<prompt> Human: Greetings rpersonalfinanceBeen lurkingreading this sub for a while, and I wanted to share my story and about how this sub has helped me out.Little backstory: I lost my job exactly 2 years ago today. It was the first time since I was 14 years old that I wasnt willfully employed. As I was 33 and engaged at the time, it was far from an ideal time to be laid off but then again, is there one really?. Fortunately for me, I was only out of work for 6 weeks before I found another job albeit at a 35 pay cut of what I was getting before. With this new job, I was able to cover my monthly billsexpenses barely and had almost no wiggle room for anything else. I ended up putting way too many purchases on my credit card something I had been very proud of that I had never done in the past. The real come-to-Jesus for me and eventually, my now wife was when she had to transfer me 10 one night so that I could stop by the grocery store and pick up cat food for our cat. I had less than 5 in my checking account and had wiped out my savings account completely.At that point, I vowed to not only get myself out of the situation I was in, but to make sure that I never would get into this again at least, as much as I could control. My now wife and I arewere restaurant people for most of our adult life. In that industry, there are not a lot of folks who are savvy when it comes to spendingsavingplanning, etc. Even in the management ranks, which we were both in. When we were younger, we gave no pause to the thought of going out to eat and drink 3 or 4 nights a week. It kills me to think about how much money we pissed quite literally away for years.We knew that we were going to have to adjust after I lost my job, but it didnt really kind of hit us until that night. Since then, Im proud to say that we have changed our lifestyle and attitude towards our finances 180 degrees.The eating out went away completely; that was low-hanging fruit for us. Weve taken great pleasure in cooking meals at home and entertaining friends and family as opposed to going out. Our general mindset of what we spend money on also completely changed. I was forced to create a budget and monitor every penny that I spent because I had no room to spare. I guess this started rubbing off on her also, because her behaviors changed as well shes a shopper, for sure.Luckily for me, I was able to work my ass off at work, and 12 months later I was back to and actually above the salary I was making before I got laid off. Because I had changed my habits and behaviors to adjust to my lower salary, I was able to make some great strides in reducing my debts and saving.I paid off my car in August, and since then have reallocated my car payment every month to now be split between going into savings and adding to my credit card payment to lower that.I paid off a student loan and reallocated that money to go towards paying off a personal loan 7 months early 11.99 APR; no penalty for early payment. My last payment on that loan is next month.We got married in October and were able to pay off our rings that we financed early as well. The most satisfying part has been what Ive been able to save. I re-committed to putting as much money as I could into my personal savings, our house fund, and also actually taking advantage of the ability to contribute to a 401k. This sub gave me some great adviceideas to help me turn my situation around, and its continued to be very informative. Im sure my story isnt terribly unique to people who frequent this sub, but I wanted to share one success story with you all.Thanks!Assistant: I would put less money into savings account and more towards credit card payment based off what you have said in post. It will yield a much higher return on your money. And if you have an emergency where you would need to dip into savings before you pay off card, just use the card.Human: I still have plenty of room on my card 6000, so Im not worried about that. Im already paying about 2.5x the minimum every month to get the balance down. Ive been able to stop using my card altogether, so Im good with what Im putting towards it on a monthly basis. Plus, the whole saving for a down payment on a house thing necessitates me saving as much as I can at this point.Assistant: Youll save more in the long run if you get the credit card paid off as fast as possible and then work on your savings. Human: You are possibly probably correct. But again, me paying down my credit card right now doesnt add money that I can use for a down payment on a house.Assistant: You shouldnt even be thinking about a house when you still have credit card debt. Besides which, youll have more total money in the long run by paying off high interest rate debts quickly. More total money puts you in a better position for a house. Human: Serious question:How many people have you met in your life who purchased a house without credit card debt? Maybe Im not well-informed at all, but I dont know anyone in that situation.Assistant: I know plenty of people without credit card debt who bought a house. Hes giving you good information. In the long run paying off the credit card before you put that money in to savings will net a larger savings account.Human: Wasnt saying that he wasnt giving good info. Was simply stating that I dont know many people in that position.  <response>: Thats fine if you dont know people like that, but reasoning from a restricted group of people around you tends to lead to bad decisions. You need to step back and examine the issue from first financial principles, not just copying what the people around you are doing. 