<prompt> Human: I have been extremely irresponsible with money my whole life - always choosing entertainment over priorities. Im now 29 years old making 80kyr with excessive interest growing student loans 5day and a credit score that would get me laughed out of any lending institution.With all that said, I am now ready to turn things around. My rent expense is roughly 25 of my monthly income and I do have a 550 car payment as a result of my poor credit. I estimate my student loans will cost me around 600mth which has always been a daunting expense. Especially since Ive delayed it for so long and now Ill be into my 40s once its paid off. How do I go about making this work within my budget? And most importantly, how does one still save? I am not one to eat rice and beans all week.  <response>: You earn 80k, which is a lot of money regardless of where you live. You should start by listing out all of your expenses. You can post them here for a critique, or just list them for your own analysis. In order to save money and pay off your debt youll have to find areas to cut back on. That might mean moving to a cheaper apartment when your lease is up, shopping at cheaper grocery stores, cancelling cable, switching cell providers, reducing your spending on restaurants and entertainment, and so on. Its impossible to make specific recommendations without knowing where you spend your money. 