Do you still have medical bills? Why can't you live on the cheap for a year, save one year worth of living expenses and then leave your job?

For instance:

1) If you live in a big city, live in a very small apartment. Use public transportation and sell your car if you have one. (Yeah, I know this is hard to do in many parts of US).

2) Cut unnecessary recurrent expenses like cable, netflix, gym, etc. You can still buy movies once in a while. If you wanna exercise, just run outside, play sports at public courts, etc.

3) Don't buy the latest gadgets. Unless you're making software for it, you don't need the latest iPhone/android.

And so on. This is essentially how a junior Japanese salaryman lives. They must, because they earn only around $25~30$k. So if you can earn more than that and still keep a low living cost, you could save quite a bit.