For context, I lost my business last spring - we had a business partner issue that cost us all of our runway and then some.

When I closed last March, I was 222k in debt. Since then, I let go of all of my staff, downsized, and starting doing the job. I have cleared 80k as of today. I have about 98k left to pay off on my business loan and 44k in a personal LOC.

I remember reading this group when I was going under and even posting in it and everyone was like “file bankruptcy” “consumer proposal” and I legit thought it was the end for me.

I’m very proud to say that it didn’t come to that and while I still have a long way to go - I hope that this gives other some hope.

Also, Claude for custom budgets - it’s awesome. And TALK TO YOUR BANK - you’d be surprised what they will do for you if you have a clean history.

Hearts to all of you. I’ll post again when I clear the rest of this chapter.

This is going to be a very long post about the last 3 years of my life and the absolute mess that I’ve made. I’ll start it with saying that although this is scary I’m hopeful I can get myself out of this deep hole. For context a lot of realizations have been made after a lot of therapy.

Debt

Mortgage: 315K at 6.375% - 27 years
Student Loans: 215K at 7% - 10 years
Car: 30K at 7% - 3 years remaining
Personal Loan: 30K at 14.45% - 4.5 years
Credit Cards: 66K at 28% - ???
401K Loans: 20K at 7% - 50 months

Income:

Salary started at $125K now at $149.5K
Rental income: $2250
Property Management: $500
Boyfriends monthly contribution: $2000

Expenses:

Mortgage: $3100
Debt payments: $2400
Student Loans: $1600
Rent: $1650
Car Payment: $922
Utilities: $300
Insurance: $250
Phone: $100
Medications: $500

How I got here:

I grew up super poor and have always had a bad relationship with money.

In 2024 I got divorced from my abusive ex-husband of 7 yrs. My household income went from $215K to $125K. I left with 12.5K credit card debt and a 15K loan on my 401K.

I kept the house and that was a terrible decision but I was so emotionally distraught that’s what I chose. Essentially no equity as we got the house in a “developing” neighborhood so we put no money down. Since we had been in the house less than a year and the taxes weren’t fully accounted for at closing my mortgage went from $2200 to $3100.

Post divorce I partied Thursday to Sunday for 6 months. Gave myself alcohol poisoning twice. So much spending.

I decided to pursue my MBA while working and that’s the bulk of the Student Loans. Just graduated in May with payments starting in November. That’s where the increase in salary came from - a promotion.

I had my abusive parents move in to help me cover the mortgage but they stopped paying after a few months and I had to cover it completely on my own. After a year of that we all moved out and went our separate ways and I rented out the house at a loss. Because of the neighborhood the max I could rent it for was $2250 so I’m paying the difference.

I moved into a garage apartment at my grandmas and covered the utilities and taxes which came out to about $700/month. Stayed for one year. Then recently moved in with my boyfriend and splitting rent. I am now managing a renter at my grandmas and netting about $500 per month.

I maxed out all my credit cards at this point so my boyfriend has agreed to help me out with expenses as long as I cut up the cards. I finally feel like I have the emotional support and psychological safety to just sit at home.

Things I spent money on over the last 30 months:

- Keeping up with my business school friends and lifestyles

- trip to Hawaii x 2

- trip to Spain

- trip to Chile (school requirement)

- trip to Portugal (school optional) and first class tickets

- Disney cruise with my boyfriends family

- paid two tax bills one for $5K and another for $7K on credit cards

- paid for repairs to my dads truck: $7K

-paid to get my car wrapped because it reminded me of my ex: $3K

- car repairs $4k

- automatic security gate at the garage apartment: $5K

- just bought so much random stuff trying to avoid my feelings (Amazon, clothes, etc) probably like $2K per month

Attack plan:

STOP THE BLEEDING - cut up the cards

just took another 20K loan from my 401K, going to apply that to the credit cards. Maybe I’ll take another personal loan after improving my credit score and making payments. Just can’t get trapped in the cards again.

Going to work as an online and/or in person tutor - 1 night a week

Standing up a consulting business with my boyfriend and brother - working nights and weekends with local bars/restaurants

Pursue a promotion at work - seems likely I bust my butt for this job

I’ve considered selling the house but since I have such little equity I’d be selling at a minimum $20K loss and have to bring that cash to the table.

I just needed to get this all out there. I’m a bit shell shocked now that my cards are maxed but I knew this was coming.

I’m in a better head space than I’ve ever been so I’m hopeful about changing my habits and doing better.

Open to advice but really just wanted to vent. Thanks for reading if you got this far.

I never realized how significantly my debt was impacting my personality, mood, and just overall sense of myself until I came to grips with how much I had in debt.
Went into about $43k in credit card debts and took out a 401k loan to pay it off only to slip back into nearly the same amount. Laziness and boredom (takeout or eating out to get that “good feeling”) and just no discipline to live within my means kept me going over and over.
Now I have about $38k in credit card debts but all through balance transfers - so at 0%. Been saving for the last year in a HYSA and plan to pay them all off by the time the 0% ends.
My motivation ended up being myself and losing my sense of self. I am not proud of what has happened to get me into this debt but happy to now see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I spent money when I was bored. I did not know that about myself until I started tracking every purchase and looking at what triggered them.

Saturday afternoon with nothing planned. Bored. Online shopping.
Long work week, exhausted on Friday. Bored of cooking. Takeout.
Feeling disconnected from friends. Bored of my apartment. Bought stuff to redecorate.

Once I saw the pattern I had to find other things to do with boredom that did not cost money. Library. Walking. Cooking something new with what was already in the kitchen. Calling people instead of scrolling.

Sounds basic. Changed everything. The debt was a symptom. Boredom spending was the actual problem.

I’m soooo close to the finish line !!!!! My goal is to pay this debt off either before my birthday (Nov ) or at least before the new year .My overall goal is to be debt free before I’m 30 (I turn 30 next year) The thought of eventually buying a house in my 30’s lowkey annoys me but whatever lol 😂

​

I got stuck in a cycle of borrowing to pay back what I borrowed with borrow and afterpay. Afterpay was the worst because I ended up owning something almost every day. I couldn't do it anymore. I'm on a fixed income and every dime of any money left after bills was going to cash app. I tried getting a loan so that I could just make one payment a month instead of several a week but the only ones I qualified for are the ones you end up paying double or more back. I asked chat gpt what to do and it said to stop making payments, to contact cash app and tell them my situation and that I will be paying $40 a month towards the $400 I owe borrow first. After I get that paid off it says to offer afterpay $200 of the $600 I owe and have them accept it as paid to avoid the hassle of trying to get the full amount since they can't garnish it.

My questions are, will this work and will it go on my credit report if I am making monthly payments?

This whole mess got started because my cat got very sick and I had to borrow to pay the vet bill and it snowballed after that trying to make the payments.

I removed the bank I use now and left the bank I never use on the account.

Hey everyone, looking for advice.
I have a 10k loan that is at 4.90% interest.
Minimum payment is $200, with the interest rate offer ending in March 2028.

I have a savings account with 1K in it at 5%

Is it better to keep saving up and pay the minimum or should i try to aggressively pay off the loan.

Thanks in advance

I went from almost filing bankruptcy 3 years ago because I was drowning and didn’t know what to do. I had multiple credit cards, a car loan that I was about $10,000 upside down on, a personal loan, a 401k loan, and a house payment.

Came across someone who changed my life. As of today my house is paid off and I am 100% debt free and I will never take out another loan again! Just saving and living from now on.

I aggressively paid off my jeep last year because I was sick of paying $628 a month for the base payment.

I was putting more like two payments a month on it while I was trying to pay it off. Mostly coming from overtime hours or extra pay.

Now, this year I switched up my finances so that 15% of my regular paycheck goes into my 401k, and some seperate money going into my Roth IRA. I already maxed out my Roth IRA for the year, and the money i saved from not investing in my Roth is going straight into a HYSA.

Its just that right now I have around 50k saved for retirement at 31 going on 32 years old. I wanted to aggressively contribute to my retirement account because I feel like I wasted a lot of my 20s not doing that.

But keep in mind, I also live with family who don't mind having me around as long as I contribute my fair share.

Should I continue to aggressively invest my income into retirement accounts, or should I focus more on saving for a house?

I feel like if I max out my Roth IRA again next year then I'll be in a REALLY comfortable spot for retirement. But I also want to get my own house

That’s it. I paid off my loans. 13 years and more than $180,000 paid off. I made the final payment on Saturday and every time it hits me that it’s over, I feel like crying. This massive, crushing burden is gone.

I have been living at home and working a full-time and part-time job to pay off all my credit card and student loan debt before I finally go back to living on my own.

I am almost fully done with the credit card payments, however, I would like some help on the best way to pay these off.

I have $3,200 left in credit card debt. However, this particular card does not start gaining interest until February 1 of 2027.

My student loans are $45,000. These are mainly private loans that I pay the minimum of $310 a month (sometimes $500 when I’ve had the extra money).

My question is, is it better to just pay the minimum payments on the loans and put every paycheck into the HYSA to pay off in lump sum one completed? Therefore, I would pay off the credit card in January 2027 and then I would pay off the student loans when I hit that huge lump sum number? That way, the money can grow. I already have about $3000 in my HYSA now as an emergency fund.

I would love any and all advice. My part-time job pays my monthly bills and usually I’m able to put the entirety of my full-time paycheck towards debt or savings. I only make about 18 to 19 an hour so it’s not a lot but I know it’s better than most can do.

This isn’t a debt payoff story, as much as I’d like for it to be. But it is a closer step to getting there. I have been approved for a student loan refi finally!

Going from 5 loans with rates that range from 9.5% to 12.7% (fixed and variable), I was able to lock in a fixed rate for 8.34%.

Payoff date pushed by one year, but still saving 8k on finances charges and lowered my monthly payment.

This is a huge win because it affords me more money to put to higher interest rate debt (ie personal loan, 23k at 30%).

I was ready to give up. Bankruptcy wasn’t an option, and because I’m current on all loans and cards, I don’t qualify for DMP unless I default. I was ready to give up on my credit score progress but this, and the support of my partner, inspired me to keep going.

Next step is to play roulette with 0% balance transfer offers. Fees are a drop in a bucket in comparison to the interest I’m paying on my loans. It’s just a matter of doing a significant debt while the balances are sitting at zero.

Looking forward to giving progress updates! Keep the faith people.

Six years. Not the inspiring kind where someone buckles down for 18 months and crushes it. Six actual years with setbacks, a relapse into old habits, one year where I barely moved the needle at all, and two years at the end where I finally got serious enough to finish it.

The first thing that actually helped was printing out every single balance on paper and taping it to the inside of my kitchen cupboard. Not on my phone, not in an app. On paper where I had to see it every morning.

The second thing was cutting my grocery bill from around $800 a month to $340 by actually planning meals instead of just buying things that looked good. That one change alone redirected almost $500 a month.

I kept one subscription. Everything else went. I kept the one thing I genuinely used daily and cancelled the rest without negotiating with myself.

I did not go on a single trip for two years. Then I took one small trip, came back, and kept going. You have to know yourself. Total restriction made me worse. One release valve kept me sane.

Anyone who tells you there is a clean inspiring version of this is leaving stuff out.

I’m 20 years old. I moved to the U.S. almost four years ago when I was 17, and I left my divorced mother back home. I was able to bring her here two years ago.
Life has been really difficult since then. One of the hardest parts has been seeing my mom struggle because she doesn’t know anyone here, and it’s been tough helping her adjust. On top of that, the biggest problem has been our finances. I feel like I’m just drowning deeper and deeper in debt, and I can’t find a way out.
I make roughly $2,800 a month from my job. I also do some side gigs, like shipping items for a friend, which brings in another $500–$1,000 a month. I rent out my old car on Turo, and I usually make around $200–$400 a month from that.
The biggest thing killing me is my rent. I pay $2,100 a month for a two-bedroom apartment. I got the first two months free, but now I’m paying the full amount. On top of that, I have a $670 car payment, $350 for car insurance, a $200 phone bill for me and my mom, two phone plans, an electricity bill that’s usually between $120 and $150, and groceries that cost around $400–$600 a month. I’m also in college, so balancing everything has been really difficult.
Please don’t judge me for this part—I just need help figuring out how to get out of this situation. I have four credit cards with balances of about $5,000, $3,000, $3,000, and $2,000. Most of that debt came from not making enough money to cover all of my bills.
My mom doesn’t work, so I take care of everything on my own. I hate my job, and I’ve been trying to find another one, but it’s been really hard, especially with my college schedule and the side work I do.
I don’t know what to do anymore. I can’t even sell my car because I’m too upside down on the loan. I just need help because this situation is affecting my mental health every single day.

Good afternoon,

I (25M) currently owe 41k in unsecured debt through various CC’s & a personal loan. Almost the entirety of the debt stems from a gambling addiction I’ve had the past 2-3 years. I’m now 6 weeks clean (longest since starting gambling), going to a therapist, have came clean to those close to me, and banned myself on every site I could think of. I’m now left with the aftermath and am racking my brain about the best payment strategy to get myself out from under this mess. I’m on pace to gross around 72k this year through my construction material sales job. It’s very seasonal based and I expect my biggest paydays throughout summer-fall. My current lease ends in a few weeks on 8/1, and I’ve been fortunate enough to talk my parents into allowing me to move in from 8/1 to the 1st of the year. My current car is payed off, so apart from insurance/gas/groceries/entertainment I will have very little expenses for the next 4-5 months (maybe $500-750 monthly). Below is a list of my current debts and their APR’s. If I could please get some recommendations of the best ways to get a jump start on paying this debt off, it’d be greatly appreciated!

CC1 - owe $2800 w/0% APR intro offer until December 1 (then jumps to 25%\\\~)

CC2 -owe $4080 w/0% APR intro offer until December 5 (then jumps to 28%\\\~)

CC3 - currently in a hardship program - owe $13,700
w/0% APR until March 23rd

Sofi Personal loan - owe $20,400 w/19.75% interest rate

As I mentioned above, my paychecks tend to be very seasonal based. I looked over my pipeline this past week, and I expect to net in the range of 24-28k from 8/1/26 to 1/1/27. After the 1st of the year I plan to move into a cheap apartment close to work. I’d like to knock my debt down as much as possible though before I have to start paying monthly rent/utilities again. Please let me know if any additional information is helpful to create a plan. Thanks again!

We just recently got to the point of being debt free, (minus our $85k remaining on our mortgage) after shovelingabout 35-40k/yr at our debts. We are working toward a 6 month emergency fund and currently have about 2 months worth of expenses set aside. One thing we did as a debt free gift to ourselves was hire housecleaners to come by once a month. It is about $200/mo and the deal we made with ourselves is we can retain that service so long as we remain debt free and can keep saving every month. Ever since then my eyes have been opened to how much time I was spending stressed about housecleaning and the peace that this has bought us. I no longer work overtime and it feels like a weight has been lifted. I want to remain cautious about lifestyle creep, but I was curious what sorts of things those of you that are debt free spend your funds on to "buy your time back" or purchase peace of mind?

This is so dangerous. Everybody in that sub is encouraging each other and showing off their high purchasing power of debt.

What will be the outcome of all this?? Let's discuss

I have 50k in debt. Has anyone had good experience with a lender or consolidator? I should be able to pay this back, but there are just so many options and it’s tough to navigate. Which are legit and which will cause more damage. Thanks so much.

I enrolled with them a few months ago and I’m getting close to getting one of my cards that I have had opened since I was 18. My credit has taken shots from not paying but the more and more research I find it seems this is not the route the go.

It’s going to take me 2 months to save $1k for BS1. I feel like a failure knowing that it will take me this long. I’m drowning in debt and this is the “fastest” way I can get to BS1 without going into negative.

Hello Debt Free friends,

I am 23 and just landed my first full time adult job out of college.

I was much younger and stupid in college and a $100 bonus offer on a Discover Card snowballed into all this debt (+1 outstanding student loan).

Please help me and tell me if this loan for debt consolidation makes sense and is a good option.
It will hold me accountable now that I have a steady income because I was paying back poorly in no order earlier and paying massive amounts in interest.

Thanks so much, and may we all be debt free some day.

Feel free to ask questions. (Debt breakdown in comments)