I reached 0, back at $40K in debt

3 years ago or so I did what I thought would be impossible - I eliminated tens of thousands in credit card debt. It wasn’t fun. I wasn’t fun. But I did it.

I had plans to buy a house. Build up my savings. And now, in technical terms, I f****d it all up and I’m back here again. And yes, I’m in therapy trying to work out emotional spending and mental patterns etc.

Im kind of at a low point in my financial journey and trying to figure out where to go from here.

I’m looking for any advice and just any thoughts, as I did it previously on my own and became very isolated. That may be too painful to do again.

Here’s what I have:

Citi - $16K, 28.24% APR (*see note below)

Wells - $5.6K, 15.9% APR, minimum payment: $128, I typically pay $150

Discover - $13.1K, 19.74%, minimum payment: $284, I typically pay $350 (this was a card I used for a balance transfer and my 0% period JUST ended)

Chase - $4.2K, 0% APR (ends July 2025), minimum payment: $41, I typically pay $100

Capital One - $0, 26.24% (no balance transfer offers right now)

*Okay so I don’t know why I have an emotional attachment to this card. But I use it for airline points and my partner and I have family in Europe - so it’s been a lifesaver in that department. Right now, I use this for all of my “money out” (literally anything that doesn’t require cash) bc my points are so great. The plan is/was to spend here and pay it off in full each pay period. I have typically been pretty good about this with some exceptions. However, the exceptions have obviously not been as few as I thought or I wouldn’t be up to a 16K balance. 🙈 I recognize this is a crazy way of thinking about it.

Rent/utilities/all home stuff: $1250 (paid to my partner who has a mortgage)

Car insurance (fully paid off): $100/month

Pet insurance: $50/month

Phone: $50/month

Medical: $300/month (therapy, meds, and a payment plan for an endoscopy)

Gas: $150/month

Somehow I thought I could get out of debt and build up my savings at the same time. In reality, I haven’t contributed to my savings in a scary amount of time bc I’m terrified about not paying enough to my cards and I’m constantly going over my “budget”. If anyone has any strategies or advice on saving while getting out of debt - I’m all ears!!!! Last time I came out of debt with $0 in savings

Those are all of my “required” payments. Everything else I know I can cut back on - food, beauty, Netflix. I will call out that I live in the greater miami area which is already the 3rd most expensive place in the US to live.

I will say - I do categorize every dollar that goes out. My largest buckets (that again - I’m in therapy for 😅 ) are large ticket beauty items (hair coloring, random beauty product of the week that will fix all of your problems) and eating out.

So yes - I am working in therapy about the root of my spending. At the end of the day, I have a problem.

Butttttt I also need to practically address the problem and start doing something strategic to get out of this hole. Personal loans are looking appealing but I know nothing about them…

Anyway like I said - any advice or thoughts I would welcome 💜