<prompt> Human: How Did I get this far in debt? Well it happened over time. We like so many were using credit cards to cover shortcomings to support our family and my disabled mother. My father died of lung cancer leaving me with the burden of taking care of my mother who is disabled. This included a move across country to take on a job with more income. At this point, we had my student loans on forbearance, but that ran out. I was hoping to put the student loans off for another few years to pay off the cars and they pay on the student loans.Now that the student loans are coming home to roost, this debt train is about to derail. I am not sure how to get this train back on the track. Family Size 7My spouse, 4 kids and my disabled mother.Consolidated Student loans with the Department of Ed.77,376.85 Total owed. Monthly payment Beginning in August. 476.99Applied for IBR for 350 a month. Cant declare Bankruptcy on this as much as its needed Mortgage 1 Rental property due to market conditions. Under Water Owed, 146.508.82. Monthly payment. 1131.05 Rental income 1300Cant sell, under water would sell around 145,000 but I cant afford to pay closing costs. 3 bed 1 bath. Too small of a house for current size of my family. Good thing is rental income going to mortgage making the monthly payment. If my renters move out or something major breaks Im fucked. Mortgage 2 - Current home.Owed 281,641.82 We have equity and an HOA payment of 105 every 3 months. Monthly Payment 1,497.83. Current residence.House size is correct size for us, and not overdone. 5 bed and 3 bath. Car Note 1Auto loans at low interest rate through local credit union. Both cars are needed for appointments and to and from work. Wife has a Ford Explorer, I have a Ford Fusion. 20,894.89 Monthly Payment 491.82 Car Note 2 22,056.34 Monthly Payment 500.00Car note 3 Harley financed through HDFS. About a year ago I said fuck it and went on a mid life crisis binge Love my Harley but I am paying dearly for it now. 385.52Credit Card debt:Credit cardsCredit Card 1 523.77 maxed out Credit Card 26608.69 Maxed out Credit Card 31,802.37 Maxed out Credit Card 41600 maxed out Credit Card 5 1550 maxed outCredit Card 6400 maxed out Credit Card 7 388.00 30 bucks availableCredit card 8 2056.00 maxed out Credit card 9 500 maxed outCredit card 10 2,000 maxed out Summary:Credit card total debt:A bit over 15,0001,400 in monthly car payments1500 in mortgage payments not incliding rental because that pays for its self. 800 in monthly bills, cell phone, electric, gas, ectIncome:A bit over 90,000 with my wife and I. I make 75,000 my wife brings in the rest. 15,000My take home pay is around 1800 every two weeks after taxes, med insurance, 401k, ect. Hers is around 500 after taxes, ect. We were barly making it with all of the bills now, but with the added student loans this is going to put us over the top. Not sure if I should declare bankruptcy or where to start in getting this all sorted out. I would like to leave bankruptcy off the table but if its needed, then move forward with it. So thats it. How fucked am I?  <response>: There are a number of pieces of information that are relevant to all debts, and its probably worth it for you to put together a spreadsheet to track them. 1 Principal and accrued interest outstanding, 2 Value of underlying asset if applicable, e.g. house or car, 3 interest rate today, 4 variable or fixed rate, incl. detail on how the variable floats, 5 minimum monthly payment. You have 566k of debt based on what you listed above, with minimum payment of 4,520 excluding credit cards, and you earn 75k 15k 1.3k12 105.6k. Lets make that 90k, and remove the other mortgage from the consideration assuming that income in excess of mortgage PITI will be used for maintenance, and say you owe monthly payments of 3,400. You said your 90k results in take-home of 1,800 500 2.17 bi-weekly periods per month 4,991, leaving you with about 1,591 for all other expenses.I dont see any expenses for the disabled mom - are you supporting her?I see ONLY your debt expenses, nothing related to a personal budget type expenses. Getting student loans onto IBR is a great step - but only a tiny portion of your problem. Right now your fixed, reoccurring monthly expenses eat up 68.1 of your income. Wow. That doesnt include: Groceries and household items Dining out Consumption entertainment beer Utilities at either house? Internet cable Home maintenance budget Medical expenses Cell phone Clothes Entertainment Gas car Insurance car Repairs car Parking costs car Public transit costs if applicable Costs of caring for the mom Term life insurance for BOTH you and your spouse, minimum of 500k coverage each I cant imagine what would happen to the survivor if one of you were to pass Savings of any sort for your retirementThose are based on major categories for my budget, with some exclusions - I assume you have some of those expenses. Google something like budget category list to find examples you can use. I assume you also have costs associated with kids that you dont have in the above. I know nothing about kids - so I cant help there. This is not sustainable, as Im sure youve noticed. How old are the kids can the spouse get a better job and can the kids look after themselves? What would the SOs job prospects be, and is it cheaper to do daycare and have her work? You have a pretty big mountain of debt. Im honestly a bit stunned that banks lent to you to buy the second house - your debt to income is way higher than the usual upper limit. Was there a recent decrease in incomes?Honestly you just need more income. Its not really an option. Given that youve firmly fixed your minimum expenses at almost 70 of your current income, theres not enough room to maneuver expenses down - your income needs to go up, a lot.The cars and harley are absurd in your position. Absolutely not justifiable. You need to downgrade to one, more reasonable car, if possible. The good news is that your current home, at 1,530 per month on a 4,991 income is 30 of your take home - thats probably something you can afford. I dont know what to say, but you need to cut your debts and expenses ruthlessly, and you need more income. 