<prompt> Human: I apologize in advance if I didnt structure this very well, or if I sound ignorant. Im just now starting to understand how money works in the adult world and Im looking to the more experienced or educated people for advice on how to move forward.I live in an apartment with my son and his mothermy girlfriend not married and feel like Im not bringing in enough money to pay bills, pay on loans, buying my son certain things he will always need. I have a High School diploma, but thats where it stops. I got bad financial advice from my mother telling me to take out everything theyll give you for college. Got the money loans and bought a truck that was useless in 3 months, so no more making it to school! Anyway, here I am at 22 with 2 jobs, a girlfriend and son. I bring in 700 a month, my gf brings in 800 a month. So 1500 together. Rent is 515, water is around 25, gas 30, Electric 100, we save 130 a month for insurance, Phone 110, Vehicles 430 together, Gasfuel for vehicle 100 a month, Internet 46, and various spending on our son diapers, wipes, etc. Eating and being smokers also really dig in more than they should.I have around 6000 in school loans, and just about the same left on my current trucks loan 3 year plan. My School loans are in differment sp? for all of next year. So with that known, here are my questions:My girlfriend worked more hours than I did this year but had claimed 1 on her W4 at the start of her jobs. I worked less than her yet claimed 0 7 years ago on my W4. Who would receive a bigger tax refund by claiming our son? Can you claim a dependent if youve been claiming 0 on your W4?My plan is to use our tax returns to pay off our trucks earlier, then after that debt is cleared I will begin to pay on my school loans monthly with the yearly boost. Is this worth it? Am I missing anything? Besides those questions, is there anything I can do with my every daymonth choices with my or OUR money to get out of debt and start building a better life for our son with better jobs and a permanent roof over our heads?  <response>: Welp, I have no good financial advice for you, but I can give you a story. Im 22, and have been provided for by a father with less than ideal circumstances. My dad was a single dad with 3 kids me and my brothers, while we werent horribly well off, we never wanted for anything. Key to this was probably my dads job. My dad is a welder. And he has always been pretty good at what he does. Hes always been able to find some sort of work. Having learned a trade meant that he had a sellable skill set. 2 years of community college trade school paid off for his entire life. I know right now isnt the best time, but doing something like that could really help you and your family in the long run.Also, he worked out a monthly grocery buying budget and what foods to buy. We never went out to eat, all food was home cooked and seriously, really good. The idea of stay to the outside of the store-- so raw foods, and only some things that were of nesessity for school aged children, such as cereal, and chipscrackers in large bags that we could take some out of every day and put into our lunches. But it sounds like your kid is still very smallI dont know much about taxes, but what I do know is this: What you originally file at your job means nothing when you go to file your taxes, and the person in the higher tax bracket should claim your kid because it is a fixed amount that you get back. Now, my dad had his vices, he likes to drink. But I have to give him this-- he bought the cheapest, crappiest beer he could, and never had more than 2 in a night. Im not a smoker at all, so Im not sure how something like that would translate to smoking. For clothes, my dad always bought from Value Village Goodwill Salvation Army as much as possible for himself and us. Growing kids go through clothes like crazy! Minimizing that spending was necessary.Im in college right and let me say this-- pay the interest accruing on your student loans. Im not 100 positive if they do if theyre in deferment, but I would bet that theyre still gathering interest. That extra amount is a killer.You say you have a truck? Try selling and getting something smaller and more efficient like a small Nissan or Toyota I suggest these two because theyre cheap to fix, and if youre good with your hands you can learn to do it yourself. Nissans and Toyotas are like legos for cars. Trucks tend to cost more on both insurance and gas. It would also be a longer term investment because a car the fits more people will be helpful in the long run.Last thing, with winter pretty much here already Id suggest putting the heat to something just warm enough to be bearable and then bundling up the rest of the way. 65F and a couple layers of clothes on top of that can really save on the monthly bills. For the phone bill might I suggest looking into a basic plan without data and basic phones. By doing that you could cut your cell bill in half. Take a look at this: I know that sizing down on the phones sucks, but it can be necessary. Now Ill just leave this off by saying that I am not any sort of expert, but Ive watched my dad do this my whole life. This is only what I have with paying close attention to what my dad has done my whole life. I hope it helps some. Best of luck. Edit: obvious typo 