<prompt> Human: I recently became engaged and moved in with my fiance well, she moved into my house. I love her to death but she is shall we say not good with managing her money. Yesterday she came to me and wanted me to essentially manage her money for her. Im good at managing my own finances because I never got in debt to begin with, but Im having a hard time coming up with a realistic budget for her that lets her live decently while still denting her debts quickly. I apologize for the throwaway but if she knew I asked reddit Id be in deep doodoo.Here are the numbers I have from her. I didnt realize they were so... bad.Credit cards: BofA Alaska Visa: 4000 12.74 Chase Amazon.com Visa: 350 13.24 BofA Cash Rewards Visa: 2400 0 interest until next year, but ugh she maxed it out within like two months! Nordstrom: 930 18.90She also has a car loan and student loans, but Im not going to worry about those right now. We both think that her primary goal should be to rid herself of the credit card debt. She basically lives paycheck to paycheck and has no savings and a few hundred dollars in her checking account. Net income after taxinsurance5 employer matched 401k: 3200 Parking pass: 100 Cell phone: 80 Gym: 220 its some special class that she really likes and I have a hard time taking that away from her, and she goes 4-5 times a week Rent: 400 her share, which is discounted until Janurary so she can pay down her debt and then it will be proportionate to our incomes Cleaning: 200 her mom is a house cleaner and she wants to support her by having her clean the house every other week, but she doesnt want to split this with me Car payment: 280 Car insurance: 90 Student loans: 150 Total bills: 1520The first thing I did was take away her credit cards. I also made her an offer that I would match .25 to every dollar she paid on her credit card debt to try to incentivize her to pay them off.Her biggest problem spending area is food: eating out at lunch, buying expensive groceries, etc. This month shes spent almost 1000 on groceries and restaurants alone. I want her to begin bringing her lunch, which shes not opposed to. Now, for the fun part: paying off the debt. I suggested a 700mo payment, but Im not sure where to begin. Which card first, how much, etc.? Should she consolidate it all into one? If she pays 700, Ill chip in 175, so that would be 875 a month towards debt, which is pretty good. I told her to pay the minimums on the BofA cash rewards and the Alaska, and then pay off the Chase and as much of the Nordstrom as she can, then next month finish off the Nordstrom and work on the Alaska, etc.. I think its pretty doable and Id like her to have the three interest-charging cards paid off by the first of the year. Reasonable, or should we try to consolidate them all into one payment there are a few CUs who I know would do this for a decent rate around here?If she did this, thatd leave 980 to live on -- food, gas, incidentals, etc. Not a ton we live in a fairly expensive city, but doable definitely doable. She is having a hard time wanting to let go of her luxuries, but I keep telling her that she cant afford luxuries, and never could afford them, hence why she has 8000 in credit card debt. She wants me to give her an allowance, and I was thinking the envelope system, but I also feel like its going to cause some resentment and this is perhaps more of an rrelationships question. I also could not charge her rent for the first few months and have her pay that towards her debt as well, but I feel like that money wouldnt go to the debt like it should and would probably go towards more unnecessary stuff. Any suggestions, personal financiers?  <response>: To put it simply, if she had the money, she wouldnt have CC debt so shes just spending too much. She cant Spend like she wants wo making cuts unless she is going to start making more money but its easy to cut spending and hard to make . There is so much she can cut out of her budget but until she gets it, shes goingto have a hard time. 