<prompt> Human: Hello PF,Im hoping to get some real and honest guidance here without any negativityflaming. Im posting because I need to put a plan together to get rid of our Im married overwhelming debt. We are a family of 3, 2 adults and a child. The wife and I together make nearly 200k annually. We have excellent credit ratings, we pay our debts on time and we usually pay extra. Regarding our credit ratings, my wifes is in the neighborhood of 760-780 and mine has always been in the same range until recently. Right now it is around 710-720 which is the lowest its ever been since I was a teen Im mid 40s now. This low rating is one of the factors that has me here today. It is only low due to the amount of debt I am carrying, not because of any failures to pay or pay on-time. Another reality check is that it is now Christmastime and I am actually having a difficult time buying gifts for my Son. This has really got me down. I never wanted him to be burdened by my bad money management.So now that you have a picture of us, let me tell you about the debt hanging over our heads. These numbers are shocking to me to write down. I will be leaving off the house because to me that is an expected debt, praise be to those of you who are able to pay for a house in cash but that is not one of my goals. Just for clarity sake, my mortgage payment is 1500mo. Car 1: Pmt 560 Balance 32,000 Car 2: Pmt 790 Balance 54,000 Car 3: Pmt 360 Balance 20,000 Consolidation Loan: Pmt 570 Balance 15,000 Usually pay 600 5 int Student Loan: Pmt 170 Balance 10,000 Usually pay 225 2nd Mort H.I. Loan: Pmt 170 Balance 17,000 Usually pay 230-250 CC 1: Pmt 450 Balance 26,000 Usually pay 5-600 VisaPlat 4.5 int CC 2: Pmt: 300 Balance 14,500 Discover 12 int CC 3: Pmt: 100 Balance 11,700 BOA Visa 0 transfer promo CC 4: Pmt: 50 Balance 2,300 Citi M Visa 0 transfer promo CC 5: Pmt: 80 Balance 2,600 Synch 0 purchase promo I believe that is all of them. So if my calculations are correct, thats about 205,100 in debt and about 3600 in monthly expenditures! Here is the immediate plan. First: Cars 2 and 3 are mine a car and a truck. I plan to sell them both, though I dont know what I will replace them with. Second: The consolidation loan is something that weve done really well with. This balance was nearly 30k just 2 years ago and weve paid it down to the 15k balance it has now. My wife and I are supposed to get bonuses after the first of the year and hers is looking to be a nice amount, somewhere in the 15-18k range before taxes. We are planning to pay all bonus funds to this loan, hopefully enough to pay it off. If I can accomplish these first two goals, the numbers mentioned above will go down to 131,000 in debt and 2450 in monthly expenditures. Thats a big first step, I think. But I also am keeping in mind that I have to replace those 2 vehicles with one that will fit my needs. Solutions? We have 2 CCs that are on a 0 promo which will be ending after the first of the year. We have to find some way to refinance these to a reasonable fixed rate. Would love a termed loan but banks dont like to lend unsecured debt. My wife is in banking and was able to procure us that consolidation loan at a bank she worked at, but this isnt available to us anymore. I did briefly look into one of those consolidation loan offers by companies like Discover or BestEgg. I filled out the BestEgg application but the rate they offered was RIDICULOUS! Like 27 apr! I declined. Interestingly enough, after declining, they started sending me emails with lower rates. Got down to about 16 or so, but I feel like that was still high. Id really like 10 but would probably do up to 12. And aside from all the CC debt, we still have the 2nd mortgage that we had to take when our house needed some urgent repairs and maintenance about 2 years ago. I dont remember the rate on this loan but the term is so long that nearly all of our payments for the next 10 years go towards interest instead of the balance. Thats why I pay extra on that one. So what say you rpersonalfinance? After youve picked your lower jaw up off the floor, whats your best advice as to how to come out from under this overwhelming amount of debt? EDIT: I did forget to add that although our debt is very limiting, we are contributing to our savingsretirement. I am contributing 9 to my companys 401k and they contribute 4.5 on top. My wife is at 5 contributions and we also put 200mo into a Roth. Assistant: Id like to address this statement:Another reality check is that it is now Christmastime and I am actually having a difficult time buying gifts for my Son. This has really got me down. I never wanted him to be burdened by my bad money management.You dont mention the age of your son, but if hes old enough 10 maybe?? Id take a hard look at how you can use this as a teaching tool for your son. Involve him in the budget or at least parts that are relevant to him, like cableinternet costs, cell phone costs, video game costs, etc... Show him why things need to be cutreduced. Show him progress, show him results, involve him in rewards for meeting goals. Sure, if hes like any typical kid he wont like it and will push back. But you NEED to teach him these things. Not doing so is what will put the real burden on him in the future. Having a ChristmasBirthday or two with smaller, more limited presents is not burdening your son. It will not have any lasting effect. Teaching him budgeting and responsible money management is a life skill that WILL have an effect. and it may not be evident for another 20 years or more in his life, but it WILL make a differenceJust my thoughts and I want to clarify Im not bashing you or intending any negativity towards you. Quite the opposite, I think it is a FABULOUS thing that youre acting now and not ignoring the writing on the wall. Youre well within grasp of reining this all in and establishing a positive financial future for your family. Best of luck!Human: Thank you for the great suggestion. This is actually something thats been on my mind lately. I read something in recent months about a technique for teaching this. The writer went to the bank and withdrew, in cash, the equivalent of a months earnings for the parents. Then took that money home and gathered the kids. All the monthly expenses were categorized and written on paper. Then the big stack of money was divided up and placed on the labeled papers. Tax, SS, Medical, House Pmt, Car Pmts. On and on. This gave a visual representation of how the money was used and how much it actually took to live the life they had. I hope to do something similar to this, and your suggestion is a good augmentation of that idea. Having said that. Are you agreeable to your kids knowing how much you make? When I was a kid, my parents and the parents of my friends NEVER told us how much they made. If so, part of this education certainly needs to include the fact that the information is for family and family only. I dont think he quite gets that there is information you dont share with your friends. Hes always telling me about how other kids at school brag or comment about how rich they are. BTW, my Son is 10, just had his b-day.Also thanks for your last paragraph. This thread is only about 2 hours old and Im already starting to feel some animosity in the comments and some of my responses are getting downvoted. I wouldnt be here if I wasnt looking for advice. And I do very-much get it that my our income level is very advantageous. I dont come from a family that was good with money and this is my learning curve. We are very lucky to have good jobs.  <response>: I have only seen one response that has negative points and that was where you said you didnt want to be a penny pincher to a guy who has the same mortgage payment as you do, zero debt, and makes 140k a year less than you do. You came to a personal finance forum asking for our best advice, and then argued about used car prices when you have 100k of car debt, all while telling people that you completely get it. You havent yet. You are still trying to hold onto that lifestyle or at least parts of it. That change takes time, you are taking the right first steps, but if you half ass getting your finances straighten out, you are probably going to fall back into the same routine.People with animosity are jealous of your income and frustrated that you have the potential to really be set and have a great financial future, but are watching you destroy it. We want you to buy in to getting out of debt and start wining with money. 