Broke and can’t budget

[ccamosy]

i’m 21,
i earn 460 a week after tax and pay roughly 280 a week on rent, car loan, diesel, insurance and plus i have a young child too, i owe roughly 7,500 on my car loan and have €500 on savings i can’t touch until my loans paid off

i need advice on this it’s currently hard to save money and have to do repairs on car so i can’t really sell it either

 

[passat61]

@ccamosy Sell the car to someone who will be able to do their repairs themselves, buy a cheap car for half the price but is passing the NCT.
Once you have the car loan paid off, don't buy anymore crap that you can't afford.

 

[hungrytrash]

@ccamosy I think some peeps missed you have a child so you need a car and you need a car that is safe

I think what people are expressing is short term loans aka credit car, overdrafts and car loans are a killer to financial stability especially you don't have disposable income. Id focus on clesring your debth first snd then stsrt saving.

It took me years to realise it, you try to save, keep up on payments, pull savings back and it can be demoralising. Once debt is cleared you arent paying interest for the privledge of being in debt and can then put that money aside for savings.

Id also say from experience don't be overtly ambitious with amount you save. I used to put extra into savings, pull it out, rinse snd repeat. Put a number in that is what you can afford, either get thirty or sixty day account that puts it at arms lenght(don't worry about good interest rates when you have small numbers). If you managed a 100 a month or 34 quid a week you would triple your savings in 12 months.

Outside of that if you are watching every penny and still can't save you might need to find a job that pays better(sometimes that doesn't require changing field jist getting a similar job in a different company)

 

[oftherisen]

@ccamosy Sell car and buy a cheaper car.

 

[zol]

@oftherisen You’re not gonna get much for under 7500 in Ireland

 

[cree4christ]

@zol You can definitely pick up a Yaris with NCT for approx 2K. They run forever too

 

[oftherisen]

@zol I just went on done deal and there are currently 16,663 cars for sales for 0 - 7000. He's 7500 in debt with only 500 quid in savings and a young kid. He needs to cop on.

 

[gello]

@oftherisen I agree with you that he should sell the car and get a cheaper one, however just to point out done deal (stupidly) includes POA listings if you filter with min price == 0, you’ll get a much more accurate number if you set the min price to 1500 (avoids POA, €1111, €1234 €999 and most other placeholder prices, as well as unroadworthy scrap that people are trying to get did of for 3-500 quid)

 

[nate2546]

@ccamosy Buddy, respectfully, you’re 21 your saving capacity is severely limited by your current job. 27k a year won’t get you shit.

If you want to provide for your child, you need a better job, no two ways about it. I hope you’re in a trade or getting some sort of higher education. The median average wage in Ireland is 42k, that should be your goal asap, the sooner you start on a career path that will earn you good money the easier saving will be when you actually have the money to save.

Also I would suggest a side hustle of some sort, one night a week in a pub or doing the bottles or any other cash in hand one day a week job could be worth 60 quid a week, 3k a year towards petrol, etc.

Anyone giving you guff for your holiday can gtfo, you’re allowed go on a holiday at 21 and good on you for askin advice for future planning.

 

[stonescryout]

@nate2546 Had to scroll too far to what I think is the best advice here and agree 27k is shockingly low and the only and best way to improve your situation as well your child's is to get a way better paying job.

 

[halowolf]

@ccamosy Cars are a money pit. I never had a car loan, I currently drive a 2006 and I earn almost 90k a year. Most people think they will look poor if they drive an old car. I would much prefer to have a €1500 car and €20,000 in the bank than a €20,000 car and €1500 in the bank

 

[mespia]

@halowolf Mind if I ask what you do for a living to be on 90k a yr?

 

[halowolf]

@mespia I'm a welder

 

[ladylins]

@mespia Jumping in here , but 90k is quiet achievable im on 88 paye with car and fuel card ontop

 

[halowolf]

@ladylins Yes i haven't earned less than 65k PAYE since im 23 years old

 

[ccamosy]

@halowolf what’s welding like i was looking at it for a job just weary of my asthma is it dusty at all?

 

[emmanuel_thebest]

@halowolf But if you earn €90k a year and have €20k in the bank then you are doing something wrong. You are on the right track if you have your annual salary with instant access should you need it.

 

[halowolf]

@emmanuel_thebest That was an analogy, I'm mortgage free and have many times 20k

 

[seekinghim33]

@ccamosy In other post you mention you recently had a vacation in Portugal, and lost some airpods there. So right there you have 2 things you should probably not spend on when you are in debt.