Hello, me and my wife are at the start of our 30s and I lost my job this past December. I had difficulty finding work in my field (IT Support & Project Coordination), but was able to get a job at a local fast food restaurant for much lower than I could hope for.
I have accrued a large amount of debt in the past due to poor impulses and some bad history/life choices. We had/have no savings either. My wife works part time, and it is not an option for either of us to work more at this point in time.
With how little we are making, it is starting to come down to ignoring debts and even some utility bills just to afford food and gas (which is steadily rising). I've thought about talking to my bank to see if there was somebody who could help us manage our funds, set up our future a bit more, and most importantly talk about a consolidation loan (sorry if that's not the correct term).
I just wanted to come here and see if anybody had additional advice, or thoughts on how we could get going.
\Note: I am looking for work in my field still, I spent 3ish months applying before settling with the job I have now. So while I could get lucky and get something great I need to plan for the right now.*
Please let me know if more information would be beneficial, I am happy to give some extra bits depending on what it is.
Need some advice for getting out of a hole, and actually setting up our future
byu/Trippenson inpersonalfinance
Posted by Trippenson
5 Comments
You do not need someone to manage your funds. You guys need more income. Why aren’t both of you able to work more? Even a second part time job would help. If you have any family or friends you can stay with for cheap, that’d be the only way you guys can live on bare minimum and get out of debt.
Post your numbers if you want advice on where to cut though this seems more of an income problem.
Why is it not possible for either of you to work more hours than you currently are?
If you are to the point where you can’t even afford basic necessities, you are at a place very any and every option is on the table. Can you move to a lower COL area? I would consider expanding your search into areas you aren’t currently looking.
Agreed with the other replies that the underemployment needs to be addressed if you want to make forward progress. It looks like you don’t have kids and would have a fair amount of availability for more work. Downsizing housing and vehicles might help a bit.
You can Google “non profit credit counseling” for advice on consolidation, but as you know, you’re wrecking your credit by ignoring debts already. You’re in for a long uphill slog regardless of the path you take.
1. Increase income. Definitely keep pursuing higher-paying opportunities, but also just plain look for more work at any pay.
2. [https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/debt/](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/debt/)
3. [https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/commontopics)
Reduce your grocery expense by using little free pantries and see if you can qualify for food banks. Most Church little free pantries don’t have any qualifications. Anyone can go and pick up food. There are also hygiene Banks and clothing banks. So that’s where you’re going to get the majority of your food, hygiene products, and clothes.
You still don’t have enough income, so pick up something part-time.