent much of her twenties hustling. Between jobs at radio stations, record labels and tech firms, among others — mostly in promotion and marketing — she says she typically worked long hours while raising two young children.

By 2020, it had taken a toll on her mental health. After receiving a diagnosis of depression and general anxiety disorder from her therapist, Cleveland made a claim on her long-term disability policy, which, along with some investment income, allowed her to embark on a sabbatical to Tanzania.

Despite living with fewer luxuries than she had in the States, Cleveland said her quality of life vastly improved.

“Because I wasn’t working, I got to spend tons of time with my children and tons of time with myself, really restoring my physical, my mental and my spiritual body,” she tells CNBC Make It.

Cleveland fell in love with Africa and has resided in South Africa in 2023. She and her daughters moved to their current home in Cape Town earlier this year.

She has also returned to work, this time for herself. Cleveland runs several companies aimed at people interested in traveling to and living in Africa or investing in African firms. She earns revenue from selling digital travel guides and providing consultations for people or businesses looking to invest on the continent. She also hosts in-person and online community events and earns money from her YouTube channel, which has 86,000 subscribers.  

All told, her ventures have her on track to top $122,000 in revenue in 2025. That’s enough for her and her daughters to live a comfortable life that doesn’t feel overwhelming.

“I am very intentional about not hustling,” Cleveland says. “I used to work a lot of hours. It was very common for me to work 60-hour work weeks. But I definitely found a way to enjoy what I’m doing and the time that I spend on my work, as well as the time that I spend with myself and my family.”

On a typical day, Cleveland wakes up around 6:30 and spends an hour or two writing about her work and life experiences before her children get up.

“Those writings typically turn into emails for our community of about 1,200 people on our email subscriber list, captions on our social media posts,” and scripts for YouTube videos, she says.

She starts the workday at around 10 a.m., when her virtual assistant comes online. “We come online and we have our group huddles to talk about what we’re working on for the week,” Cleveland says.

Cleveland says she typically works until about noon, when she breaks for lunch, a trip to the gym and to run any errands she might have. She goes back to work for another few hours from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., when many of her clients are online. If she has a group coaching session or a community event, she stretches her hours a little longer.

“I’d say on average I work about five hours a day on a light day,” she says. “On a heavy day … I’ll push about 10 hours.”

Cleveland pays about $450 a month for a full-time housekeeper, which she says takes many time-consuming daily tasks off her plate. A tutor helps with her daughters’ homeschooling — a necessity until both can enroll in local schools at the start of term in January.

Paying for help allows Cleveland to be a more present mother to her children with time left over to enjoy a vibrant social life, which includes trips to local restaurants, wine tasting excursions and frequent spa visits with her friends, Cleveland says.

It’s the kind of work-life balance she says she never had in the States.

“Moving abroad has transformed my life for the better. It has given me so many things that I never even knew that I needed,” she says. “My mental health is far better than I could have ever imagined it would be.”

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Steve Sonnenberg credits his entrepreneurial “superpower” with helping him turn a side hustle into a company that’s now valued at $1 billion, he says.

The key to his success, he says: He’s not fazed by the risk of launching a new venture, or by the inevitable setbacks that follow. “When it comes to entrepreneurship, my superpower is all about just beginning. It’s very easy for me to start, because that’s just who I am,” says Sonnenberg, 44, the co-founder and CEO of employee rewards platform Awardco. 

And when he experiences obstacles with his business, “I just pivot really fast, because I know it’s going to work,” Sonnenberg says. “You just have to have that level of confidence.”

Founded in 2011, Awardco was most recently valued at $1 billion following a $165 million funding round in May. Clients like AT&T and Hertz use its platform, which gives employees reward points they can redeem for millions of items on Amazon Business’ marketplace.

Sonnenberg started working on Awardco after his previous company WholesaleMatch, which he’d started in college, was named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission. The lawsuit primarily concerned one of WholesaleMatch’s clients, and Sonnenberg’s assets were frozen during the legal proceedings. He filed for bankruptcy, shuttered his business and “had nothing left” to support his family with four young kids, he says.

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Yet he already knew his next step, he says: Start building his next company, even though he didn’t have a fully-formed idea for it yet. He put $5,000 he didn’t have on a credit card to buy the Awardco.com domain from its previous owner, he says.

“What does any crazy entrepreneur do? You always have another [idea] on deck,” says Sonnenberg.

As he turned to other jobs to make money — first as a freelance web designer, then working for business software company Qualtrics — Sonnenberg built Awardco on the side with his cousin Mike Sonnenberg and Qualtrics colleague Tanner Runia. His idea shifted from a physical store selling trophies to wholesale rewards for corporations before landing on Awardco’s current business model, he says.

Amazon initially balked at partnering with the then-unknown platform, says Sonneberg. The rejection could’ve pushed him to give up or move onto a different idea. Instead, Sonnenberg made cold calls to sign corporate clients up anyway, and when employees placed orders on Awardco’s platform, his wife manually ordered the corresponding products on Amazon for them, he says.

In 2015, Amazon invited Awardco to partner with its Amazon Business marketplace, automating the ordering process, Sonnenberg says.

“Start, [then] pivot, pivot, pivot, pivot: That’s the story of Awardco, with my back against the wall,” says Sonnenberg.

Building something successful after suffering a major failure typically takes resilience and confidence. “I just keep going. I don’t know what it is, but anything I’ve ever done, it’s been successful, but it’s failed [first]. It’s the consistency of keeping it on the track,” Sonnenberg says.

Entrepreneurs frequently discuss the importance of simply taking the jump to start a new venture — anticipating that you’ll need to weather any initial setbacks, and learn from those failures to increase your chances of future success.

“Entrepreneurship is really hard. There’s no instant success … You just have to be ready to fail,” Dayu Dara Permata, the co-founder and CEO of Indonesian property transaction platform Pinhome, told CNBC Make It in May. “Fail fast, learn fast.”

Of course, you shouldn’t try to fail simply for the sake of failing, according to Harvard Business School professor of leadership Amy C. Edmondson. Thoroughly research each new opportunity to minimize risk and ensure that any failure is an “intelligent failure,” Edmondson recommended in December 2023.

Sonnenberg had a leg up on his Awardco research, he says: His father made awards and plaques for large organizations like McDonald’s. “I just knew the space. I knew that this industry is old school [and] ripe for disruption. I was 100% confident that we were going to find success,” he says.

His confidence is partially a result of being “a bit [of] a naive entrepreneur,” he adds. “And I think that’s a trait of successful entrepreneurs: They don’t get in the way of themselves.”

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The cost of a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people has declined for the third straight year, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

The “classic” meal — a 16-pound turkey and sides like stuffing, rolls, sweet potatoes, peas, cranberries and pumpkin pie ingredients — costs an average of $55.18 nationwide, new data from AFBF finds.

The estimates come from the farm advocacy group’s annual price survey, conducted in the first week of November and based on volunteer shoppers in all 50 states checking grocery store prices for the same Thanksgiving staples each year.

The biggest cost is the turkey at an average of $21.50. Other items include 30-ounce pumpkin pie mix at an average cost of $4.16, three pounds of sweet potatoes at $4, one gallon of whole milk at $3.73 and 14 ounces of stuffing mix at $3.71, according to the data.

Prices also vary by region, with the classic meal averaging a high of $61.75 in the West and a low of $50.01 in the South.

The cost of the classic dinner is down 5% from 2024 and well below the record high of $64.05 reached in 2022. But it’s still higher than its 2020 level, when the same meal averaged $46.90. However, with inflation factored in, 2025′s price is roughly in line with what the 2020 dinner would cost today.

Here’s a look at the average price for the last 10 years, according to AFBF’s annual survey. Figures are not adjusted for inflation.

• 2015: $50.11
• 2016: $49.87
• 2017: $49.12
• 2018: $48.90
• 2019: $48.91
• 2020: $46.90
• 2021: $53.31
• 2022: $64.05
• 2023: $61.17
• 2024: $58.08

At an average price of $21.50, turkey makes up nearly half the cost of a classic Thanksgiving dinner, according to AFBF data. But even though wholesale turkey prices are up about 75% from last year due to avian flu and higher production costs, shoppers aren’t necessarily seeing that increase at the register, according to researchers at Purdue University.

That’s because grocers often mark down whole frozen turkeys in November, treating the bird as a “loss leader” to draw customers into stores for other, higher-margin items, reports industry trade publication Grocery Dive.

And those discounts can be steep. Purdue’s analysis shows retailers are selling birds well below typical seasonal prices. Walmart, for example, is offering whole turkeys for $0.98 per pound, less than half of Purdue’s estimated average retail price for November.

Prices for sides are more mixed. Wheat-based items like dinner rolls and stuffing are cheaper, on average, in 2025, while fresh vegetables and sweet potatoes rose sharply due to weather issues and regional supply disruptions, according to AFBF.

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