particularly when not in rLifeProTips <| sep |> Get rid of the car . Take the bus or get a beater car and just get basic liability insurance . A car or boat or camper or anything with an engine is the absolutely worst investment of money that Americans make . Don ' t drink the Kool Aid . Drive what you can afford . Can you sell the bed to pay that off and get a used one for free or cheap from Craigslist ? Try and pay at least one thing off you need a win to keep motivated this is hard . Can you get another roommate to lower your rent and electric ? Or move ? Maybe just rent a room for a year ? Call the credit card company and see if they can give you a better rate or waive any fees if you commit to pay on time going forward . May not be able to change anything but sometines they do . doesn ' t hurt to ask . ALWAYS pay your credit cards on time . Check FreeCreditReport . com for your credit history and rating . Good credit helps your afford cars , apartments , mortgages , school loans , etc . Bad credit will keep you in the poor working class cycle forever because everything will cost you more or you will be simply shut out . Do NOT let anyone talk you onto filing bankruptcy . Your credit won ' t recover for 10 yewrs . File and pay your income taxes on time . Like ignoring credit cards , ignoring taxes will only create growing snowballs of debt . Ouch . Watch some YouTube videos on building a budget and building your credit history . Like yourself on the back . # 1 you identified the problem and # 2 you asked for help . Don ' t beat yourself up . You are not alone . We do not teach kids enough about money we do not prepare them well on this important aspect of life . And people make mistakes . Forgive yourself . Tighten up as much as you can . Have a tough year and get it done . Then move forward . Once you paid your debt , start again at zero . No buying , no credit cards until you have 6 months savings in the bank . You need enough savings that you could support yourself for six months without a job . Because well . shit happens . Shit happens even when all things seem golden . And you need to be ready to not only take care of you , when you get laid off that great job , but maybe take care of a family when you get laid off . Once you have 6 months , then you can save to buy a well maintained 2 nd hand car . Half cash down payment and half financed to rebuild credit . You can do it !