HELP: debt at a young age? ? -

Please take the time to read and give me serious feedback...thanks in advance I m an 18 year old full time college student and i also work part time. Up until now i was considered responsible for my age, working a part time job since the age of 15, getting good grades in school, and never making dumb mistakes but I recently made an impulse decision and bought a 2006 used car for around $20,000 plus tax and license fees even though, originally, i was only going to spend around $14,000. I admit I got suckered into a very crappy EXPENSIVE deal. I get sick to my stomach every time i think about my hard earned money coming and then going. I m paying $370 in monthly car payments plus insurance which because i m under my parents I pay only $100 and i also live at home so I only pay $200 a month for rent. So, my monthly expenses totals out to $670 (not including gas and regular maintenance fees). On average i earn between $880-$900 a month. I m considering getting a second job but I would like to hear any advice on how to handle my situation. Selling the car would be an option but I m almost positive it wont sell for how much I purchased it for. The blue book value for private sellers right now is only $15870 (good condition). What should i do??? sell the car and just pay the difference?...that s if anyone will buy it.|::::|Honestly for one, you could get cheaper insurance, but that s difficult since you re on the parents and they wont wanna change things, plus it won t make THAT much difference at $100 currently. After gas, maintenance, food, etc, you re probably running between 100-300 dollars short per month I m guessing? For one, don t give in and get another loan to pay for this loan... that s just asking for it. Don t use credit cards because that s asking for it too at this point. What skills do you have? If you know how to do anything like make a website, that can get you lots of money in a short time... for example with websites, if you design a decent one for a company, do your research, if you know that most companies charge 1,000 for that type of site, charge only 5-600 and you ll get the deal. Same goes for anything not just websites. Other option - how much do you work and make currently? If you are making minimum wage, switch jobs! apply someplace else, even Menards if there s one around you, they pay decently well especially once you ve been there a while. Don t sell the car just to eat the debt if it was me I wouldn t atleast... but then again it s up to you and what you can do. Most of all - don t let anything affect your education. If having another job and paying for the car will kill your chances of keeping good grades in college, then that s the time I d say to lose the car. Another option, if you think you ll make a decent amount of money after college OR you will be able to save up OR if you re in school to be a teacher, look into student loans. They re lower interest and don t have to be paid until you are done with school. That doesn t mean until you graduate, but just until you stop school for one full semester. Then pay the interest that it makes each month, to keep it low, and don t have to pay for that loan til after school, and then you can make smaller payments. Many schools have programs that forgive loan debt for teachers also once you get a teaching job, so you don t have to pay much back. Student loans are for quot;lifequot; expenses, not just school, so getting one wouldn t be horrible. If you did, what I suggest is making a new bank account, putting the entire amount of the loan in that account, and setting up automatic payments for the car. That way a few good things happen... If you use the money, that s bad! so ptting in a separate account helps you not spend it for things other than the car. If you use the money as one BIG payment on the car, that won t help that much unless you pay the whole car off, because you ll still receive monthly bills, just you ll have more of it paid for. By using the money in a separate account that you DONquot;T take money from at all, except for the car bill, you won t be worried about payments for the car while you re in school. The money will last much longer because if it s 370/mo then one school year will cost $3,330 given a 9 month school year. You can easily get that amount and thensome per year, usually even at community colleges you can get loans up to 2500/semester or so for your first year even, and each year afterwards increases. I m not saying to take out as much as you can just because you can, I m suggesting to take it out ONLY as a way to pay the car monthly. Also by doing so, you ll have credit - you won t have late payments, you ll be making regular payments on a loan, etc etc. Then you ll pay off the loan when you re done with school and will be working more than part time. That s what I d say is the smartest thing to do as long as you do like I said and don t spend it on anything but the car... don t even get a debit card or ever withdraw anything from the account, besides the payments for the car. If you can force yourself to do that, you will have earned a credit score, saved your grades in school, saved a lot of stress from a second job and school, and you ll be quot;in the clearquot; for now while you re in school. Also, student loans have smaller payment requirements when you re out. They ll sometimes be mean and say you have to pay it all instantly, but you don t, just send small payments each month and they ll leave you alone... I just sent like $10 a month when I couldn t do any more, and they didn t like it but it wasn t against the agreement of most loans.|::::|If you are male definitely keep the car till you get a female. If you are female sell and buy another you need the action. If you are vague then keep vogueing.|::::|Is it insured? You could smash it, and write it off. You could sell it and take a loss, the loss you take could be quite large. Or just keep working. What ever your action, learn from your mistake... debt is a horrible thing