<prompt> Human: Edit 2: Thank you to everyone who gave me honest advice. I really appreciate it. I didnt think it was necessary to put personal details in a post on this sub, so I didnt share my situation. Im very surprised by all the hateful comments I received. I didnt ask for any handouts. I want very much to be self reliant, and came here for advice on how to manage my current expenses so I could work towards that. Im in college, and have been for 3 years. Im working full time. My expenses are high because before my husband left our combined income was over 7k a month after taxes, and our rent, car payment, and other expenses were more than manageable. When our lease is up I will be getting a cheaper place, and I will be looking into trading in the car for something more affordable, as well as taking many of the other suggestions Ive read here tonight.I never wanted to be in this position, and I never thought I would be, but my husband left and it is what it is. Thanks again to everyone who gave me advice. So right now with rent, utilities, car costs, food, credit card debt, etc, I am about 700 short every month just for breaking even. I work full time, and my two youngest children are in daycare. I have no friends or family to help watch them, and the daycare I have is the chebapest I could find. I dont have cable, or spend unnecessary money.I considered bankruptcy, but that would only eliminate a few hundred a month in debt, which would still leave me in need, and would ruin my credit. Do I have any other options? Im desperate right now.Edit:The divorce isnt final yet, so theres a lot of things I havent been able to do. At this point I assumed that any type of assistance I would qualify for would still take his income into consideration. I am currently making about 1300 a month after taxes. Im getting 1500 a month from my ex. Bills are as follows.Rent 1000Electric 145 averageWater 25Car payment 330Car insurance 80Daycare 1300Credit card payments 400Phone 50Gas 45Student loan 100Food costs 500  <response>: The daycare is the most easily fixable problem of the ones youve listed.First, theres a lot of assistance programs out there to help pay for daycare. State programs are the primary ones so look into that in your state. Check here for some information on federal assistance disbursed in your state as well.You can also call 211 for information on daycare in many states - its a general purpose childcare hotline and most states have information about it.There are also federal government subsidies for daycare for military families - I dont know if you can get those when youre divorcing your husband, but he is in the military so its worth looking into.You may also be able to find just a daycare thats cheaper or thats willing to work with you so you can stay under budgetNow that the big one is out of the way, theres also the credit cards, rent, electric, food, tax, and phone that could potentially be helped. The credit cards probably cant be helped without declaring bankruptcy, but what you can do is call up the companies and negotiate a repayment plan at a reduced interest rate. Make sure you mention that if you cant do that you wont be able to afford to continue paying them back - they want their money. If you do this, you can take your interest rate from 20 down to maybe 5 in many cases, which makes repayment a ton easier.Rent varies by area - in some cities 1000 is dirt cheap while in others thats crazy expensive. What kind of work do you do, and would you be able to consider moving? Because if youre only making 1300 a month, you are not benefiting from living in an area with such expensive rent. At all. Moving to an area with a lower cost of living will often reduce pay, but honestly in your case you should be able to find an area thats much cheaper and with a job that will pay at least 1300 a month full time in my area, rent for an apartment or duplex would probably run you 500 a month but even working at around minimum wage would make you the same money. Moving is quite possibly your easiest route to lower living costs, but make sure you line up a job before you do.Electric is easy enough. Check that you arent leaving lights and heatAC on a lot. Consider buying electric blankets during wintertime so that you can turn the heat down but keep everyone warm. 140 seems crazy to me but again, I live in a very cheap area so I dont really have a good spot to compare from.Food is normally pretty easy to cut back costs on if youre careful about it. Dont buy a ton of snacks, or at least not the premade type - things like nuts, fruit, etc. are cheaper overall and healthier. Consider buying a membership to one of the bulk clubs - Costco, Sams Club, or BJs. Just by going to one of those or Aldi whichever is cheaper on what you want you can probably cut some food costs.Phone bills can normally be helped by switching to a secondary type carrier. I have my phone through Google Fi with talktextdata for 30 and got my parents a phone through Republic Wireless talktext for 10. 20 a month may not be worth it to you depending on your savings account situation since youd need to get a phone through them to do it but its worth considering the next time youre about to buy a phone.Consider finding a website to calculate your taxes youll owe this year. Its quite possible that with these costs, with how much youll get tax credits for daycare, and with your low single income that youre overpaying on your taxes and can lower your withholding. 