<prompt> Human: Hey, 30 year old male here. I have a wife who is my best friend, two beautiful children 4 and 2, and a beautiful house. Life is good right? Well, it would be if we werent living paycheck to paycheck! Ughhh... where do I start...So my wife and I take home around 6.5K a month. Here are our expenses: Mortgage: 1700Utilities: 350Student Loans: 150Car Insurance: 130Car Payments for 2 Cars: 450Personal Loan Payments: 495 !!!Credit Card Debt: 800 !!! Gas We both commute over an hour to our job: 600Childcare: 1200Total: 5875Not including groceries and other purchases...I am completely overwhelmed right now. Please help? Thanks in advance.Edit: I am thinking of selling my house well be lucky to break even... renting an apartment, could probably find something for 1400, then my gas and mortgage prices will go down but my childcare costs will go up seeing how we will be moving closer to Boston, any thoughts? Edit: Credit Card Debt BreakdownMine:Mastercard: 6.1K owed, 130 minimum payment, around 4 APRWifes:Macys: 970, 32 min, 24.5 APRNordstrom Rack, 490, 35 min, 22.9 APRGAP: 1258, 40 min, 23.99JCP: 1836, 183 min, 26.99Kay Jewelers: 1122, 100 min, 16.9TJMaxx: 278, 35 min, 26.99 Gymboree: 4487, 220 min, 22.99PotteryBarn: 1692, 85 min, 22.8Edit:Thanks guys for all the advice and support. Today was the first day of living on a budget and it went fine. We took the kids to the park and packed a lunch. I am even making dinner tonight.  <response>: Oh good lord. First off you and your wife need to have a discussion. If youre both not on the same page about this its going to cause some major issues. You both need to stop using your credit cards IMMEDIATELY! Cut them up throw them away and call and cancel them. You both seem to have a BIG spending problem. Now, youre broke. You make 78,000 a year, but youre poor. I already listed the first step to recovery. The second step is to get an emergency fund. 1,000 in the bank NOW. You sell whatever you can. Im sure youve got a butt load of stuff for all that credit card debt youre in. Sell it. Now this emergency fund is for emergencies. Right now a lot of things will seem like emergencies, but the further out of debt you get the less emergencies you will seem to have. Christmas, birthdays, holidays are not emergencies. Do a strict budget. Every penny is accounted for. Every penny has a name and a place to go. There are lots of resources here for good budgets. Now youre going to work on a debt snowball. Have all those debts listed on your fridge where you can see them and remember what youre working towards. Pay off the smallest debt first. That would be the JCP card. Throw everything at it and wipe it out. Move on to the next one and put the JCP payment youve been making on to the TJMaxx card and etc. This way youll be able to easily see your progress and its incredibly motivating. What are you driving and what are they worth? If youre driving a brand new 2014 you are going to immediately trade that in and get a much cheaper, older, but reliable vehicle with a smaller payment. Now some ways to save around the house.Food: A 10lb bag of rice will feed a family of four for a few weeks and is 8. Rice is now a permanent side dish at your dinner table. No going out to eat. Make your own coffee in the morning and pack a lunch for everyone. Home made dinners from now on. The best way to cut down the grocery budget is to plan every dinner with the coupons in the local grocery paper. Buy what is on sale and stock up on things you use all the time when they go deeply on sale. Pasta is the best for this. My local grocery place puts pasta on sale for 88 cents per lb every few months Walmart does not have the best prices around. Its a lie! BUT they will match any advertized price so if you shop there go with a stack of grocery papers and coupons. Utilities: Turn off the lightselectronics when youre not using them. Im guessing you pay for water so stop any leaks you may have. No more cable TV if you have it. Just no. Its the biggest waste of money you could possibly have. No more smart phones and data plans if you have it. Get rid of them and go back to the dark ages of cellphones that you only have calling and texting on. In regards to selling your house and moving. It could be a possibility. Youd have to weigh the pros and cons with your wife. When does your oldest start school? That should bring your child care costs down during the school year. I highly recommend you check out Dave Ramsey and a few of his books. Check out his pod casts and see what you think. Hes helped thousands of people get out of debt.Good luck to you sir! 