<prompt> Human: Long time lurker, thought Id ask your advice on some things. My parents didnt teach me how to do basic financial things, but thankfully I have the Internet. Im sorry if a post like mine is annoying or repetitive, but Im desperate for advice. Im a college student, my husband is an educator bringing in about 40kyear. I bring in apx. 10kyear with my side job. He just graduated from college, got this job, and now I need to set a few things up. We are both in our mid 20s. Up until this point we have basically been living on credit cards. Im from a family that doesnt believe in college so I dont have a lot of support and Ive had to make do. College was my only option, for various reasons. We are about 10k in debt in credit cards, and he has about 20k in student loans. No car note, rent is about 1k. I have the minimum payment on all 6 credit cards on automatic withdrawal. This comes to about 350mo. How much money should I keep in my debit at all times, how much should I be putting back in savings, and with a credit score comparable to the national average, do you think credit consolidation is an option? If so, how do I do that? Is there anything adultish Im missing?  <response>: How much money should I keep in my debit at all times?This really depends on how you organize your finances, but any of the following are good guidelines:- Enough to pay the next months worth of bills, including rent, utilities, etc.- Enough to pay the next period of time sufficient for you to withdraw from your emergency fund- 2x your biggest bill rent, in your caseSome people treat their checking account as their e-fundbill payment funddo-all cash fund and consequently keep a lot of money in there. Some people will keep enough to pay bills for the next month plus some kind of reserve and then shuffle off the surplus to a savings fund or other liquid instrument. Theres no right answer to this question, other than enough - you should never have to worry about overdrafting the account. How much in savingsRight now, Id argue that you should probably be doing a 2:1 ratio of credit card payment to savings once youve got 1,000 in savings. For every 2 you pay CC, put 1 in savings. Thatll leave you with around 6,000-7,000 in savings when alls said and done. Credit consolidation will depend a little bit on interest rates and whether youre behind in payment. Post the balances and interest rates and see what recommendations come in. Pay off any small balances and get rid of the cards they were on; 6 credit cards is going to prove to be a temptation if youve already entered this much debt. You can probably knock out 10k in debt in 8-12 months if you dial up a side hustle and are disciplined. 