<prompt> Human: Hi everyone! I am 29 years old, I have a great job, pension, 401k, all set up through my work thankfully, or else none of that would have been started. I had somewhat of a rough start to my 20s and got into some debt, but I have since gotten out from under that and am ready to be responsible and really start my adult life. The issue is I have awful credit, and when it comes to money I really dont know what Im doing. I know how to make money, but I dont know how to make money work for me. My goal is to buy a house in the year 2018, but I dont want to have my credit issues create a problem. So with that in mind, I would love to get some tips from you fine people about how to save money, how to improve your credit, and things to keep in mind, monetarily, when setting yourself up to buy a house. Also, which is probably most important, is how to keep yourself on the right track once everything is straightened out. Thank you for your time in reading this and any help would be greatly appreciated.  <response>: Also a good place to start. I have found this financial flowchart to be super handy. 