Personal Finance advise for 22 yr old?
I make 12/hr work 40 hr a week i have a school loan that is 52/month car ins. 164.99/mth car payment 149.99/month 4 credit cards = totalling 1600 gym membership that is 37.50 and i have lucked out renting a room out of a friends house for 300 and i do work around the house in exchange for utilities. How can i make my money grow and eliminate my debt at the same time? I really want to just put any extra towards paying off my debt but i don’t have an emergency fund which scares me!! HELP!!!
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You’ve got the right attitude! You bring home probably $1,100 or so a month, and you’ve got about $650/mo fixed expenses.
You are correct; an emergency fund is your first priority. The gym membership has got to go. Tune into the fitness channel or something.
You’re young, single, and working only 40 hours per week. A second job, or overtime if it’s available, is probably a good idea for a while. Eating out is often a HUGE money-waster for people in your demographic. This should be limited to occasional social outings. You can bring your lunch to work.
Save aggressively until you reach $1,000 in emergency savings, then work on the credit cards. If you don’t have a good interest rate for your auto loan, that’s next. Otherwise, work toward saving 3-6 months income in your emergency fund. Remember, this is an EMERGENCY fund! It’s not an emergency when you get the midnight munchies, and Domino’s is just a phone call away.
Finally, when you get your cards paid off and have your emergency fund halfway complete, it’s time to cut up those cards and NEVER accept another one. If you can’t pay cash for it, you probably don’t need it. This even goes for your car. Save, save, save. If you sock away a car payment every month, you’ll never pay interest to buy one again.
I would cut out the credit cards hard pay as much on them as you possibly can a month and get rid of the debt, you may also want to end your gym membership for the time being (running’s free and ground exercises work just as well)
learn the difference between advise and advice. Then dump the credit cards and try to pay them off. And maybe get a part time temporary job.