Part of being able to handle your personal finance plan is understanding how much credit you can afford and using it wisely.  You cannot spread yourself too thin when it comes to credit as this can damage your chances of getting future loans.  How do you know how much credit you can afford?  Sit down and take a look at how much money you bring home on each paycheck after all of your deductions are removed and tally up the total for the month.  Subtract all of your expenses including money you put into your savings account, what you put out for medical care and child care, gasoline, recreational activities, and so on.  The money that is left over is what can be used towards repaying a loan you get on credit.  If you want to know if you can afford that new car or home, take the extra money and the monthly payment on the item you want to purchase and pay yourself that amount of money each month for six months.  That will show you that you can afford it as well as give you a down payment.