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Jamie Said:

SERIOUS QUESTION: does anyone here loan out money, or know someone who does?

We Answered:

http://www.ioucentral.ca/ is Canada's peer-to-peer lending company.

I lend on prosper and to family, but I wouldn't lend that much money to someone I don't know well -- especially without a formal setup (like prosper).

Elaine Said:

Toronto, Canada. Living Expenses.?

We Answered:

Some of it will depend on your lifestyle for sure, as I am sure you have already considered. Cost of housing is going up in the Toronto area, but you should be able to keep cost of housing under $1000 a month especially if you intend to buy and if you have some time to look.

Many expenses will be fixed, and you can expect to spend about $50 a month for sure for each of telephone, cable TV, Internet, and municipal services.

Cost of groceries and other essentials will depend on where you like to shop and your lifestyle, but that is an area where you can save money by being aware and getting to know the area. My daughter who lives in Bloor West Village and my sister in Ajax both know where to go to get the best deals.

Heating and electricity again will depend on you, as you have some of that in your control, but count on $300 a month, especially in the winter. My sister is very careful both about the use of heat and the use of AC.

Insurance is less predicable as it depends on your needs and driving history, etc. I would expect up to $100 a month for vehicle insurance alone, and then add home insurance and health insurance to that.

A car will cost about $300 - $400 a month unless you lease, which I would never do, but it may be a good option for you. Even a lease gets close to $300 a month anyway. If you consider a good used vehicle you may get away with less for a car payment.

I hope this is of some help.

Lena Said:

Should I consolidate my dept?

We Answered:

How much equity do you have in your home? You're best option would be to refinance your home and work in your debts. This will lower your interest rate considerably. Contact a lisensed Mortgage broker and they will be able to go over your options. Even if you can't roll all your debts into it, just adding couple of the highest interest rates will freee up a ton of cashflow.

Second option, go for the consolidation loan. Again, this may lower your interest rates as well.

Both of these will also lower you minumim monthly payments which will take some of the pinch off of you. However...

The biggest key is to continue to make the same size of the payments, that's the only way you will every get them paid off. By lowering your intersest rate, but keeping you payments the same or close to the same you will be paying more towards the principal, rather than putting most of the money towards interest and never getting ahead.

If you aren't able to consolidate things either through your mortgage or a loan, you just need to buck up and create a plan and stick to it.

Pick the smallest debt amount and start paying as much as you can on it until it's gone. Then when it's paid off take that entire payment ammount and apply it to the next smallest debt. When that's paid off take the entire payment amount (All that was paid on the first debt, plus the payments on the second debt) Pick them off one at a time and you'll not only free up a ton of cashflow, but you will actually see results becuase you are eliminating debt along the way.