Financially getting worse and worse

C

ci1

Registered User
Messages
284
Hi,

Just wondering if anyone could offer an opinion/advice.

I bought an apartment a year ago.

I got 100% mortgage and its €1300 per month.
My car repayments are €250 a month
I have a credit union loan which costs me €200 per month I have nothing else, no credit cards, no shop cards.

I get my usual gas/elec/car tax etc bills which I pay as I get them.

I just never have any money left. After bills etc I have about €150 left, I have bad back/shoulder/neck problems which I'm spending a lot of money on trying to fix, I'm going for physio/deep tissue massage once a week and its costing me €55. I do get some of this back from my Health insurance it is still going out of my disposable cash every week.

I spend €35 on diseal every week & whatever groceries I need, they would cost about €25 per week and that varies.

I have had no holiday, and I have not been on a night out in months, I don't buy lunches anymore, no luxuries like what I had before. These things don't really bother me so much because I know sacrifices need to be made, but I just find that every week I have little or nothing left.

I have gone to some banks looking for a consolidation loan for my car and credit union, this could save me up to €350 a month but I can't get one. And I don't have my mortgage long enough to get a top up.

I have extra qualifications which I have tried to put to use by starting up my own part time biz but it costs money to advertise and market it - money which I never seem to have!!

I feel a bit disillusioned by it all, my Dad is helping me out whereever he can but thats not what I want.
when I moved in first things were ok and I thought it would get easier but its actually getting harder & now my mortgage rates are going up aswell.

Is everyone finding it difficult to manage?

I'm on €45k a year which is ok money, and have been jobhunting but no luck so far!

Is there any light at the end of the tunnel?
 
You should be getting about 3k into your hand per month.

So -

3000
-1300 (mortgage)
--------
1700

1700
- 250 (car loan)
------
1450

1450
- 200 (CU)
------
1250

I understand you have bills etc., but how are you possibly spending 1250 per month if you aren't spending money on any luxuries?

Are you sure there aren't extras you could cut out, such as sky sports, lattes, boozing, etc?
 
What is your nett monthly salary? How much is your ESB? Gas? Groceries must be more than 25 per week. From the info. you give, you're vague on where your money goes in some areas which indicates that you don't really have a budget plan. Do out a daily budget sheet (see other threads in this forum) adn you will soon see where your money is going. The you can act on areas where yoy could cut back.
 
Yeap, pretty much know what is going on! There are other bits that go out that I didn't include in original mail.

Mortgage 1300
Credit Union 200
Car 250
Life Cover 33
Sky 22
VHI 55
Car Insurance 48
Gym 40
Total 1948

Maybe the gym is a luxury but its the only think I do during the week beside work, and I have a basic sky box which is the €22. Where I live its the only option.

My take home is €2927 take away my outgoings of €1948 leaves me with €979. On a weekly basis that is €244.

Petrol €35
Groceries €30 (average, sometimes more depending on the week)
Physio €55
Elec €20
Gas €20
total €160

I'm left with €84 per week which seems to go nowhere.

suppose I'll have to just make it go somewhere!!
 
I don't understand. You seem to be covering your regular outgoings including, some that I would consider luxuries or at least discretionary items, and have a little left over. What's the problem? I certainly don't see how the thread title reflects your situation as described above!
 
Have you a spare room that you could rent out for 6 -12 months. This might allow you to get some savings together and or clear the loans.
 
ci1

i don,t see many luxuries here that you can cut out. The loans are your biggest outgoing but if banks will not consolidate them then no scope there.

Any further interest rate increase will be painful

Only suggestion I have ( other than renting a room ) is to get a part time job - maybe one night at weekend bartending or similar that gives you some social interaction and might be enjoyable if you are lucky and can get a job where some friends socialise.

Finally - take the advice given in other threads and make sure that you keep talking to your bank if you do miss a repayment for some reason. Also don't be too proud to accept help from your dad - speaking as one I believe that seeing you in financial trouble will bother him more than helping out now and then
 
Last edited by a moderator:
badge55 said:
i don,t see many luxuries here taht you can cut out.
Click to expand...
Sky, gym, switch from car to moped perhaps etc.?
Also don't be too proud to accept hepl from your dad
Click to expand...
But don't depend on this either as it's probably not sustainable or fair.

Life cover (mortgage protection life assurance?) of €33 p.m. sounds high on the face of it for a single person? Can you get cheaper or is it high because of a high mortgage amount, long term, personal circumstances (e.g. loading for smoker or health issues?)?

Is your lender the most competitive available to you and your circumstances?

Are you claiming all relevant tax credits/allowances this year and for the previous 4 tax years?
 
Clubman is right - you should give up the gym and become a couch potato - a sad one without any TV to watch - sod it you should probably sell the couch as well !! :rolleyes:
 
If you have back/neck/shoulder problems, you could probably help get rid of these by getting rid of the gym and jogging instead. Even if you keep the gym, you have €84 spare per week, which is over 4k in savings per year.

As a single homeowner, you're not doing so bad.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I have put an advert in a local paper for a room to rent but I live a fair bit outside Dublin so have not got many enquiries.

Will look into the part time thing.
 
badge55 said:
Clubman is right - you should give up the gym and become a couch potato - a sad one without any TV to watch - sod it you should probably sell the couch as well !! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
You don't need gym membership to get exercise.

I never said get rid of the TV (although the original poster could save the license fee too if they did). They could get rid of Sky and still get terrestrial channels or even get a FTA satellite setup for a once off payment of about €100-€200 with no ongoing subscription costs.

If you have any useful/constructive suggestions yourself why not post them? :rolleyes:
 
ClubMan said:
You don't need gym membership to get exercise.

I never said get rid of the TV (although the original poster could save the license fee too if they did). They could get rid of Sky and still get terrestrial channels or even get a FTA satellite setup for a once off payment of about €100-€200 with no ongoing subscription costs.

If you have any useful/constructive suggestions yourself why not post them? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I'd agree, even after the one off cost for the free to air you'd still have change of e544 at the end of the year if you dropped the gym and sky
 
OP: Just remember that when your car loan and CU loan are paid off you'll have an extra €450 per month.

Keep the head down until then and you'll be fine.
 
Hi

Im in same position as you but be positive your on here discusssing your issues which is the 1st step

Noel
 
rmelly said:
Are you really spending €2080 on Electricity & Gas for an apartment in a year? That CAN'T be right.
Click to expand...

Well I pay €20 into each account on billpay.ie every week so that I don't have to pay them in lump sum when they come around every 2 months. And I'm normally in credit so Its the best way for me to do it.

Thanks for all the replies.
 
As others suggested - go after the big items, increase income, decrease outgoings.
However, much of the money spent is on the little day to day things. So keep an expenditure diary. This can be written or electronic. I just use an excel sheet - just write it all down. If you buy a lotto ticket, a pint of milk or put money in the toll bridge it goes on your tracker. I then catagorise in to real essentials versus nice to haves. It's great for focusing the mind, if I've spent 20 Euro on "treats", well I could have met friends for a few pints on that - was it worth it is the decision at the end of the week.

Then do up a budget. I know what I'll spent on presents, I've a slush fund for emergencies (when the car/gas/washing machine break!), etc. Then compare it to what you're spending and modify either the budget or your spending habits as you see fit.

Track your driving too in it. If you need the car to get in/out of work - fair enough, but can you do your weekly shop on the way home, etc... Work out your km per liter and know what your typical journeys cost you.

Electricity/Gas - 20 Euro each a week is very expensive for an apartment in my opinion. That's around 80euro a month, or 160 for the bill. Goggle on energy saving techniques - there's lots out there. Switch things off, change your bulbs to CFL's, etc.. check out [broken link removed] or the [broken link removed] or [broken link removed] web sites have information too. Mine comes in around 20 a month for gas and 30 a month for electricity.

You have no phone/broadband included in this. I'm assuming you have a pay as you go? Ensure you track this in your diary.

By the way - someone made the comment that groceries must be more than 25 Euro a week. That's not quite true, that's roughly what I spend, and it includes 3 daily meals/coffees/cleaning products/etc.. very do-able if you cook!

Lastly - start saving to ensure you do have money for when something breaks. According to your figures you've 84 Euro left - you haven't included clothes, socialising, getting your hair cut, etc... So start out with even 25 euro a week, or 100 a month. As your diary get's going, you'll see you'll have more savings.
 
dem_syhp said:
Lastly - start saving to ensure you do have money for when something breaks. According to your figures you've 84 Euro left - you haven't included clothes, socialising, getting your hair cut, etc... So start out with even 25 euro a week, or 100 a month. As your diary get's going, you'll see you'll have more savings.
Click to expand...
do it standing order into a credit union or some account that it is almost impossible to access - it worked for me big time!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top