<prompt> Human: Hi PF, I made a throwaway account to discuss my personal finances. We are currently in a lot of debt and it is primarily due to my wife not working. She stopped working about 2 years ago when she was pregnant with our second child. Although shes been trying to jump back into the work force, shes been having a lot of difficulty trying to find a job. We had to resolve to credit cards with the loss in income and her unemployment has lasted longer than we expected and everything has spiraled out of control now. Weve maxed out all of my credit cards and now I am considering filing bankruptcy to get us back on track. However, I am open to any and all viable options. Here is a break down of where we are: My income is 85,000 monthly income after taxes and deductions: 4,500 Mortgage is 260,000 Owe 96,000 in credit cards mine 25,000 credit cards wife Owe another 60,000 in student loansMonthly expenses: 1,800 mortgage, hoa, insurance, and taxes 650 for cars including car payment, insurance, and gas 500 roughly on groceries 200 all utilities 600 for my older sons pre-school I am going to get a lot of crap for this one, but he is going to remain in school for now 700 in credit card payments for my wife. 50-100 for unexpected monthly expenses. Student loans on defermentforbearance Ive been considering a chapter 7 bankruptcy for myself. I am planning on keeping my wifes credit clean and paying off her debt. In California, my homestead exemption is 100,000. According to zillow, realtor.com, and trulia my home is worth 395,000. So, concern about going this route is losing my home as I am 35K over from my exemption. However, Ive read that it is not only my exemption that is taken into consideration, but also closing costs and the costs of the bankruptcy trustees commission 25 of first 5k, 10 of first 50K, and 5 of everything there after when considering a sale of property. I am not sure a Chapter 13 is feasible considering how little is left after living expenses. I am also open to letting my credit cards go delinquent for much longer and then try to settle with my creditors. My worry here, and I am not sure how the law works, is them suing me, placing a judgement on my property, or garnishing wages. I also dont know generally how long they wait before pursuing legal action. I am expecting a promotion at work. I am estimating my income to increase 5K-10K. Expecting this within next 2 months.I would like to keep my house...so suggestions with this in mind please. I know, my finances are a mess. Please chime in if I misunderstood anything mentioned above or if there are other options available that Ive missed. EDIT: In case it matters, I was current on all credit cards been killing myself with extra stuff on the side until December, so about 30-90 days late as of this month.  <response>: The credit card debts are insane. What did you buy? 