<prompt> Human: So I posted a while ago and hot alot of great ideas of what to do a quick recapFamily of 4We make 40k a year before taxesRent800Gas300Gaslight 200Phone 3 lines 240 in 2 year agreement until end of yearCableinternet 190Cc and loans 750 snowballing it but good godGrocery 450Gymhygiene 120Car insurance 130The jist of this is we are atleast 2 years away from cc debt being zilch. I am taking advice and looking for higher paying job or even another job two alreadyOur great 99 dodge os on its last leg. And we need to replace, shakes at 70 mph, leaking all fluids, and rusting everywhereShould I buy really cheap 4-5k or lease a car at under 200 a month?Im more partial to buying because i would hate to have to ask for a cosigner on the lease. Already have had too many hand outsAssistant: I add up 3150 in money going out, 3000 coming in assuming a 10 effective tax rate. Youre in a pickle.Utilities are 600 a month? Deal with this first, this is way out of control. I live in the middle of a city any my utilities are 13 of this.Drop the Gym membership. You cant afford it. The rest of the budget is fine. Youre basically only struggling because of your previous excess spending the 750. Stay the course, in 2 years you can start building credit. Do not lease a car, buy a reliable beater.Income side may need to be addressed as well. Your spouse needs a job as well assuming she can make over the cost of childcare.Human: She does, albeit part time.I will adjust that utilities segment.But it breaks down essentially:Gaslight 200Phone 3 lines 240 in 2 year agreement until end of yearCableinternet 190I am tryin desperately to get a higher paying job, but no college very little prospects.Attempting to obtain several IT certifications for the purpose of cracking into that field. Assistant: Yea so again, your prior spending is haunting you. The phones are outrageously expensive, not sure how 3 lines gets to 240. The cable needs to go asap as well, internet only should be 50 or less. You can easily get all of these things for 150 a month instead of 430. Think of it this way, right now youre wasting 16 of your takehome pay on this stuff instead of 5. Thats 11 of your budget basically blown.You need to cut back on these expenses immediately. Figure out why the phone is 240 verizon data plan with 3 lines is like 110, so completely confused how this one is this high. Also, 3 lines? You have 2 adults??Human: 3 adults we pay for the MIL account because she watches kids. As soon as our contract is up we would move to another company  <response>: 3 adults still should not be 240. If you have free childcare, your wife needs to work full time or multiple part time jobs.You have an excuse for everything, finance is just hard numbers. Your bank account doesnt care about the Why, only inflows and outflows. 