<prompt> Human: I am trying to use the Avalanche method to pay off about 15,000 in credit card debt. Ive been slowly chipping away at it and have worked it down from its height of 21,000 from one year ago. The problem is that I feel so burdened by this debt that its holding me back from moving on in my life. My SO and I want to get married, and buy a house, but right now Im putting so much of my income into debt repayment I dont see how this could happen for at least another year and a half. I bring home about 1800 a month in take home pay, and am putting 1000 a month towards debt and living on the rest. 180 for car, 300 every paycheck for gasfoodlife and then the left overs from that I put back into my debt fund. I am living with family to avoid rent while I throw as much as I can at my debt. Today, after really looking at how much I take home in pay versus how my I owe, I got really depressed, because doing the math, I take home roughly 22,000 a year. That doesnt support my plan of paying it off in a year or so. I dont have 15,000 worth of fun stuff to show for my debt, it accumulated slowly over time and Im sure is mostly interest. I carry the shame of debt and dont know how to move forward to get my life started. About a year and a half ago I was unemployed for a while when the company I worked for went bankrupt. I continued to make all my payments at the minimum with what little I got from unemployment insurance. Now Im thinking I missed my chance to declare bankruptcy since I have a history of on-time payments and am now employed. I feel crushed by this debt and hate myself for it. Any advice would help.  <response>: Can you get a second job?A year and a half isnt a terribly long time. Yes, it will suck, but it could be worse. 1000 a month toward debt on your salary is amazing to be doing. And it could be worse. Some people are in financial situations that will take their whole lives to get out of. 