I just stumbled on here a little over a month ago - same sense of being overwhelmed. The thing that I have done, and it has helped a lot, is to start tracking my money. I made a spreadsheet, e.g. housing, transportation, credit card payments, clothing, groceries, household, pet, etc. etc. and enter every.single.thing. I tried mint but it miscategorized stuff and because of delays in processing various transactions messed up my tracking month-by-month. So, I just use an excel spreadsheet. January was my first month. At the end of the month I checked it against my bank statement for any transactions I missed (there were only a few) and got my totals. I also put on auto-pay everything that has a monthly payment that doesn't change. That way at the start of the month I can cut and paste all that information into the next month's spreadsheet.
Tracking my spending has also made me pay much closer attention to every single penny that leaves my fingers. Do I really want that $1.25 soda from the machine that oh-so-easy takes my debit card (so I don't have to scrounge around for singles or change)? Can I wait until I get home or will I die if I don't eat that hotdog from the food court right now? Etc. For the first time ever I know how much is coming in and going out, and exactly what it is going out for.
I am a bit younger - but hit w/ unavoidable and unwanted extreme expenses related to ungoing rediculousness about legal custody. So, I keep digging out as fast as I can, even while it is piling back up. You just have to start from whatever point you are at and make the best of it you can. 52 is neither too late or too early - it just is where you start and that is all.