Hi Paddy,
It does not seem viable that you have nothing to your name except your debt. Ive been in your situation and doing both saving and paying off debt is better than having nothing at all.
You have possibly over a year until you get on top of your serious debt (I didnt mean to imply that you would have it all paid off in a year-I believe in miracles, but your debt isnt going anywhere unless you win lotto).
You need to start thinking long term for yourself.
I am a bit confused by some of your replies to my post, for example:
Then throw the €100 you are now not saving on with the €105 and you are now paying €205 off another big loan/credit card on top of what you are already paying....then when that one is paid off you take your 205 and what ever was the repayment for the last loan (for example loan 3 €130) and now youve €335 to pay off another credit card/loan.
>> Over simplification maybe?
Whats over simplified by this? Will you or will you not have more disposable money as you pay off each loan/credit card?
I think you should be putting €200 savings per month in to one of these accounts. Thats 2400 a year, plus what you have already.
>> Sorry, what account?
You should put your €200 savings in to one of the savings accounts that you have (you said you have an online savings account and a credit union, no?). I would put it into the account with the highest interest rate. It might only net you a few quid interest per year, but again its better than nothing, right?
You should then throw this money at the loan/credit card with the highest interest rate.
>> What's your basis for suggesting I save while paying off debt?
As pointed out above, the reality of the situation is that you are going to be stuck with this debt for a while. Throwing €200 per month at debt that you will be paying for a while anyways will not make a huge dent in it. From experience (thats all Im talking from) saving that €200 means that if anything happens you or you need money for something badly, you will have it without needing a loan or taking it out on a credit card again.
I dont know why I thought you had a car - think I read something in another post. Ive one more question, what do you spend on socialising per week?
>> I'll try find out which one has the highest interest rate, I should really know that
Yes, you should definitley find this out. Are there any possibilities to transfer the balances of any of your credit cards to a 0% interest for a few months?
>> I'll have approx 130 / month left as that's what the loan that's about to clear is costing monthly
Again, I read you paid €105 off loan 1. This is what I read from your original post.
First thing I think you should do is make a spreadsheet of your weekly outgoings.