At the age of 30 I became divorced and filed chapter 13 bankruptcy (student loans and credit cards) to start my life over with my child. I am now 39 and just destroyed my two credit cards causing me a debt of $6000.00. I purchased a brand new car for the first time and now owe $357.00 a month. My rent is $1100.00 and I am a single parent. I have tried to live with lower rent but found that my daughter was suffering for not being in a decent school. I moved to place her in a better environment. I make decent money but still live paycheck to paycheck with no child support. How do I get out of this mess?

I commend you for looking out for your daughter... :)

Are you on a written spending plan? Sounds like the new car and the payment is a big problem... if you called dave ramsey, he would say "sell the car"... and get a junker...

Yes, budget, * the word everyone hates.

Get rid of excess, can you live without cell phones, computer hook ups, cable TV, do you eat lunch out or take a lunch. And as noted try and sell the new car ad get a juker to drive,

See if you can set your credit cards up on a reasonable payment plan.

I agree. Sell the new car and get some safe cheapy. Use the 357/month on paying off those credit cards.. once those are gone, then look for a somewhat cheaper car. You shouldn't need anything too extravagant (like a van or SUV) with just the one child.

I want to comment further on Gazelles avice. Buy Dave Ramsey book, get one from the library,or borrow one. He has great advice. He also has a radio show where he takes calls and maps out a recovery plan for the caller. It would be great if you could call him. Good luck

Great advice above! Also, I especially like the mention of setting up your credit cards on a reasonable payment plan. I did that with two of mine. All I had to do was call them and explain my situation with them. They lowered the interest rate by about 25% for each card, and I now have monthly payments that I can afford. This wouldn't necessarily work with every credit card company. But, it's worth a try.

I know that getting rid of unnecessary things has already been mentioned. But, I want to emphasize how important it is to do that. When I have had money problems in the past, the first things to go were anything having to do with cable - T.V. computer or whatever. No newspaper or expensive subscriptions to magazines. A cheaper Internet connection by phone. Instead of one that costs $24.95 or $19.95 a month, maybe one of those that costs $9.95 a month.

If you are really hurting, there may be a local church that would be willing to provide you food baskets to you on a regular basis.

Since you have a child, I am wondering why the father is not paying child support?

I hate the Budget word too... I like "spending plan".. sounds better... you are just telling your money what to do... otherwise it will leave and you will have no idea where it went.