Forget more traditional techniques of scrimping and saving to pay off debt, one Brit has cleared his by purchasing a house abroad.
George Laing, 33, found himself in £10,000 of debt after losing his job, living in London and spending a fortune on rent and bills.
At the time, he was coughing up half of his monthly income on living expenses and ended each month in £300 debt from commuting and other costs.
Looking for a way out of his tricky situation, George turned to a government-backed scheme which was launched in 2017 that involved Italian homes being sold for as little as €1 (87p).
It was created with the aim to help boost local economies and attract new residents to towns and villages with a declining population.
George, originally from Camden, made headlines after he purchased his first €1 home in Mussomeli, Sicily back in 2022.
George Laing, 33, purchased a house in Italy for just €1 and has managed to clear his £10,000 debt in the process of renovating it
He spent £2,000 renovating it, and MyLondon reports the Brit cleared his debt within two years by cutting his living costs abroad and making money from content creating, sharing his property transformation online.
George toured prospective properties in Italy with a group of Americans, and revealed how he ‘begged’ them to allow him to have the chance to buy the last house.
He told the publication: ‘There were Americans touring with us and he had already snapped up five of the six houses, so I had to beg for him to let me have the last one – and I got it.’
Once he had owned the property, George set about transforming it, but on a tight budget.
‘I was staying in the home using baby wipes to clean as I had no water or electricity and I had to sneak into restaurants to use the toilet,’ he explained.
‘I would obviously use a hotel if things got serious, but I always tried to avoid that as it was money I could use to spend on the house.’
After 18 months, George had cleared his debt from the money made sharing his journey on social media.
He previously revealed to the Daily Mail how his first €1 property ‘needed a complete, complete refurb,’ including work on the electrics, plumbing, roof, bathroom and kitchen.
He removed five van loads of rubbish before the house was clear.
‘It’s a shell which is going to be turned into a self-contained one-bedroom flat,’ George adds.
The property is located in Mussomeli, Sicily, and the Londoner shared his journey on social media
The antiques trader has since purchased a second property in Italy, which he admitted was in ‘slightly better condition’ than the first.
He said: ‘Both have issues with the roof and need a new roof, but it’s a little bit smaller.
‘But generally, the first one had quite a few major cracks from an earthquake in 1968, the second one had no cracks at all, which is one of the reasons I snapped it up, because the condition was pretty good for being a €1 house.’
Despite the range of renovations needed on both abodes, George has taught himself a lot of skills and plans to complete the work – mostly himself – within a tight budget.
‘I’m getting pretty good at doing it pretty cheap,’ George revealed.
The Brit has witnessed other €1 property buyers complete similar renovations for thousands of pounds more.
‘I know someone who’s done the exact same job as me, and they spent 50 grand,’ he adds.
George said he has become skilled at making ‘a pound go about £100’.
He has received a little help along the way in the form of ‘free stuff’ and ‘free materials’.
‘A lot of people come here, they do one building, building jobs, and then they’ve got loads of materials and they just don’t want them anymore, and they just give them away,’ he shared.
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