What has all this debt purchased? Has it increased your happiness and improved your quality of life?
Forgive me if I cause offense, it seems you are highly stressed and perhaps self-medicating with overconsumption to make yourself feel better. It’s not going to work, you need to resolve the actual, deeper issues. It could be you have experienced lifestyle inflation as your salary increased. Perhaps you felt you “deserved it” after paying so much toward the student loans and experienced burn out? Please reach out on the forum if burn out is the case – it shouldn’t be all misery and deprivation.
As stated by
@snogirl, I write down every penny that comes in or goes out in a small book (I also use Excel for being organized and making pretty charts). It was a pain at first, but it really forced me to consider every purchase. Now I look forward to updating my book and spreadsheets, especially when I have a particularly low-spend month!
You have a spending problem, not an income problem, so that needs to be your focus. Personally, I don’t believe in cancelling cards completely and paying everything in cash because I want to have good credit. In your case though, you need
a break from credit cards until the spending issue is resolved so remove all but one for emergencies from your wallet (preferably a great rewards one without a balance and pay it in full each month!). Make sure you are paying the minimum each month to the balance transfer amounts to pay them off before the 0% interest offers expire. The other debts need to be killed off by the snowball (lowest balance first) or avalanche (highest interest rate first) method; the avalanche method is the most efficient, the idea is to pay as little interest as possible. You may even be able to get another 0% offer which would help you tremendously, but you need to promise NOT TO ADD A PENNY MORE TO THE DEBT! You can also call the credit card companies to see if they can lower the interest rates.
Once your spending is under control, you may consider lowering your 401k contribution temporarily to pay off the debt, but not if that money is going to be wasted.
You also don’t have enough savings in an Emergency Fund, get it up to at least 2-3 months as quickly as possible. Keep your emergency fund in a high-interest saving account like Ally Bank (1.35% APY). Make saving automatic; set up a automatic transfer each paycheck even if it’s only $50 to start. I wouldn’t feel comfortable taking 2 weeks off between jobs. Is there a reason you want to do this?
Make sure to keep a running list of wants and needs with the costs so that you are setting aside money to get them, NOT JUST USING CREDIT CARDS MINDLESSLY. I was surprised how many “needs” were really unnecessary “wants” that ended up disappearing from my list after a few months.
Set goals and have small rewards for achieving them (like purchasing an item from the wants/needs list, going out to eat, etc.)
See if you have items you don’t need or aren’t using and sell them.
Keep renting your spare room, with the right roommate it's a positive experience and helpful financially. Keep the big three as low as possible (housing, food, and transportation).
Find free or cheaper ways to decompress (for me that means meditating, reading, taking a jog or exercising, having a mini spa at home, practicing a hobby, or being in nature)... do what works for you.
Read
Your Money or Your Life and
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.
