This is something my wife and I having been dealing with for the last year or so. We had a bad year or two, and ended up with prohibitive credit card bills.
Here's my advice, which will echo much of what people have previous said:
1. Get rid of the car. $600/month is way to much to be spending on a car. Sell it, and then buy a used car. That will eliminate the car payment, if not the insurance.
2. Is it feasible to move somewhere with a lower rent? That alone can possibly free up hundreds of dollars per month.
3. Don't. Eat. Out.
4. Shop around for a cheaper grocery store. We cut our weekly food bill in half simply switching to a different grocery store. Now, we buy groceries every week for a family of four for less than $100.
5. What bills is your other half paying? They count too. Get rid of EVERYTHING you don't need... Cable/satellite TV goes. Movie rentals go (visit the library instead). Long distance phone service goes (use pre-paid phone cards). Cell phone goes. I'm sure you get the idea... There's a lot of things people consider "essential" now-a-days that really aren't.
6. Set aside just a little bit of "fun money" every week, so you can reward yourself for doing well. This also helps prevent you from blowing all your extra money on splurges.
7. Plan ahead. Don't buy anything unless you have the money saved up and set aside for it. Don't save up and set aside money for anything unless you have it written down on a list.
8. Don't buy anything on credit. Ever. Not even a car. A home mortgage is the only exception.
9. You and your other half should both have a good idea of how much money you make every week and when you get paid. Start keeping track of your monthly bills, so you can estimate them ahead of time. When in doubt, it's always guess high on your bills... You can always spend a windfall. Build a budget based on that. Use a spreadsheet, and plan it out for a year ahead of time.
10. If you have debts, pay them off as soon as possible. Sink as much money as you can into which ever debt has the highest interest rate first. Once that one's paid off, do the same for the next highest and so on, until they're all paid off.
11. Be patient. Be tenacious. Especially for someone with limited funds, it can take a long time, sometimes years, to get out of debt and start saving money. dont' get discouraged. Set short term goals that lead to long term goals, and stick to them.
Oof... that's all I can think off the top of my head.
