<prompt> Human: My wife and I are in debt with credit cards, student loans, and car payments. One specific credit card is nearing 10,000 and the interest is so high we cant put a dent in to lower the amount. We have good jobs but feel like we cant keep up anymore. We dont know what options are out there for us and feel very lost.  <response>: Youre at your wits end and losing your grip, what to do? You CAN get a grip on this and beat it, and the first step is super...stupidly... simple. Get yourself 2 pieces of lined paper. Divide paper 1 and 2 into 2 columns. Paper 1- write all your monthly expenses. RENTMORTGAGE 1111.11 Electric- Summer. 111.11. Food 111.11. Etc...List your monthly necessities first. Food, lights, water, house gas, rent, car insurance, car payment. Then list your nonessential stuff. Cell phones, Internet unless necessary for your job, entertainment Then list your credit card monthly payment and FULL OWED per each. Then you put your paychecks at the top and start subtracting. When you run out of money, go up and subtract something from your non-essentials, or start looking for a cheaper way to do them. If you do still have money after that, you TELL IT where to go. Subtract a little of it for fun money, then the extra goes to your smallest debt. or, if you wanna go hard, put it on your largest, but its really better to do smallest first even if its not logical. Hope that helps 