<prompt> Human: Throwaway account because husband knows my real reddit name. I knew husband had debt when we first started dating he had just been through an ugly divorcecustody battle, but I didnt realize how bad it was - about 15K. Ive always had great credit, pay off all my balances, bought my car outright, etc so this is a whole new world to me and I dont know where to start. These are all old debts last charge over 6 years ago, last payment made about 5 years ago and are in collections. We have limited income right now. A year long unemployment right after having our twins ate up the entirety of our savings and cushion, so we are having to start over from scratch. After taxes he makes about 2500 a month, not including bonuses because those are reliable. I dont work because the cost of childcare for 2 babies would eat all of my income anyway. We pay about 1500 in rent and utilities, and about 100 for internetcell phones. I budget for about 300 in groceries, and about 100 for things like diapers and wipes. My goal is to rebuild a comfortable cushion for emergencies, but it feels like the debt is just looming over us. Id appreciate any advice about how to deal with collections and how to allocate money towards either savings or debt. How should we handle the collection callsletters? Thank you.  <response>: Have you read the sidebar link on Debt Collectors Credit Repair 