<prompt> Human: My partner and I have made some...not so great...ok, terrible...choices regarding our personal finances. We have 130,000 in student loans, 50,000 in credit card debt, 15,000 in auto loan debt, and a 280,000 mortgage, and we have no savings. We also have one kid and another on the way.Heres the good news:- Were not behind on any bills.- We have about 300,000 in retirement investment accounts mostly 403b.- We have hopefully around 70,000-100,000 equity in our house, depending on what we can sell it for.- We make 175,000year between us both, and were about to both get promotions that will put us right around maybe slightly over 200,000year, not including benefits like retirement matching.Were about to move across the country for work, and we want to make good decisions about our finances when we do so. Right now we are cash poor because of the debt payments and mortgage 2200month including taxes, as well as child care our work schedules make day care impossible and we have no family around, so we pay around 1000month for a 20-30hrweek nanny.So I wanted to ask you: If you were in our situation, and had the chance to move across the country like this, what would you do?The area were moving to, we could purchase a house that would be no-frills but would give us enough room to live in as a family of 4 with 3 dogs for around 225,000. All of the schools are good there, so thats not a consideration. So do we buy? Do we rent? Rent will likely be just as much if not more than a mortgage payment, but we wouldnt have that debt or the associated home maintenance costs. We want to get the debt paid off quickly, but we also dont want to be living off ramen noodles, if that makes sense. So, PF, what would you do? Ive considered taking the cash we will hopefully make off the sale of our house assuming we can sell it for a reasonable price, and using it to pay off the credit cards and some of the student loans, but would we get hit with a huge tax bill if we did that? And would that then make it impossible for us to get a mortgage because we would have no down payment? Our eventual goal is to have a solid middle class house with a few frills maybe a pool or a hot tub, stuff like that, with no debt, and 2 mid range late model paid off cars in the drive.We are financial idiots. Please give us advice.Assistant: You have a spending problem. 50k in credit card debt is a HUGE red flag. You need a budget yesterday. You need to know where every single penny is going before you can even begin to get everything straightened out. I also agree with ushouldbecleaning, I would rent for now. To answer some of your questions:but would we get hit with a huge tax bill if we did that?I would take care of the outstanding debt.IRS Topic 701 states:If you have a gain from the sale of your main home, you may qualify to exclude up to 250,000 of that gain from your income. You may qualify to exclude up to 500,000 of that gain if you file a joint return with your spouse. Publication 523, Selling Your Home, provides rules and worksheets. Topic 409 covers general capital gain and loss information.Link: I wouldnt mind seeing your numbers if you dont mind providing them.Human: Net income: 9257.29Total Expenses: 8315.98Expenses Breakdown:Auto insurance: 118.00Credit card 1: 500.00Credit card 2: 398.00Car payment: 334.00Cell phones: 90.00Credit Card 3: 57.00Computer payment required for work, but almost paid off: 125.00Discretionary cash partner A tolls, incidentals, occasional eating out, etc.: 200.00Credit Card 4: 110.00Credit Card 5: 62.00Electric: 400.00Child Care: 1000.00Fuel: 150.00Gas bill: 50.00Groceries: 500.00Home warranty: 59.00Household expenses pet care, medical, paper products, misc household items and repairs, unexpected expenses: 600.00Hulu: 7.99Internetphone required for work: 110.00Discretionary cash partner B: 250.00Mortgage: 2119.00Netflix: 7.99Savings: 100.00Security monitoring: 24.00Student Loans: 845.00Water bill: 50.00Recurring medical expense: 49.00We end up with 941.31 not budgeted. Ideally that money goes to the credit card companies, but many times it doesnt. Things like annual checkups and vaccinations for the 3 dogs 800, car repairs 1200, new tires 600, nonreimbursable work travel expenses 700, etc. that seem to come up month after month just eat away at the extra we have.  <response>: What is this 500 discretionary spending thats budgeted every month? Cut it.Eating out does not exist for you right now. 400 electric bill? Cut it. You should not have 600 in random household expenses each month. Thats crazy. Cancel security monitoring. Read this: 