<prompt> Human: Using a throwaway. Id rather not have this tied to my regular account because I am embarrassed and ashamed of my situation. I signed up for Mint a few months ago and have been trying to track spending habits, but here we are near the end of the month and I am still finding myself broke and waiting for the next payday, hoping I dont need to dip into my small savings if something unforeseen happens between now and next week. Im not sure what to do, but Ive been reading this subreddit for a few months and have seen some great advice. If anyone has any input on improving my situation I would be so very grateful. I am in my mid 30s and work long hours at a pretty stressful job. I feel like a failure who never really learned how to manage money properly. Here is a monthly snapshotbudget -- Income 6,700 per month. Spouse does not work, he stays home with our youngest child. If he went back to work we would not be able to afford daycare in our area. He would basically be working just to pay for the daycare costs. Rent 2,300 - this is an average price for a single family home in my area. I might be able to find something else that knocks 200-300 off this price when my lease is up, but rentals under 2,000 are hard to come by unless you rent a very small apartment. I have 2 children so school districts have been taken into account as well for housing. Car Payment 425 5,000 left on loan, 3.9 interest, car is worth 12,000 Spouses car payment 330 3,500 left on loan, 4.9 interest, car is worth 10,000 - purchased while spouse was employed, was laid off in 2014 so I have been covering it Credit Card 1 596 balance of 2,000 limit Credit Card 2 0 balance. It was a secured card with a 400 limit but Ive kept it since its my oldest line of open credit at about 7 years old. I dont use it. Car insurance for 2 cars plus renters insurance 255 Utilities Electric, Gas, Water, Trash, etc. 500-600 Phones, Internet, NetflixHulu 280 Food 500 Gastolls 85 Misc. Kids Expenses average clothing, school supplies, pull-ups for the 2 year old, etc 175 Prescription medications 100 Pet expenses average food, vet care, medications etc for 2 large elderly dogs 145 Monthly auto debit into a savings account for emergencies 150 balance is currently 1,500My credit score is 610. In early 2015 I was sick and had to take an extended leave from work. Short term disability insurance paid a portion of my salary during this time but it also coincided pretty closely with my husbands layoff late 2014 so there were a few months where I had to pick which bills to prioritize. I did have an emergency fund, sort of, but it was only about one month of living expenses so it was gone quickly and Im having a hard time getting it built back up. As a result I have a 4 month period of 30 day late payments on my car, although payments are current now. I try to pay a little bit extra whenever I can on the cars - even if its just an extra 25 - to try and get those paid off as quickly as possible.  <response>: Im not sure if you counted taxes as part of your 80k or not. So this can go two ways:If you didnt, lets assume you pay 25 in taxes. Thats 5kmonth, and your total bills are around 5200month besides your current CC balance. You simply cannot afford the lifestyle you live at on this salary alone. If you did include the taxes, then you have about 23-24 of your income that you dont know where that goes. And thats a problem. 