A 23-year-old's $1,180 monthly car bill is eating half her paycheck
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on October 15, 2026.
Income : 2600 Car expenses, before maintenance : 1180 45% of your net income goes into that car. 18k debt at around 20% interest (ball park here) : 300 You haven't ate yet here. This is insanity girl. This car is gone. It's that simple. You can't afford it. Half of your hours worked right now goes into that car. You could find ANY job you can go by foot and earn more right now.
A 23-year-old with $18,000 in debt is putting $1,180 a month, nearly half her take-home pay, into a 2023 Acura she financed last September. The thread's verdict is unanimous: the car goes first, and that freed-up payment clears the debt in about a year.
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A post on r/povertyfinance laid out a financial picture that the thread's top comment called insanity: a 23-year-old accounting clerk is putting $1,180 of her monthly take-home pay toward a 2023 Acura TLX, leaving almost nothing to service separate debt.
The top comment broke it down bluntly: car expenses alone consume 45% of her net income, with the rest of her budget stretched by high-interest debt payments. At that point, there is nothing left for food, let alone savings.
The original poster is enrolled in a debt management program through Greenpath with six creditors and notes she has never missed a payment, but cash advances have been the only thing keeping her account from overdrafting. She lives with her parents rent-free and contributes a few hundred dollars a month toward household groceries.
The thread told her to sell the car, find work reachable on foot or by transit, and redirect that $1,100-plus monthly payment toward the debt. Several commenters estimated that path clears the debt in roughly a year, and a minority raised Chapter 7 bankruptcy given the interest rates involved.
In an edit to her post, the author acknowledged she does not want to let the car go but accepted that she has to take the loss and learn from it. She said she plans to reach out for help from her parents and take the thread's advice to heart.