@buzzard This is not financial advice. That being said I work in high finance.
In my opinion the debt you’ve undertaken seems very expensive. Keep the house.
In order of preference:
- You should be looking to consolidate all these into 1 bank/lender. You can entice a bank/credit institution into doing this by agreeing a higher than normal rate for them. But a lower than current rate for you. (I feel that the debt you’ve sourced may be expensive due to an unmentioned underlying issue? Previous history of bad debts or bankruptcy? Gambling?) If thats the case they’re less likely to consolidate. Check all institutions post office, credit union, all banks including the ones in the country you own the other property I assume your foreign banks will have a more favourable interest given that the rental property is 350 return I’m assuming you come from some sort of eastern block country or maybe its just a small house in central Europe. Either way ALL financial institutions.
- Re-mortgage your second property. Keep the asset as you can use it to lend against in future. It also adds to your income for future loans as well as just a generally nice extra bit of cash. You’ll have cheaper debt and a much more realistic time period to cover it in. Again check ALL financial institutions.
- If your renting ask to sub-let or ask the landlord if someone else can move in. Yes it’s only one bedroom again I’m assuming it’s Dublin for that price. So long as its not a studio you can get a pull-out bed in the sitting room and rent it very cheaply. You can sub-let or let the landlord split rents. I.e reduce yours to 1000 and the person on the sofa bed pays 500. Landlords rent increase by 200 and yours drops by 300. Bonus: Someone gets housed
This also bring your bills down to 60% (I say this because if your living in the bedroom its a bit more fair you pay a little more of the bills in my opinion).
Again assuming you live in Dublin w the price you pay for rent how badly do you need the car? If your not able to find a side hustle that would suggest your only using the car for work? No kids or hubby/wife? Is it possible to get up a bit earlier and deal with public transport for 18 months? Use some of the money on a good bike if needs be and the rest straight to most expensive debt.
General Lifestyle changes and tips:
SELL YOUR DATA. Tesco is a great example of how they want your data by offering a MUCH lower price for club card members. Wherever you shop just join it and use the vouchers. If the government or big brother really wanted to know whats going on they would. Tell these random corporations your DOB and what flavour of chocolate you like they just stick it in an algorithm
Ask for more money in work minimum wage has just gone up. How long have you worked there maybe your entitled to a raise have you taken on extra duties has someone left? Whats the market paying for your job?
Exploit your gym membership for showers to keep electric low.
Same for charging phone. Charge at work too.
If you do end up selling the car to deal with public transport for a little while thats a huge cost reduction. Again clear most expensive debt first.
If you start using the gym properly your diet and shopping habits should start to follow. You can get that down to €100/€120 a month. Keep the meals simple and clean and cook the same meals in bulk.
Cook 1
Meal 1 rice, Chicken, 1 veg, sauce x 2
Cook 2
Meal 2 pasta, beef, 1 veg, sauce x3
Meal 3 shepard’s pie or stew x 2
(use the beef from the pasta buy a large portion thats a cheaper cut for stew)
This saves energy too. So rather than the oven cooking 7 meals a week at 40 minutes each. It goes on twice at 40 minutes and the microwave for 5/10 mins for the rest. Again use the gym and the office for the microwave too.
If your company pays for a gym i’d hazard a guess they probably have some breakfast on offer. If they dont you buy the cheapest bag of oats and leave it in the office. Use their milk and microwave.
If you still need more showers or to wash clothes or need to use electric at home do it after 7 or on weekends for cheaper rates.
Avoid the dishwasher and wash by hand.
Use blankets not heating over the next few weeks until it gets REALLY cold.
Google casual jobs for a side hustle. If you still cant get one offer your services on fiver, your social medias too.
If you’ve been going out on weekend it just needs to stop simply put for the next year or two. Reign it in as much as possible. If somehow you still dont get a side job you can volunteer. Do something you enjoy like a sport. Its very rewarding and a great way to spend your free time rather than doing the typical irish thing of slugging pints all weekend. (Which i fully get but just think we could all be doing so much more if we didnt do it as often)
Kill off any dead subscriptions.
Consult with MABS
Hopefully some of that helps and this last part really is going to be a kick in the teeth but I feel like you really havent looked for a second job or are just a bit too prideful to take a “lesser” job. I.e cleaner, stacking shelves, bartender, waiter etc. Swallow your pride and do it for a year or so. If the jobs unsuitable after 6 weeks just leave and dont put it on your CV. Your already in a full time job. You dont need to talk about 6 weeks at tescos on your cv or wherever. If they cant move the hours just keep jumping until somewhere can.
