<prompt> Human: Good afternoon all,I am posting this on a throwaway because I am rather embarrassed and ashamed about this situation. I am currently a full-time college student with a 4 year-old son. I made terrible financial decisions in my earlier years of college which culminated in me accruing 2,600 in credit card debt and financing a car that I could not afford I still owe 16,600 and pay 354month. I pay 240month for my sons daycare his mother pays the other 240. My car insurance is currently 140month, but I am expecting it to go up to 240month next month because my ex and I will no longer be on the same policy as per her request. My rent is 625month with utilities varying between 60-80month. Up until this point I have heavily relied on family members to help me pay my bills; however, I know that I have been an incredible burden on them and would like to become independent and self-sufficient for their sake, for my sake, and - most importantly - for my sons sake. For the past year I have been weaning myself off of them. In order to do so, though, I stopped paying my credit cards. It has gotten to the point that I currently owe 900 in late feesmissed payments I realize that this was an incredibly asinine thing to do and I whole-heartedly regret my decision. I currently have an internship that pays me 1,200month and I receive 4,700semester in scholarships and grants after tuition is paid. Further, a family member is loaning me 5,500 for the year. I do not expect to get much back in taxes because my boss messed up my tax paperwork and they were not taking out any taxes for the first 5 months of 2017 and I will not be claiming my son on my return. My goal is to not have to ask any family members for any assistance outside of the loan and finish off my last year of college strong I graduate in December. My primary focus right now is paying off my credit card debt, lowering my car payment through either refinancing or selling my car and purchasing a cheaper one, and reducing my expenditures. Here are some approaches that I have considered and why I have not gone through with them:1. Using the lump sum of money I get at the beginning of this semester to pay off my credit card debt. I am not sure if this is a viable option because that would be 2,600 and may leave me short in case of an emergency. 2. Selling my car back and purchasing a cheaper one. Right now, I am upside-down on my car loan. I still owe about 16,6000, but dealerships were quoting 11,000 to trade it in. Plus, my credit is so shot at this point that purchasing a new car and tacking on close to 6,000 to the price will put me right back in the same situation. Refinancing would also be a problem because my credit is shot.3. Taking less classes and picking up a second job. I cant do this because my scholarships and my internship both require me to be a full-time student. If I took less classes, I would lose both of these sources of income. 4. Picking up a second job regardless. The way my internship, class and research schedules work out, this is impossible because I leave my house at 7 in the morning and am not available until 9 at night. Weekend jobs are not feasible either because I drive down to my hometown which is 4 hours away Saturday morning and leave Sunday nights so that I can see my son. I am honestly at a complete loss and feel like there is no way out of this cycle. I have zero financial planning and organization education obviously. Surely there are options that I havent considered yet or that I am unaware of? Ways to cut spending and save money?  <response>: Lets be clear up front, and state that all your options suck, and you are going to have to be temporarily miserable. So long as you can stay clean in that period, your future is good. Get moral support for this period from a friend if possible, it helps.With that out of the way, lets review: you make 1200mo. You need to clear 950 to cover rentutils and daycare. I suspect there is more here: food, gas, things for your son, cellphone, etc. Make a accurate inventory of whats going in and out every month, and dont delude yourself. You owe 16.6K on a vehicle that is worth 11K, and you will be paying 600 in combined loan and insurance payment. This car is burning up half of your income. So lets say you sell the car for 11K. Pay that to the loan company immediately and make sure they apply it to the principal of the loan right away. Now you have 5600 left on the loan, 250mo left over from your income, and no car. You need extra income now, but you have stemmed the bleeding. You have to get a job. If it means riding the bus for an hour just to mop floors at midnight in McDs, do it. I know when you are working like a dog as a student it can seem impossible to work as well, but you have no choices. You need to discharge that loan, and paying it off as opposed to bailing on it will be a great step in fixing your credit. If you can get a night job close to school, that may help. You will also need to have a serious convo with your ex about seeing your son. She is going to have to bring the little guy over to you sometimes, or you will have to be creative and hitch a ride with people heading that way. Craigslist can help there sometimes.You are going to be tired, unhappy, hungry and debt free in two years. You can do this. 