<prompt> Human: My SO and I make a combined a 105,000 a year. We live in a moderate col area and have a ten year old son.Income: 105k total householdAfter tax and health insurance income: 6200 monthlyDebt:- 38k student loans- 5000 car loan 9 interest car worth 2k- 6500 balance on Chase Slate card- 3800 balance on Chase Freedom card- 2000 balance on Capital One Card- 1500 balance on Capital One Card- 500 balancebon Credit One Card- 2400 balance on Discover It card- 800 balance on PayPal credit account- 5000 balance on Amex Blue card - is closed and in collections- 2000 balance on Amex PRG card - is closed and in collections- 2000 balance on Citi Card - is closed and in collections Multiple items on collection medical bills, etcExpenses monthly:- Rent 1500- Electric 80 average- Insurance 290 two cars- Car payment 200- Phone 230 3 lines- Gas 100-125- Groceries 400- Eating out 200- min payment on all cards 450- Student loan payment 300- Cable and internet 80 looking to cancel soonTotal fixed expenses: 4000 rounded up- Miscellaneous expenses such as clothing, gifts, entertainment, costs associated with raising a child, take up the rest of our expenses. We dont save anything. Our credit is crap low 500s. Well never be able to pay off this debt. The more I think about it, the more hopeless I feel. We used the credit cards to get us through some tough times while I was in between jobs and we have been struggling to catch up. We have no money saved up and are barely paying the minimum on each card. Short of filling bankruptcy, what can I do now to start tackling this debt?My job is steady and I will get an average of 7-9 raise each year plus a 2-4 bonus annually. My SOs income is steady but with smaller raises each year 2-3. How will we ever make enough to clear all this debt?Edit: added monthly expenses and after tax incomeNEW EDITS:Misc Monthly Expenses:- Clothing 100-150 average- Household Items detergent, cleaning supplies, toilet paper 50-60- Hygiene Products - 25- Entertainment - 100-400 varies and it depends on what events we have coming up- Gifts - we budget 40ish a month. We have a large extended family- Housecleaning service - 80 I will cancel this- Child recreation activities - 100Total Misc: 795 on averageI understand the comments about not knowing where the misc budget goes. I still dont know where the rest of the money goes. More background: We live in a nicer part of town in a good school district which is important to us. We could save 200 on rent but wed be pulling our child out of the school district and going to a worse school. We have a great deal on our rent at 1500 because most rentals in our area for a two bedroom are in the 1700-1900 range. I work in the tech sector as a consultant. Im confident my income will increase once I transition out of consulting. My salary can increase by 25-30k in a few years when I change companies. One reason why we fell into credit card debt is that we were spending with the notion that wed have more income down the road. Working in consulting there is definitely a pressure to portray a certain image. I fully understand this is an irresponsible way of living hence why I am on Reddit putting all my business out there and asking for advice. Here are some replies to common questions asked below:- We dont live extravagantly by any means. No designer items, electronics, fancy jewelry or handbags in our home. - 290 car insurance. We have a speeding ticket that will fall off in a few months and will save us an additional 30 a month. Ive called for quotes as recently as three weeks ago and this was still the best quote we got while maintaining the same level of coverage- SOs car is paid off. We are paying 200 a month for my car only. - Child does have a cell phone. I am considering turning off the data and have it wifi enabled only. We are still on a monthly payment plan for the phone so not sure how that will work- I am with Sprint currently. Weve been with them for 5 years. I will call this week to re-negotiate service and look to downgrade our plan- Truthfully we probably spend more than 400 on groceries and 200 on eating out each month. Thats what I have budgeted but we do exceed that. It is likely closer to 500 on groceries and 400 eating out. Plan of Action:- Sign up for Ynab. I have seen a lot of people post about this in this forum and it seems to help them. I will play around with it tonight- Will start by tackling the smaller debt first 500 card, 800 card and so forth. Thats a gread idea and it never dawned on me to do that before. I was focused on bringing down the balance on the larger cards because the numbers gave me anxiety- Speak with SO to curb our spending. I am the spender in the relationship so SO will be more than happy that Im getting serious about paying down our debt. - Re-evaluate our expenses and misc spending categories and cut back as much as we possibly can. Understand it will take time to change behavior and not promising an overnight change. Overall I am overwhelmed by the responses to this thread. I posted this at 3am last night when I couldnt sleep because I was stressing about our debt. I didnt expect to get so many replies. Thanks to all the helpful advice from everyone and even the harsh, but much needed, comments. Love this sub Reddit and looking forward to updating everyone soon once I get the ball rolling.  <response>: I make peanuts compared to you and I will have my debts paid off in full by April 2018, about two years after I got serious about things. Your misc expenses are more than my entire monthly income. The snowball method definitely works. Living frugally works. I still budget for fun money for things like ordering a pizza or grabbing coffee with a friend. You dont have to completely deny yourself of everything, just start being more conscious of where your money is going. These days its much easier for me to put something back at the store because Ive taken the time to actually think about my finances and ask myself do I really need this?. I no longer feel the urge to spend every cent thats left over after I pay my bills, Im content to put it towards a debt or even just leave it in my savings account.If you make some changes you can easily get out of your situation, I promise. Listen to the people here who have done it. Start small. 