<prompt> Human: Throwaway because I am effing ashamed at this.I used to have decent credit. But then since the end of 2015, A lot of personal shenanigans went down and I went from a 772 credit score and plummeted to 624. My credit utilization score is to blame. Im currently around 22k in debt with about 17k on a high interest card United Mileage Plus - that Ive had and paid in full faithfully from when I got it in 2008 until the end of 2015 and the remaining 5k on a balance transfer card Citi simplicity.I honestly never learned how to budget properly and as much as Im trying to step back and think logically, my emotional reactions are full burners and Im overwhelmed. I try to pay it down but then I get hit with interest andor life I had it down to 13k on the more loaded card but then I got hit with car issues. How do people pull themselves out of this debt? I feel like Im going to be stuck forever. Heres some relevant details:I make 66400 before taxes.I live in the D.C. Metro area Virginia and pay 1334mo. for rent utilities included in that cost. No other debts.  <response>: See the PRIME DIRECTIVE link in the sidebar. Make a budget, save a little emergency fund, pay down the debt.How to budget properly? Track every transaction. Categorize them. Put them in a list with dollar amounts next to them for the spend plan for a month. Give every dollar a job. Bam! Budget. Next step is sticking to it. 