in debt due by august and need advice
Income: ($3,600/month)
Current monthly bills:
Rent: $460 ($230/check)
Car: $515
Car insurance (to dad): $100
Cash loan: $90/month ($320 left)
Credit card minimum: $30
Paydays: 7/10, 7/24, 8/7, 8/21
I’m moving into a new apartment on August 22, and my share of rent will be about $600/month.
My situation
Right now I have:
$1,920 in cash advance loans
$1,000 credit card balance
Only $400 left in savings, which is going toward a toll violation before my next paycheck
I also need:
Contacts: ~$300
New tires by August: ~$600
At least $600 saved for the apartment
The biggest problem is my cash advances. I have to pay them off before the beginning of August because I’m going on a work trip, and my per diem gets deposited into the same account. That account is currently negative, so about $1,600 would immediately disappear if I don’t clear it first.
Current plan
7/10 check: Pay rent, car payment, and buy contacts. I’d have about $550 left to live on.
7/24 check: Put basically the entire paycheck toward paying off the cash advances before the work trip.
The problem is that after doing that, I won’t have enough money for rent or living expenses until my 8/7 paycheck. The only solution I can see is taking another small cash advance (~$500) just to get through those couple of weeks, then paying it off in August.
I’ve also considered a personal loan to consolidate everything, but with my credit I’m mostly seeing lenders like NetCredit or CreditFresh, which seem expensive.
My goal is to be debt-free (besides my car loan) as soon as possible while still covering:
Work trip in early August
Tires
Apartment move on August 22
Is there a smarter way to handle this, or am I stuck slowly working my way out with small cash advances? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.