<prompt> Human: Hold onto your butts PF, I need some help. nbsp; TL:DR; I have a spending issue and need a better handle on my budget. Right now though I would like some advice on my best immediate course of action on possibly consolidating my debt. nbsp; EDIT: Trying to get the stupid formatting right... Also added living situation information and location.nbsp; nbsp; Here is my situation in numbers: nbsp; Debt Credit Card 3,917.10 12.99 Personal Loan 4,816.74 14.75 Private Student Loan 10,000 4.74 Deferred Private Student Loan 2 10,000 4.49 Deferred Direct Unsub Stafford Loan 3,703.86 6.8 Fixed Deferred Direct Unsub Stafford Loan 2 7,786.35 6.8 Fixed Deferred Direct Unsub Stafford Loan 3 2,855.61 6.8 Fixed Deferred Federal Unsub Stafford Loan 2,855.61 6.8 Fixed Deferred Federal Unsub Stafford Loan 2 0.40 6.8 Fixed Deferred - I tried paying this off but it still shows up? nbsp; This equals roughly 45K and Im still in school. Im looking at adding another 30K by the time Im done my masters in December of 2016. nbsp; Note: The Masters degree is me going back to school to further my education and a semi-career change, and should hopefully result in a jump in pay from 42K to at least 55K hopefully taking effect here in the next two months. Please do not take this pay jump into consideration though. I dont have a concrete offer in front of me yet. nbsp; Current Monthly BudgetExpenses 42K Annual Income 2,400 After Tax Monthly Income nbsp; 400 Savings This is Non-Negotiable 300 Towards Loan Payments 155 Personal Loan Monthly Payment Non-Negotiable 105 Car Insurance Non-Negotiable 200 Rent Non-Negotiable 60 Gym 45 Cell Phone Lowest I could find 10 Netflix 70 Internet Non-Negotiable 200 Gas Non-Negotiable 100 Pets Non-Negotiable 150 Groceries 600 Paying the credit card, eating out, miscellaneous things I probably dont need nbsp; Heres the living situation Im in US:Im living with my mother because I thought living in an apartment and paying monthly rent and not gaining anything from it was stupid. Did it for two years. Wasnt worth it. Anyways, when I moved in with her we struck a deal. She said as long as I put the 400 that would be going towards rent into a savings account I could live with her and just help out with a few other things around the house which has ended up being 200 a month to her and paying for the internet which is 70. nbsp; Yes, I know this isnt necessarily the best way I could be doing things but its the situation Ive gotten myself into and no, talking to her really isnt an option. The best thing I could potentially talk to her about is put the money I do have saved away from this arrangement - 6,800 - in a short term investment possibly to at least gain a little more from it. nbsp; Now for specifically what is going on in my head that I could use advice on... nbsp; nbsp; On The Table I was just awarded two offers for student aid through school as follows: Ford Federal Unsubsidized Loan for a total of 20,000 10k distributed for Fall semester and 10k to be distributed for Spring semester 5.84 Fixed Deferred while in school Ford Federal Grad PLUS Loan of 12,392 Same thing, half now, half later 6.84 Fixed 4.292 Origination Fee of 265.00 Deferred while in school nbsp; School is going to cost about the following for the next four semester. It may go up a bit Im sure as prices rise. Fall 2015 Semester 8,629.04 confirmed Spring 2016 Semester 8,629.04 estimated Summer 2016 Semester 5,000 estimated from Summer 2015 Spring 2016 Semester 8,629.04 estimated nbsp; nbsp; My initial thought is this: Accept both awarded loans and use them to pay for the Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 semesters while using the leftover to pay off the Credit Card and Personal Loan which have the highest interest rates and then put whatever is still leftover from that towards the Stafford loans and essentially consolidate my debt into these lower interest rate amounts. From there I would have to re-evaluate my budget and spending and start chucking money like crazy at whatever is left of the Stafford loans and then start paying off other student loans in the avalanche style most likely. nbsp; nbsp; Is this crazy? Is this legal? Should I do this? Is there a better way to attack this? nbsp; Yes I have a problem. Yes I want to commit to getting it under control. Yes I will seriously take your advice if you have the time to give it. nbsp; Thank you in advanced for any generous replies. I appreciate your time. Assistant: Go Watch Dave Ramsey videosHuman: Had to Google that but I will definitely look into him. Thank you for the resource.  <response>: He gives good advice for getting out of debt. His investment advice is generally considered to be not that great, but for debt hes good. 