<prompt> Human: Long story made short, my wife had 3 maxed out credit cards, only one of which I knew of prior to our marriage July 2012. Mutually, we took out a small payday advancement loan of 600 dollars over 8 payments which totalled out to be like 831 over the full length. She has the credit cards and her car under her credit, I have my car and some student loans, no credit cards. My student loans are deferred because Im still in school, although the unsubsidized ones are gaining interest while Im still in school. Right now, my car is our number one highest payment monthly of 356.60, but a planned refinance is scheduled for July of next year after one year of on-time payments through my local credit union. Ive read several articles on financial debt-free solution websites that its best to start with the lowest total amount that we have on credit and pay that off first, then begin snowballing it by working on the next highest and so on and so forth. Right now, my wifes credit cards are sitting maxed out at 500, 750, and 800 dollars, the five hundred dollar card is a basic capital one credit line, the 750 and 800 are both through retail stores. We owe roughly 350 left on the payday advance loan. My plan is to pay off the 350 dollar payday loan with 22.5 interest rate, then the visa at 17. The retail store cards, both of which I had no idea about, are maxed from what my wife says, but I never see the statements because they go to her parents house still. Im a full time student making roughly 1300 dollars a month, and shes full time making about the same. Our monthly expenses are:365.60 - my car220.00 - her car130.00 - joint car insurance200 dollars a month in gascar servicing.50 dollars a month to her parents for paying for a set of tires for us.Its worth noting that I was making about 2400 dollars a month until school and work began conflicting with each other.So...now that the long story wasnt so short, can you give me any advice about how to take control of my wifes out of control spending and how to eliminate these debts from our life? Were coughing up roughly 200 a month in just credit cards, 100 on payday loans, and 50 to her parents per month.Assistant: - this guy will probably be more help for you than my rant:I would sell both cars and drive beaters while youre in college. Use whatever income you have to snowball through your debts pay the smallest balances off first so you free up your monthly budget ASAP and have some breathing room. Luckily, the payday loan is also the smallest loan so go kill that thing.Above all, you and your wife need to get into some marriage counseling. I dont mean you need to go see some therapist because youre marriage is about to fall apart or something like that, but you need to learn to communicate about money and probably other things. Her not telling you about two maxed out credit cards is not ok. Your passing comment about married into debt is also not ok considering you have student loans impending, and Im guessing those are going to be a tad bit larger than the 2k your wife has in credit cards. This is not a problem caused by your wife the monthly budget problem, this is a problem caused by both of you. Thats what happens when you get married. Both of your problems become both of your problems.note: Cool article for all the math heads that will inevitably advice to pay highest interest rate first - Human: I would agree with you about the cars, but Im 6 months away from finishing college with my RN license which bumps me 5-6 dollars from where I sit now as an automatic pay raise with my company and would rather keep my car for that duration mostly because the next 4-5 months are snow-filled months and I bought myself a subaru impreza for the AWD w snow tires. In six months, I wont be in school and working full time again, so Im willing to make that amount of sacrifice to keep what Ive already got.  <response>: If these cards where 3-8K each, that would be something else. It takes quite a few purchases and mistakes to hit those numbers. 500 and 800 are basically 2 trips to the mall to buy a few small things or a nice outfit. Its not chump change, but its not like shes putting 8 items on the cards and getting it up to 3000 over years of spending. In all, youre looking at 200month to get out of the hole in a year. Your pay increases will likely help you out a lot. You shouldnt have these huge car payments, even after your pay increase, but the damage is done. Youll lose a few thousand sellingbuying new cars at this point and the savings will likely wipe itself out, only youll have cars that are older. In the future, dont spend so much on cars, they arent worth it.Going for a 600 pay day loan was a mistake. Youre in a game of pay check to pay check living, with no wiggle room. Eg pay day loan, borrowing money for tires, etc. My recommendation. Get a 2K-4K student loan if you can. Use that to pay off your debts and dodge this crap. So you have time to figure out what to do. The student loans wont be that high, and youre essentially paying a set premium up front to avoid stress and poor choices over the coming months. Option two, would be to go to one of your parents and ask for a 2-4K loan. Not 300 or 500, just say you need to get everything settled for the next 6 months, you cant budget with where you are. Borrow enough so you have a few dollars in the bank to cover random expenses eg tires. You didnt marry into debt its 200month for a year. That is real minor in the grand scheme of things. Not mentioning them could be seen as bad, but theyre also so small that its like explaining every purchase you made to each other. I bought a packet of gum, I bought a shirt, I bought a sandwhich with avocado that was an additional expense. The only thing to worry about is not sitting down and getting this all worked out. People fear the unknown, once its know, they can make a plan to deal with it. Its more a matter of just showing where you are, and how its not terrible, but how you need to make small changes to keep yourself from getting back there. 