[Usesdiums]

Ditch the $15 to Blizzard, ditch the internet, ditch premium channels on TV if you have any and maybe even drop cable for a couple months. If you have a cell phone that’s out of contract and is pretty expensive (read, more expensive then a land line with just local calling) ditch that. Make sure you’re making your own meals and lunches and you’re not buying a lot of pre-made stuff in the store each week that’s providing just a single meal or a small amount of leftovers and probably is far more expensive then if you actually make yourself a meal.

Maybe even think about getting a room mate if the place you’re in has an extra room.


Basically you have two options, make more money or spend less money. If you can't pick up a second part time job to bring in an extra income you pretty much can only start cutting back how much you’re spending. I know it doesn’t sound fun, and it’s probably not, but if you do that for awhile to take control of your debt then you can get back on your feet and maybe budget better and keep yourself out of debt while starting to get back some of the things you had to cut out.

Trying to defer payment on loans and stuff isn’t really an answer; that just pushes off the time where everything becomes real tight and in almost every case will actually cause you to owe more. Trying to get a loan from someone else to pay off existing debts can seem like a decent plan but lower interest loans are probably not available to you if you’re into this kind of mess and you’re still just shifting your financial obligations around.

If you were in debt ten times more then you are now I might suggest different options, but $2500 is not really all that much, I know to you right now in your situation that sounds astronomical, but you could pay that off within a year or two probably if you just really cut back on everything and spent your time working as much as possible and mailing all your money off to pay that debt. Make sure to pay early too, and if you get paid from a second job mid month use that money right away to pay the debt, don’t hold on to it and wait for them to send a statement, just dump every penny you can get to it right away. I estimate you’re probably spending maybe $60 to $70 a month just on blizzard, internet, and cable TV, and that can add up pretty fast month to month. (Less if you don’t have cable TV right now, maybe more if you have DSL or cable internet)

[Amerworma]

Buy/borrow/steal a bike.

[xanaxonlinexanax]

Talk with whatever company you owe money to and see if you can arrange some sort of payment plan that fits your budget. Usually companies are willing to work with you as long as you'll commit to something. Its better than them getting nothing.

I would ditch the cable and other luxury items. Keep phone + internet. Internet is extremely useful for job hunting and getting crap around for a resume. Ditch your cell phone. If you have cellphone insurance from Asurion definitely get rid of that, and then give them a call telling them to burn in hell on my behalf. That would be appreciated. But cell+cable are big money items that you can do without if you're short on cash. Just keep a landline with internet and that takes care of all your communication needs. Get a cheap place and a roommate. Roomies usually suck ass, but they cut your bills in half.

Buy a $300 pos car and get the cheapest insurance you can find. That's what I did when I was down on my luck. Lasted me about a year, then I bought another craptastic car, lasted about 8 months before I ended up in the car I'm in now. Debt sucks, and even worse is debt that you don't even owe, but they say you do. IMHO phone, internet, ramen noodles, and a rusty car are all you need to get back on your feet. You could ditch the internet if you live near a public library with net access, but usually its like an additional $20 onto your phone bill so convienance for midnight surfing of monster and career builder is nice.

[BundEnhamma]

we don't have cable TV and I don't even own a phone
I'd thought about biking to jobs, but these jobs i have applications into are over a 2 hour bike ride. I'm not in that kind of shape! :P

Thanks for all the suggestions however

[Imihooniump]

When you are not at your job, go downtown and pretend to be a hobo begging for money.

[huerta]

Sell your PC perhaps, get a cheap one to surf the net with.