<prompt> Human: My husband and I make approximately 44,650year net income. We have 2 small children, so Summer daycare hits hard 600mo extra depleted our savings this year. We just refinanced our mortgage because the 5-yr adjustable rate loan was up...which raised our house payment about 200mo...another expense we hadnt budgeted for.Automatic Deduct from Bank 2,322 This includes car payment, mortgage, utilities, insurance.Automatic DeductRecurring Charges from Credit Card 1430This includes gas for work commute, internet, food, TV and cell phones.Total Recurring Bills 3752.00We have an additional 318 in non-recurringautomatic bills fast food mostly and misc. incidentals. We bring in about 3721mo, but our bills are 4070. I dont have any money to cover the extra anymore. We cant declare bankruptcy because my husband would lose his job its a requirement that he not have a bankruptcy, and since he makes almost twice what I do, he cannot lose his job.The first thing I can cut out is the 318...just buck up and cook every day instead of eating out. Ever. So I get that. And hope we never need to replace clothes or a doctor visit or tires...etc. We are on the hook for the cell phone plan, but we will go in and talk to them to see what we might be able to do. Cutting out TV, internet, and my husbands weekend beer he has 1 on Friday and 1 on Saturday...so not a binge kind of thing at all, but it adds up. would get us an additional 165mo...which seems like wed be losing everything that makes life worth working for...just to be able to afford to keep working. What a fantastic reward. And it would not be one of those temporary things. This is our life.We are in this mess because we didnt want to admit what was happening, because we dont live extravagantly and do not want to spend our entire life with nothing fun which is hyperbole, I know...but NEVER eating out, having no internet or TV, and being too poor for a single beer on the weekends is also pretty extreme, and is Not Hyperbole for us anymore. So before I do those things...this month...I am trying to explore other options, if any exist. This is where I need help.Part of our problem is our credit card. Our credit card debt is about 20,000 right now. We pay 430mo in interest alone to that card which I have had about 15yrs at 25 APR...and are maxed out on it. I have to pay 1000.00 on it just to have 570 to live off of for that month.Would it be a better idea to apply for another credit card? Maybe move most of the debt on our card onto a new card...and get some of the payments to actually apply to the principal instead of just interest??Should we apply for a personal loan and get as much as we can get approved for, move the credit card debt to the loan? Then wed have a new recurring payment...I just dont see any way out of this. We are looking at an additional 350mo in health insurance and thats the cheapest I could find for our kids starting in January when they get kicked off Medicaid. I fought it this year for over a month, but am not expecting it to work again next year. They both have special needs, so going without insurance means going without medication, which is not an option.Am I missing something?? How are other people making this work? We dont make minimum wage here...and we pay less in our mortgage than we would in an apartment 530mo. I feel like I must be missing something...Please, if you know what were doing wrong, or how we might be able to get on top of this without losing everything...I am SO open to it. Thank you!Assistant: So a few things. First, tough love:We are in this mess because we didnt want to admit what was happening, because we dont live extravagantly and do not want to spend our entire life with nothing fun you were living far above your means, on borrowed money, for years.Second, you need to post a complete budget. All of your spending categorized granularly.Third, if bankruptcy isnt an option, you need to either a cut spending, or b make more money. a involves your budget, b involves getting second jobs. Theres no magic solution. But PF can try and help if you post more details.Human: Complete Budget Monthly:Kids School Lunch Bill 125Transportation Tolls, Gas to Work 300Utilities 400 city, gas, electricFood 500HouseCarLife Insurance 133Kids Health Insurance 50Student Loans 116Car Loan 310Home Mortgage 531Debt Collection from a previous credit card I am nearly done paying off...5 mo left 318Siding Loan home improvement 255Cell Phones 200 supposed to be 170, but always seems to be 208Cable TV 65Internet 70Credit Card Interest 430 included in bills because we HAVE to pay that every monthBeer 30 or lessFast Food 320 We do McDs on Tues because kids meals are 1 off, and pizza on Friday night...plus my husband often grabs a donutpop from the gas station on the way to work.Thats it. Thats the non-working budget, anyway. The way I see it, most of these cannot be changed:Kids School Lunch Bill; Transportation Tolls, Gas to Work; Utilities; Food; HouseCarLife Insurance; Kids Health Insurance; Student Loans; Car Loan; Home Mortgage; Debt Collection; Siding Loan; Credit Card Interest 3,468This leaves: Cell Phones IF I can somehow get out of that contract; Cable TV; Internet; Beer Fast Food 693If I am NOT able to get out of the cell phone contract... 493We would have 493 left over every month, but would not be able to eat out, would have no TV, no internet, and no phone.And this is not a temporary fix. This would just be life now. Nothing fun. Ever. edited Fast Food bc I missed a bunch! Sorry!!Assistant: You have an issue bigger than your debt -that you do not like to live within your means. The only way out of this mess is to make sacrifices. The fast food, cable, and other entertainment. Fun? No, but millions of people live that way and learn to be happy. In your case, this is only temporary. Human: Help me see how this is temporary. I think that is part of my problem. By cutting these things out, how will our situation improve long-term? I see the short-term improvement of not being homeless...but how is it sustainable?Assistant: Once youre done with your cc debt, your reno and your car debt youll have like 700 extra a month!Imagine what you could do with that -300 for fun, entertainment and 400 to an emergency fund. In a year, your emergency fund will be nice and cushy. At this point, youll free up another 400. The key here is you NEED to start making over min payments to your CC payment. By paying 400 a month towards a card with a 20k balance and 25 interest it will take you over Five years to clear your debt! Completely nuts. If your credit aint trashed, applying for a card like Chase Slate would give you a 0 period for balance transfers which would be fantastic as long as you make payments during this time. With your income, I doubt youll get more than 10k in credit but even that at no interest would help. The other option is to go and find another job. And yes, that will be your life for a couple of years. Youll work in the mornings and youll work at night and your husband will need to learn how to cope and not become overwhelmed by cooking like millions of people in the world do. Not much fun, but would you rather keep your lives as theyre right now and maybe be homeless in two years or work your ass off for two years and then not only be debt free but have some leftovers?Human: I pay over 1000 a month to my credit card. The problem is, 430 of that is interest...leaving me 570 to live off of on the card.Getting another job has problems, too. If we make more money, the kids lose their Medicaid. They have health problems and I cannot afford their medication without insurance...and cannot afford other insurance 400 was the cheapest we found, thats 350 more than what we pay now...plus copays and medication that Medicaid currently covers completely. I am not afraid of working. I am afraid of them not getting their medication because I cant afford the insurancecopay.Assistant: What do you mean you pay 1000 to your credit card leaving you 570 to live off on the card? You should pay as much as you can on that card and stop using it. From your OP, I got that your kids insurance is going up anyways to 350 next year. So youll have to work anyways. I forgot to say, check if in your city you can sell plasma which usually for 50 a week. Thats 400 a month if both of you do it regularly. Not sure how its reported for tax purposes though. You have objections for working extra and for downgrading your expenses. Not much can be done. Go see a lawyer and file for bankruptcy. Expect to pay a few thousand dollars for the process. Sell your husbands car which seems to be pretty new if you dont have negative equity. Otherwise, go for a voluntary repo and get him a 5k car or make do with one. You have options better options than that. You just refuse to accept them. Human: Im sorry, I just realized I ignored the credit card payment part completely...I pay every extra cent available to that card. Every month, I subtract the stuff that is automatically deducted and pay every cent left towards the credit card. It is always at least 1000. BUT...the card uses 430 for interest, and since weve always used that card for living expenses, theres only 570 left out of that 1000 payment towards principalnew charges. I think part of my problem is continuing to use the card. I have had this card since I moved out for college. I have always used it...and in 15 yrs and life crap that happened during that time, have eventually maxed it out. The 25 APR did not help this. I get that now...Im going to go put it in the freezer as suggested and see if I can get a handle on it.  <response>: If youre carrying a balance AND using it for regular expenses youre just saddling yourself with even more interest. Youre paying that ridiculous interest rate on every single thing you buy. Stop using the credit cards. You either have the money or you dont buy it. 