You beat me to it
Ok, some tips! Firstly, what car do you drive? Engine size, etc.? what you pay per month is quite high. I'm the same age as you, drive a Yaris and my insurance for the year was €369 euros. Driving since I was 19. Yours for the year is €960 - some of this cost is because you pay monthly which you cant avoid at the moment. You pay nearly three times more than me - I think with a bit of shopping around you could get this down. As well the smaller the car, the lower tax and petrol cost. I know you say you would be lost without your car but could you perhaps sell it and buy something smaller and cheaper? It could free up some money to use for debt repayments.
You seem to have left out the cost of broadband and/or TV.
ESB/Bord Gais. It is coming to the summer months so hopefully these will be down anyway for the next 2 bills. Everytime you leave your apartment, I want you to go into each room and ensure that everything is plugged out at the wall - not just turned off. Plug it all out. If you have the plugs with switches, make sure the switches are off too. When you are finished boiling the kettle, etc. plug them back out. This really does help, even if its just a little. Try not to use the heating either if you can.
Phone credit - are you on the best package you could be on? Free calls, free texts, etc. Shop around. I know you have a long distance relationship and are possibly using the phone for calls/texts sometimes, try to cut this back if you can - save it for Skype
I spend 20 per month with O2, and have the free texts plan - I dont call much if I can text instead.
Food! This is where it was tough for me - I loved eating out or getting takeaways and it was pure laziness on my part, I just couldnt be bothered cooking when I got home. I still get the odd takeaway though
You know the basics, shop in the cheapest place i.e. Aldi or Lidl. Meal plans are great too - for example, I would make a lasagne which has approx 4 portions. I freeze 2, wrap one in the fridge to eat the following night and have that nights dinner. Total cost is about 5 euros. It stops me from being lazy too because I have lots of meals in the freezer ready to be defrosted. Always buy the cheapest of everything - butters, bread, milk, ketchup. Own brands are
always cheaper. It sucks because it may not be as nice, but by god does it help. I reckon with good concentration and meal planning you could get your food bill down from 200 per month to about 100 - 120. ALWAYS bring a packed lunch with you to work.
I'm going to explain my housing situation to you - my partner and I rent a 3 bed house. We had a friend living with us, he went travelling, so we advertised for another tenant to keep the rent cost down. Problem was we have 2 dogs - maltese - and we thought most people wouldnt live with pets. We had three people come to view the room and all three had no problems with the dogs. I really thought it would be a problem but I was surprised. Everything is going fantastic with our tenant, she loves our two.
Having your own apartment is great but if you could rent a room in a house with other people who dont mind cats you could be saving 300 euros a month. My advice is to get on to Daft, check out house shares - people normally specify if pets are welcome or not. Do a little ring around (from the office if you can - not the mobile
) and visit a few places. This way moving home doesnt have to come into the picture. One cat is not a big deal, they are very independant animals.
I have no previous experience with any of the loan providers you have listed, all of mine were with one bank so I cant really help out there. I wish I could but banks arent really my forte. Some of the regular posters on here are great with that - please give your two cents guys.
Try to take these things on board. I know its hard looking ahead with this financial burden but it goes away. One by one the loans will clear, leaving you with more money each month for you.