<prompt> Human: Hello everyone Im 22 years and I wanted to know what can I do to tackle my credit card debt and handle my money better.Currently Card one is at 1658.58Card two is at 1273.00And card three is at 955.81I also have a PayPal credit but I figured to tackle on these there because that isnt as highI have two part time jobs Job one 10.00hr work about 24 hours a weekJob two is 5.08hr plus tip and also get 32hrs a week I just want to end this debt once and for all, I have come across a point in my life where its time to face my mistakes and correct them for my future. I dont have an living expensiveI only pay 60 monthly for my phone billAnd 30 for gymPlus Netflix and Hulu which are 18 monthly Thanks and I hope to here from you guys soon!  <response>: It would help to know what the interest rates are on your debts, otherwise we can only project based on zero interest lump sum. 1,658.58 1273.00 955.81 3888.00Notice I rounded up to the nearest dollar. This is fiscally conservative and responsible. Lets consider how much you make: 10.00hr 24 hrswk 52 wksyr 12,480.00yr gross 7.25hr 32 hrswk 52 wksyr 12,064yr grossThe first thing youll notice is Im being financially conservative - you cant rely on tips so they wont be factored in. Id rather you presume youll have less income and end up with more than presume you have more income and fall short. Second thing youll notice is your second income was factored as federal minimum wage. This is because by law, all waged or salaried workers are at least minimum wage - if you didnt know this, what it means is if you dont make at least minimum wage from your base plus tips, your employer is obligated to pay you the difference.That means you have a conservative combined gross income of: 12,480.00yr gross 12,064.00yr gross 24,624.00Now lets calculate your net income post tax after state, federal, and FICA. I dont know what state you live in, so this will be an approximation since we have to forego it. I use this online calculator. 6.65 federal 7.65 FICA 14.30 federal and FICA 100 .1430 24,624yr gross 3,522yr federal and FICA 24,624yr gross - 3,522yr federal and FICA 21,102yr net incomeThis agrees with the online calculator. Alright then, figuring your monthly income is as simple as: 21,102yr net 12 mosyr 1,758mo netNow lets take out all your expenses to see what you have left to contribute to your debts: 60mo 30mo 18mo 108mo 1,758mo net - 108mo 1,600mo net EDIT, after review, I noticed I shorted you 50, Ill leave it as an exercise to the reader to redo all the math to show correct projections, the rest of my math is at least consistentLets see how many months it would take to pay off the bulk of your debt: 3888.00 1,600mo net 3 monthsThats not bad at all. Naturally, itll take longer because interest isnt factored in. But if you can actually pay this much, it shouldnt take you more than 4 months, just armchair speculating. Use the snowball method, which is where you pay the highest interest first, because that will cost you the most money in the long run; then, once thats paid off you can throw the bulk at the next highest interest debt along with the minimum payments you were already making toward it.For the future, you should use a tracking app like Mint or YNAB and track your spending. You cant budget, save, or strategize effectively if you dont know where your money is going. This also means dont use cash, because were all too lazy to enter cash transactions into the app. It also helps to learn how to calculate your debt to income ratio which Im not going to cover here, but it really isnt hard and percent increasedecrease. These basic calculations will help you get an overall view of your financial situation - get away from dollars and cents and look at percents of the whole. For example, how much of your annual net income are your spending toward your existing debts? 108mo 12 moyr 1,296yr 21,102yr net .0614 100 6.14How much should you be saving? The common wisdom is 10 is good, 15 is better, but something is better than nothing. So that means you should be putting away: 10 100 .1 21,102yr net 2,111yr net 12 mosyr 176mo 15 100 .15 21,102yr net 3,166yr net 12 mosyr 264moNotice I rounded up. You should save more. How much can you afford for housing? Common wisdom says no more than 13 your income, but anything beyond 26 will financially strain you. So you can afford: 26 100 .26 21,102yr net 5,486yr net 12 mosyr 457mo 13 .33 21,102yr net 6,963yr net 12 mosyr 580moNotice I rounded down because thats financially responsible to be conservative about how much you can afford. This also includes the cost of insurance, not just rent. This tells me you should split costs with a flatmate. How much does food cost you? This one is interesting because its worthwhile to break it down to cost per day. According to a Gallup poll Americans spend on average 151wk on food. This includes the cost of eating out. 151wk 7 dayswk 21day 151wk 52 wksyr 7,852yr 21,102yr net .3721 100 37.21Holy crap, living the average American diet is costing you more than a third of your income. I can speak from personal experience, that if you grocery shop and eat home cooked meals, you can get food costs down to 3day. 3day 365 daysyr 1,095yr 21,102yr net .0519 100 5.19Wow, thats a huge difference. Percent decrease is _OLD - NEW OLD 100_, so: 7,852yr - 1,095yr 7,852yr 100 86.05Or if you ate at home and started eating out more, you can see how much more youre spending by _NEW - OLD OLD 100_, so: 7,852yr-1,095yr 1,095yr 100 617.08Lets put all this together. We know how much of your income is accounted for regarding your existing expenses, we know how much you can afford for housing and food, and how much you should be saving. How much does that leave you for all other cost of living? 6.14 33 15 5.19 59.33 100 .5933 21,102yr net 12,520yr net 21,102yr net - 12,520yr net 8,582yr net 12 mosyr 715moNow we know how much you have a month to cover car insurance, fuel, electric, water, gas, sewage, trash, data, and incidentals. We see that Ive been optimistic about saving, pessimistic about housing, and optimistic about food. We see this projection accounts for almost 60 of your income. You can calculate different food and expense budgets and see how much you can afford. You can go over 100 to see what would happen if you dip into savings EDIT: or how much youd need to make up from additional income, either anotherhigher paying job, or splitting the cost with someone.So Ive shown you how to look at dollar amounts and convert it into percents, and how to think about percents and convert it into dollar amounts. You can see how to translate between daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly costs. Ive also shown you how to look at percent changes, and we did a little projecting and budgeting. These basic tools can go a long way when looking at and planning your finances and future. 