Hey all!
This is long, so I’ll put a tl:dr at the bottom but to start, this matters because my partner and I support his mother and special needs sister so money is a big stressor for me.
So here’s the deal: I was making $55k a year until January. I work in a laboratory environment with an independent contractor and our business slowed wayyyyy down.
They then took away my salary and moved me down to $45k/yr rather than let me go, which I appreciate.
To try and help, I took a part time job that I worked in between my shift at the lab we worked inside for the same amount. This made me part time at both places, but I had built up PTO and insurance coverage through my parents so I wasn’t too worried about benefits for the time being. There was a good chance I’d get moved to full time in a few weeks at the other lab while my lab moved the process to shut down.
However, Thursday I came in to my other lab job and they let me know they eliminated my position. They were formally laying me off. The lab I originated in can’t afford to pay me full time, and may not be open for a few more weeks so I took an offer that had some stability and possible overtime for $3 less than I make now. Now I’ll be making $39520, about $1k less a month than I was making and living comfortably on two months ago.
My boyfriend makes about $55k, so thankfully we have some cushion but we support his mother who doesn’t work or have insurance and his special needs sister, who does contribute about $500/mo from her SSI.
When his father passed away two years ago, we got into quite a hole financially. I absolutely put myself in a rut financially trying to support the family through losing a loved one slowly through cancer, support two new family members, pay their rent on their current small room they didn’t want to give up until he father passed, and the fathers DEEP amount of debt that was involved with family heirlooms so it was important to pay.
All in all, I’m about $20K in debt. Adding in my car payment would make that $27k. My lowest intent rate is 17%, highest is 25.7%.
With all of this going on, plus debt, groceries, gas (I commute 70mi a day), and school expenses (just books thankfully, my pell grant helps), I’m freaking out a bit.
What is my smartest option to efficiently pay down this debt in a reasonable fashion while still surviving?
My half of bills without food/gas is about 1980/mo in payments, rent, etc. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated, my anxiety is going 900miles and hour.
TLDR: make $19/hr full time, bills at minimum payments are $1980/mo without food and gas. What can I do to make sure I survive and pay off debt?
Submitted March 16, 2019 at 05:25PM by zegora_anora https://ift.tt/2Clvsmw
