<prompt> Human: My credit isnt great and I pay nearly 300 a month for my student loans, pay about 150 for phone bill, and around 160 for car insurance. What would I need to be eligible for income based repayment for student loans? What can I do to haggle with phone carriers? Im new to adulting. Any starting advice would be perfect. Thank you so much.  <response>: To save on food, take a look at look at Leanne Browns Four Dollars a Day cookbook. The PDF version is free and it has lots of great recipes that can be made on the cheap, as well as good tips for shopping smart.Like others have said, dont finance your phone and look at other carriers. I use a T-Mobile pre-paid plan and pay about 40 a month. If moneys really tight, downgrade to a flip phone; its a bit jarring at first to not have the internet at your fingertips, but its only temporary and the savings are worth it.Another adulting tip I can give is open a separate account for your bills. Calculate your monthly bills and have the money transfered there directly. This way 1 the money in your primary checking account is only ever the money that you have available to spend after bills; youre guaranteed to have the money for rent, insurance etc. available and 2 if your primary debit card is stolen, youll be out some money, but youll still be able to pay the essentials, and 3 you wont have to think about it. I also recommend using online bill pay through your bank, if its available. Most banks have it and it makes paying bills a breeze--instead of logging into five websites or writing five checks and using five stamps, you log into your bank, tell them how much money to send and when it needs to arrive and they take care of the rest. 