conversation: User (Howtofuckupyourlife): "Hey all, I am desperately in need of some Financial advice.\n\n\n\nHere is the short history of how I came to my current situation. In 2012 I fell in love with a girl who was living abroad. I was madly in love with her &amp; around 2014, I decided I was going to fly out of the country and get married. Yes it was the dumbest thing to do but I thought I could make it work. I maxed out all my credit cards &amp; took a small personal loan and got married outside the states.\n\n\n\nAfter getting married I started seeing the red flags every where. I realized how dumb I was &amp; how this could never work out. I wanted out. In 2015 I got my divorce &amp; came back to US and by that point all my accounts are behind badly. Found a minimum wage job and tried my best paying the debt off but I totally fucked up. I couldn’t keep up with the payments anymore. I defaulted on most of my loans and settled few. As of right now I owe an total amount of 14000 to 5 different creditors.  3 of those are written off by capital one and discover but sooner or later they are also gonna go for collections. The other 2 that are in collection are contacting me for payments. But as of right now I can barely afford it pay it..\n\n\n\nMy monthly income and expenses as follows \n\n1600 after taxes\n\n500 room rent \n\n300 for car payment and insurance(I need a reliable transportation as I live in the suburbs and drive to downtown for work) \n\n35 MetroPCS phone bill\n\n250 for food a month. I try to cook every day. \n\nInternet 50\n\nGas 150\n\n Savings 200 a month \n\nRest goes to miscellaneous expenses or sudden expenses. \n\n\n\nLooking at my situation I don’t think I can pay back the 14000 while living on a minimum wage job. \nShould I file for bankruptcy or try to pay it off  with my barely livable wage? \n\n\n\nI apologies for all mistakes in my writing as  I am typing this from my cellphone  and is under a lot of  pressure. \n\n\n\nI do not have any friends or family who could help me out. I am almost at my wits end. \n\n\n\n\n"
  Self: "I don't think that this Is a need for bankruptcy. The first thing you need to do is make a strict budget. \n\nTry something like ting for your phone service. \n\n250 sounds like a lot for food especially if you are cooking everyday\n\nDriving to downtown on $150 of gas plus 300 for a car payment and insurance seems very high, specially because its a minimum wage paying job.\n\nI think the most important thing here is that you need to find a way to make more money, weather it be working two jobs, or finding something else that pays more, or trying to do some freelancing. Minimum wage is not something designed for people to live off of.\n\nLong story short, you need to spend less, and make more."
  User (Howtofuckupyourlife): "Thank you for replying. I'm am currently looking for a part time job for sat, sun. You are absolutely right in saying that food cost is high. I will look at k for ways to UT that down. \n\nAs for my job, I just started this one and I am willing to stick with it for a year as there is a place to move up here &amp; I am learning a lot in the specific industry I am really interested in. I was basically hired as an apprentice with no skill.  "
  Self: "Well I hope that all works out for you. I think its most deffinatly worth still looking on your free time to find a job that pays more money, as you can only go up in pay from minimum wage.\n\nI wish you the best of luck!"
  