I am recently married and i am 26. I was doing fine by myself but once i got married things got bad fast. My wife is a foreigner and is currently going to school for hotel management and does not have a job. She just moved here last year, i met her when i used to work abroad. She is doing wonderful in school but i do not think she is ready to hold a part-time job until she settles down. My financial situation is pretty shitty at the moment. I hate debt and i never liked it, i made a mistake for the first time in my life when i bought a VW jetta TDi sportwagen for 356 dollars a month with 3.2% interest. I am going to sell it (i am not upside down) this summer for a cheap car. My wife drives my old car which is a paid off civic from back in the day. Anyways, i earn 35,000 a year and she earns nothing. We just got our taxes back in which i used to almost pay off 1 of my CC's instantly. Since we got married i spent a lot on food and other stuff that i probably didn't need. I am 11,000 dollars in debt between all my credit cards. Here are my expenses
Car- 355
Rent- 710
food-350
utilities- 120 or so for electric/internet/gas in total
Gas for both cars - 150 or so a month probably
I am not really able to pay off crap. every last dollar i don't use goes to paying off debt, i never had debt in my life until this year. Furnishing a house , etc, blew it all up for me. I actually have anxiety because of it. i have a whopping 0 in my checking / savings account.
Are there any ways i can pay this off or am i just screwed? My credit score used to be in the 730's and tanked HARD to the mid 500's so that is just depressing as well, i have high balances on all my cards. What is the best way out? I do see a light at the end of the tunnel, but in terms of credit scores how long does it take to recover from a missed payment once (god that destroyed it!) i forgot to pay a bill cause for some reason i threw the bills away thinking they were spam (maybe i was just avoiding them) and high balances for a few months? In July I'll be moving somewhere through a friend where the rent will be around 300 with utilities a month for a safe and nice place. I cannot move any sooner than that because of my lease. That should REALLY help me out. Anyone have any advice for me? I only eat out once a week and bring my lunch almost everyday to work.
Any advice would be appreciated,
Thanks