<prompt> Human: I apologize if this is frowned upon, but Im not sure what else to do. Reddit is generally helpful in figuring just about anything out, so I thought Id seek some help here rather than continue to ignore my financial situation.I am a 25 year old single parent of one in the US. For the last 3-5 years, my debt has spiraled out of control, and Im unable to pay any of it. I live in a one-bedroom apartment with my daughter, do not pay daycare she stays with the other parent while Im at work and pretty much live from paycheck to paycheck. Im completely lost as to what to do to get out of this hole at this point. Ive considered seeing a credit counselor, but I believe they would just try to consolidate my debt and arrange payments I cannot make... and probably bill me for it.The point at which my credit started getting so bad was upon leaving college. I never qualified for grants, so I just racked up 2-3 years of tuition debt. My parents income was apparently too high for me to qualify for the grants, though their income was not actually relevant to me. I also managed to mess up my academic career bad prioritizing and ended up being placed on academic probation. During this time, I owed my school 2-3K of late residence fees. I was unable to pay that back, so a hold was placed against my account and I was never able to resume classes. I of course want to go back, but Im prevented from doing so because of my debt.I make less than 2000 month. The following is a list of my debts and expenses.DEBTS 25000 federal student loans. Was in default, currently on hardship deferment, but payments are scheduled to resume soon and I cant pay the minimum payments. 3000 debt owed from student housing, probably currently charged off and with a collection agency. 3000 private debt from car repairs I had to finance. Charged off. 300 private loan from another sticky situation. Charged off. Recently they offered a settlement for around 100. 1800 credit card debt, appears to have been transferred to a collection agency. Probably charged off.EXPENSES: 700 rent month 125 utilities month electric, water, and internet lumped together 200 month spent on food 375 month car payment the car is in my parents name, for obvious reasons. I pay it to them. 50-100 month spent on myself. Seems reasonable to me.Plus whatever unexpected thing comes up each month.After all my monthly expenses are accounted for, theres nothing left to try to handle my debt. I really want to rehabilitate this mess, but I have no idea what I can do. I would like to go back to school I would now qualify for grants since Im no longer a dependent and secure a better career, but Im locked out by debt.If anyone has any advice, confirmation of my hopelessness, or outright derision, any would be appreciated.Assistant: First, know that by setting out your financial situation in front of yourself, youre already on the right path. The other comments seem to focus on expenses, Id like to focus on income.Have you filed your 2012 taxes yet? You will likely be due a refund, thanks mostly to the Earned Income Tax Credit.Are you searching for other jobs? 2 years of customer service and sales outside of retail can open more doors for you than you might think. At the same time, how is compensation determined at your present employer? Sometimes the only thing between you and a raise is asking for it.Have you checked with your local department of social services to see if you qualify for any assistance?Many employers offer some sort of employee assistance program, and many of them include some form of debt counseling, usually at no charge to you. Check with HR.Human: I think I am near getting a raise, but I wouldnt bet on it being a huge one. Ive been the best performer in my department for a while now. Ill ask soon, if they dont volunteer it. I havent searched for another job. I suppose it cant hurt to weight the options.I havent filed taxes yet, but I generally get a decent refund. I got in a wreck today though, so at least some of it will go to fixing the car. Hopefully not too much.Public assistance isnt something Ive given much consideration. CCS Child Care Services -- assistance paying for daycare is something I could accept, but its extremely difficult to go from the waiting list to actually getting help. I should get on the waiting list, I guess. Im not interested in food stamps or anything.I work for a pretty small company, but they are offering group debt counseling classes. I wasnt sure how much of it will be relevant to me, since my situation is so extreme.Thanks for all the advice  <response>: You are a textbook case for food stamps. Dont be proud. You are one emergency away from a total disaster. Anything you can free up needs to go to debts to ensure that your kid isnt going to lose the roof over her head. You cant afford your car. You must sell it. That isnt really a debate - my household income is four times yours and I wouldnt pay that car payment, it is too high. Sell the car and get a 4000 decent quality used car - there are lots of threads on here for how to do this. Pay cash. Lots of other good advice on here but the main thing is you dont know where your money is going or how much you owe. You need to get these things worked out, preferably in a couple of Google Docs spreadsheets so you can keep track of them. You will always be broke if you continue just spending money in kind of a casual fashion, even if you make more.Please forgive my harsh-sounding summary, I am not judging you but you do sound like you have had some bad habits and need to start moving in a different direction. It would be great if you could post an update with some more details and how youre doing after a few weeks. 