22yrs old and struggling to cope financially.

LegacyUser

Hi, I am a 22yr old male student and I am also working a part time job which consists of working most week nights and some weekends. I am in debt of about €2500 from various student over drafts and loans that have been taken out over the last year. I am struggling to wake up in time for important lectures as I am not getting home until the early hours of the morning but I really need this job as I have to pay off my debts, and have enough money to live week by week. I am not dependent on my parents and in receipt of the 3rd level grant but this just covers accommodation for the year. Since I was about 19 and first moved to college I think I have always struggled to manage financially. I am not very foolish with money or anything but it just seems like there is always a bill due or something that I need to pay for and it is starting to wear me down to the point where I cant ever picture myself being able to cope with real financial issues such as paying a morgage or managing a family. I know that by that stage I would most likely have a much higher salary but I just dont think I am cut out for living in this country. Everything is so expensive and the high cost of living puts a lot of pressure on people to earn a lot of money all the time. I know this is normal for most people and they get on with it but I dont think this country is near good enough to justify putting that much pressure on yourself just to get by.

Elba101

hu4rolz wrote: »

Hi, I am a 22yr old male student and I am also working a part time job which consists of working most week nights and some weekends. I am in debt of about €2500 from various student over drafts and loans that have been taken out over the last year. I am struggling to wake up in time for important lectures as I am not getting home until the early hours of the morning but I really need this job as I have to pay off my debts, and have enough money to live week by week. I am not dependent on my parents and in receipt of the 3rd level grant but this just covers accommodation for the year. Since I was about 19 and first moved to college I think I have always struggled to manage financially. I am not very foolish with money or anything but it just seems like there is always a bill due or something that I need to pay for and it is starting to wear me down to the point where I cant ever picture myself being able to cope with real financial issues such as paying a morgage or managing a family. I know that by that stage I would most likely have a much higher salary but I just dont think I am cut out for living in this country. Everything is so expensive and the high cost of living puts a lot of pressure on people to earn a lot of money all the time. I know this is normal for most people and they get on with it but I dont think this country is near good enough to justify putting that much pressure on yourself just to get by.

Hey OP, sorry to hear your having such a rough time and i can totally sympathise with your situation. I was studying abroad and struggled with money the whole time (still paying off the loan!!). I suppose the obvious solution is going to your parents...just explain the situation and ask for a bit of help.

A load from them is way better then a loan from the bank!

Pritorise your payments to make sure no interest piles up.

Hope you get it sorted

shellyboo

How much are your loan repayments? Can you restructure your loan to lower them to give you a bit of breathing space financially? I have student loans too and my bank had no problem doing this - I think they're happy as long as you keep paying regularly, no matter what the amount.

kittenkiller

You should visit your local mabs.
They can act on your behalf when dealing with the people you owe money to.

Personally, I spent an absolute fortune going through college on absolutely nothing!
I didn't have rent to pay and no commuting expenses, it was all just thrown away on coffee's, pints, spontaneous nights out, photocopying other people's notes etc.

With you working and studying, it's got to be hard even finding time to spend money I'd think.

Try to spend a month doing as little as possible outside of the necessary.
4 weeks should be easy enough to get through and give you plenty of study time.
Put any money you save into a little fund for emergencies.
This should at least give you a bit more peace of mind.

Best of luck OP.

thefeatheredcat

Getting in touch with mabs is a good idea as they can help with you to organise your finances better and can give you practical skills like budgeting. Your credit history is important in the long run.

I think with the grant, parents can't actually provide financial assistance, but I'm not 100% on that. However, as you're in college you would have access to certain services through the Student Union. I recall there being something like a Student Hardship Fund who may be able to provide assistance. I'm not sure if that's common to all colleges and unis, but could be worth finding out about.

You could have a chat with someone in the Student Union/Student Counsellor about your situation with your work hours and the pressure you're under as they could alter your schedule to suit better or would help accommodate in some other way.

It is tough but at least you've faced up to your situation and willing to get help now than later.

Best of Luck

LegacyUser

Hi OP,

God your very responsible for your age and completely independent, maybe you need to ask for some help, like is there any support you can lean on family wise, you seem to be really coping with a lot on your own, i really admire you.



When i was in college i got a student loan, i got 1,500 and i organized to pay back 10 euro a week over a longer period 2 years - you can do that if you feel it will help you some what. Also i was struggling financially and i went to the vincent de paul they have an education grant available and they were very kind to give me 100 euro a month, the grant is available to everyone to apply, just contact your local vdep. The college students union can be resourceful as well, and in the college there were different jobs you could apply for, like working in the library etc, just wondered if work of this kind would help you be closer to your studies,

It seems to be like your on a hamster wheel at the moment and its not for a huge amount of money, you also seem like you just want to pay it off so you can be free of debt, i really feel for you, and i really hope someone will intervene and get you out of this money trap. If you could ask your family manbe you could pay them back next summer or over christmas or something.


Anyway best of luck, im sending the money angel to watch over you! xx

Monkey61

thefeatheredcat wrote: »

I think with the grant, parents can't actually provide financial assistance, but I'm not 100% on that.

Apologies if I am picking you up incorrectly, but that makes no sense. Of course your parents can give you as much money as they like. You qualify for a grant based on your parents earnings. They could donate their entire salary to you if they like, it is not like they have to turn over their wallets to the County Council.

Anyway, if you are working that many hours it should be easy enough to make a budget that doesn't leave you in too much hardship once you get your debt sorted out. It really isn't that big though, so as people have said, go to MABS for advice. And if your parents have the cash hanging around, it would be great if they could pay it off for you and you could work out an installment plan with them - much better in debt to them then the bank.

thefeatheredcat

Monkey61 wrote: »

Apologies if I am picking you up incorrectly, but that makes no sense.

Sorry, I'm probably totally wrong on this - always thought that with grants you can't be seen as being financially dependant on parents. maybe I'm thinking of something else! Probably irrelevant!

Red Alert

First thing you need to do is draw up a quick spread-sheet or table from which you can figure out how much money you've got coming in each month versus going out.

Assume that rent is a given, and servicing your loan is given. That gives you what you've got left to play with. Then it's a case of trying to reduce costs as much as possible. I found it amazing how much bringing in my own tea and lunches to college was. I also then tackled another few recurring expenses for things I didn't use anymore, changed gym and got a much better deal than I had before, and started to walk and get the bus home instead of taxis on nights out.

The other thing is to look at your own stuff and see if there's anything you can sell. I freed up a few hundred euro by getting rid of stuff that I was realistically never going to use again. That'll give you an extra stash to play with.