Don't worry about newsworthy. You can send scheduled emails to those you want to know. You can schedule it for a long time if you want a chance to cancel it. If they want to know the date, you can include the date you sent it or get them to look up an obituary.
With that card you could probably get everything you need for an overdose on sodium nitrite. I strongly recommend researching the method yourself (read the most recent PPeH chapter on inorganic salts, read the SN thread) and deciding for yourself whether it's a good method for you before you commit to spending your money. Receiving items to your home might be a problem because of your parents, and you'd probably have to order at the very least the anti-emetics.
Hanging is the other super cheap one, but it requires a place to do it where you won't be found for a while and something that can support your weight (as well as the ability to overcome the survival instinct).
Drowning doesn't cost anything except transport (iirc LA doesn't have real public transport, so that could be an issue for you? I've never been to the West Coast), but it's very painful, and might require you to be able to be out at night.
CO I'm not sure you could afford everything with $50 - grill, tent, briquettes -, but otherwise it's by far the best method out of these. If you get money at Christmas or whatever, it might be worth saving up for. Painless and reliable if you do it properly. You would need to be able to get away for some time though so you don't get interrupted, and it takes some preparation.
I share the concerns of others that you are very young, and likely have not tried everything, even though I am sure you have had a long time to think about it. I know you are likely defensive about this. I became suicidal at the age of 10, although I was mentally ill before that, and I attempted for the first time at 15. At 18, I had had a long time to think about suicide too -- I nearly died of cancer at 17 anyway -- and I don't think I'd regret having died then, although I've had wonderful life experiences in the seven years since then scattered throughout the awful ones.
So, I want you to know that I do understand. But because I haven't lived your life, and because I've known people turn it around enough to satisfy them in the span of time I've remained depressed and miserable, and I can't decide whether that would be important by your values, I do want to express that I feel your problems are difficult but fixable. It's entirely possible that new problems that you consider not worth living through will come around, though. Knowing there's a way out might give you enough peace of mind to make things possible, though.
It's unclear whether you're at college already or not, but it's the kind of environment where you can turn your life around with some focus. I know depression makes it super hard. There are structured avenues for socialisation, you can work on your appearance and charisma, and many people are also isolated and looking for friends.
I disagree with those attempting to redpill you, it's a good way to guarantee you won't find the meaningful connection you're looking for instead of sex if you do choose to give it a try. Especially in a college of all places. Having someone fuck you but not want to be with you is also devastating if you love them. (The advice about presentation, looking a way that makes you feel better and project less insecurity, and focusing on your degree is good.)
I just think love is one of the only things that makes existence enjoyable enough to outweigh its crushing futility. So if an absence of love is your primary problem, and there are some things about you that make the numbers game even harder, and you really enjoy love that much, it might be worth trying everything with the mindset of trying to live one more time in the last really structured part of life you're going to get, because you can always kill yourself later -- when you have more than $50 and can give yourself a peaceful death.
That being said, many people are not looking for anything serious in college - it made me miserable too - it's partly a function of the age and social immaturity of people in college and the lifestyle they're living, and also that people will change a lot just naturally during college or develop incompatible lifestyles. That's why it can be a good time to work on improving yourself.
It takes a lot to grow with someone instead of away from them and in college, people put their goals first. So if you're a romantic who's not looking to date casually, looking for a date in college could be very painful, and you may need to take a different emotional approach to it. I don't really know how to advise you there because I refused to date like that, being unable to emotionally withstand it. Of course, committed relationships have their problems too, and it can take a while to find one that works. Anyway, people do suck unexpectedly, but people typically give off warning signs that the lover blindly forgives, ime.
That's true even more of middle and high school by the way, keep in mind that a lot of people in there are in the non-serious relationships of children. They are learning the rudiments of it and driven by hormones. It is an environment that will lead to almost nothing but heartbreak. High school sweetheart relationships are rare and many fall apart after college anyway. In your twenties, though, people will start to increasingly look for long-term relationships.
Whatever you do, I wish you the best.
