<prompt> Human: First and foremost: I have read through the basics section and am trying to post this with the right formatting, so Im so sorry if this doesnt look the way it should. Edit: Guys, I know I spent a lot on eating out. Believe me, it shocked me as well. I wasnt paying attention and I only realized it when I reviewed my expenses. The obvious holy shit, you should stop that answer is to not eat out anymore. The bigger and better question is this: how do I pay down the debts that I have so that I can get on track again? Even if I stop eating out which I am, I still have a mountain of debt. Id really appreciate it if someone could look past the stupid mistakes Ive made and offer some suggestions of how to pay down my debt. I will have more money and feel that I can actually do something about it now. Please help me. Edit 2: Thanks for dealing with my reddit illiteracy. I will get there eventually. :___Lets start with the basics. Hi, Im a school psychologist living in Los Angeles, CA. Im in my late 20s and just graduated from graduate school over the summer. Good news is that Im working and have just secured an even better paying position that I will hopefully begin training for this coming week. I will give specifics in a moment. I have an undergraduate degree from a private college that I attended for a BA in music. While I can hear the groans from across my computer and before the post is even up, just know that I was aware I wouldnt have many job prospects when leaving, although I was able to work for a few years before graduate school regardless and making a decent 35-45k salary. Why did I go to a private school? Well, my parents never went to college and nobody even sat me down to say hey, you may want to choose a school that is cheaper. In fact, I was raised to be poor, so they encouraged me to go and to take out loans to do so. Same thing happened as I continued through graduate school. In fact, if there is one life motto by which my family lives it is this: Rob Peter to pay Paul or perhaps yes, but can you afford the monthly payment. Now, these arent excuses. Please know that an excuse is me thinking that these things are good or ok. I actually think the opposite. I just want everyone to know my habits and where Im coming from so that you can help me break out of it. Following my graduation from my undergraduate degree, I secured minimal employment and moved out as soon as I could. I had moved in with a roommate who I trusted at the time. The apartment cost 1300month and I was earning roughly 1400-1500month working full time. Eventually, they cut my hours at work and I was forced into a second job. Why you might ask? Well, my roommate had decided to get evicted even though one person cannot get evicted while the other remains. I took on the brunt of the bills and told him to leave, but he just ignored me. When it finally became too much, I approached my landlord to ask about options. He said that I could get a new roommate or buy out the lease pay 2 months rent and not receive my deposit back. On my measly paymonth, I was unable to do that and had not found a new roommate, so I decided to buy out the lease. Unable to fork over 2 months of rent at the time, and deathly afraid that I would have an eviction on my record for all eternity, I used the check that Chase had sent me for my credit card and put it on there. It hurt to drop 2600 on something that I would never get back, but I didnt know what else to do. So, thats how my credit card started. I had moved back in with my parents, and was attempting to secure a different, higher paying job when my luck turned for the better. I got a job as an admissions rep for Everest College yes, I know how bad that sounds that paid 35kyear with a raise almost guaranteed at 6 months. I jumped at it and saved up for an apartment so that I could move closer and just move out of my parents place. I commuted mostly by scooter at the time, as my parents had paid for my scooter outright back when I was in college, and I didnt need a car for the most part. While working at Everest, I broke my foot one day. This made it impossible for me to take the scooter and I stood far too long in the rain one day waiting for a friend andor the bus. Later that day, I bought a car. The car was a solid 7k or so -- used, and stick shift. I got the best I could for what I could afford. I also took an additional warrantee not knowing that it was worthless as my family had never bought a car from a dealership before. So I ended up with 13k in loans from that. Now, what I should have done was to pay off my car, credit cards, and pay down my loans as quickly as possible. Naturally, that did not happen since I was so excited to have money that I just bought whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. I operate mostly on my debit card instead of my credit card, so I rarely incurred additional debt on credit. Sadly, it only took a few medical bills to make my credit what it is today. I wont take you through the rest of my life up until now -- not only because it will bore the crap out of you, but also because its just way too long to post. Here are the mistakes that I made: 1. My graduate school cost a lot of money -- lets just say I tapped out the lifetime allotment of loans for an individual from the government. 2. I quit some higher paying, stressful jobs for jobs that suited my personality and were lower payingunreliable on payment. 3. I have had multiple roommates for whom I provide additional support because I understand what they are going through and that has really hurt my finances so far4. I leased a new car recently. If you had seen my old car, which I still had from post-undergrad, you would probably understand why I did it. There was no way it would have lasted and I had no money to repair it. Plus, I have been working 2 hours away from where I live to try and make ends meet. So, as you can tell by just my background information, I am in debt. I try to live within my means, but am struggling significantly. I have a mountain of loan debt which is coming due soon very soon as the 6 month grace period is ending very quickly. I can give you numbers, but I havent had the chance to look this month at the true weight of the debt -- so I may need to just put down estimates for the time being.Student Loan Debt: Direct Loans: 234000 varying interest rates, combination of sub and unsub Perkins Loan: 6000 3.4 interest rate, I believe this one is subsidized, so it hasnt accrued more interest while I have been in school Private Loans: 37,367.69 3.73 interest rate. These are also subsidizedCredit Card Debt: Wells Fargo Credit Card: 913 12 APR. Chase Credit Card: 5957.30 20 APRCar: Toyota Prius: 10392 3 APREarnings: Old jobcurrent budget: 2905mo net 300-400 extra income from other jobs. Not reliable for budgeting purposes. New jobnew budget: 5000mo net optional 150-200mo in alternative incomeMy current accounts: Account 1: 123 Account 2: -161 with 200 pending depositThese are both checking accounts -- I have no savings account as I had made too many transfers from what used to be the savings into the checking account during grad school -- so I am now left with 2 checking accounts and neither of them look good. Monthly Costs: Rent: 625mo Utilities: 50mo Phone: 80mo Netflix: 7.99mo Food: 250mo Laundry: 20mo Personal care items: 30mo Gym: 30mo Car Insurance: 200mo Loans: 600mo - havent kicked in yet. Wells card: 35mo Chase card: 150mo Online program subscriptions: 50mo getting rid of these Medical Debt monthly payment: 40mo Eating out: Fluctuates but last month it was 1050. Usually, its about 400-500I also have about 400 in other medicalbill debts that need to be paid and are just coming back around to me now. I have already frozen my gym membership -- bringing it down to 10month for the moment. I have also started to cancel my other subscriptions. I actually need to go out and drive Lyft to get some extra cash through the door. I am also owed about 600 from a second job that hasnt paid me quite yet. I own no liquid assets and Im pretty much screwed. I took the time to look through my spending habits over the past 3 months and was shocked to see how much money I spent on eating out. We had a little vacation in there, so Im sure thats where most of it came from. My boyfriend and I have agreed that we will not be going out really at all for quite a while. Luckily, even though I am female, I dont really engage in the amount of high-priced personal care that most females do. That means that I dont do pedicures or manicures unless I do them at home, and I only get my hair done once every 4-6 months. I also get one waxing thing done every other month, and that falls into my personal care budget, so its already accounted for. Im a bit worried to be honest because this new job is expecting me to dress and look a certain way and there is no way that I can afford to do so e.g., suits, good makeup, manicures, pedicures, especially in the financial shape Im in. The other side is that I want to be realistic. Im willing to cut a majority of my budget down to only what I need, but I also enjoy going out and having fun. I try to find low costfree things to do and am just beginning to sign up for volunteer opportunities as its totally free and something to do -- plus, it helps with depression which is a very unsavory trait that I currently possess. The positive: I have found ways to budget in the past that have worked a bit. I came up with this envelope method for my daily spending cash when I first moved into an apartment that really worked well for me. All other money was paid out automatically to bills. I also have a Mint.com account, so I have started to analyze my spending habits a little closer. Im also a relatively talented couponer -- but I wont coupon if the cost outweighs the time or if Im short on money. The stockpile has actually saved me and my boyfriend a significant amount read: over 200 in personal care items since moving here. TLDR: severely in debt from stupid mistakes and needing a realistic way to climb out slowly but surelyAssistant: Im not a student loan expert, but there are certain jobs and loan types that qualify for a Public Service Loan Forgiveness, basically you work in public service for 10 years, make an income based payment and then at the end, they go away.Move closer to work! That commute time could be much better spent on any number of things: self-care, second job, etc.Cut back on eating out!Human: I agree on the distance thing. The new digs should be 30 minutes max from where I live. I will check out the student loan forgiveness stuff but I dont know if I am eligible based on where I work. I had already talked to direct loans before graduation and am on a reduced payment plan for now.  <response>: As a school psychologist you should almost definitely be eligible for PSLF, definitely look in to it! 