Submitted by nah_just_ocd t3_z815dy in personalfinance
pizzarunner t1_iy97tod wrote
If you have $90k in cc debt you’re clearly living beyond your means.
First step is figuring our where all your money is going. Given you live in Bay Area, a lot probably goes to housing. What else? Student Loans? Car Loans? Dining and drinking? Travel? Expensive hobbies or expensive shopping habits?
You literally need to go through line by line for a few months of spending and figure out what you’re spending all your money on. This wis painful and embarrassing for most people but you will never get a hold on your debt if you don’t know where your money is going.
Once you know where your money is going, you can make a budget so you stop accruing new debt. It’s a simple formula - spend less than you make. But back to my first point, you can’t do that without understanding why you’re spending more than you make.
Once you’re living within your means, are no longer accruing new debt other than interest, and have a surplus in your budget, you can start paying off debt starting with the highest interest cards.
One last thought - if you’re spending some insane amount of your net income on housing, say 50-70% as some bay area folks seem to - and you have an option to live somewhere cheaper without losing income (remote work, in demand industry, etc) living somewhere cheaper for a while certainly wouldn’t hurt the equation.
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