Well my first step to sorting this out will be to stop being a shopholic
The first step or I should say preparation step is the create a budget, reduce expenses and set relastic goals. Stop being a shopaholic = reducing expenses. You need to set a budget because you need to see where your money is going. People wonder why they have no money or always broke. Create a budget and find out. You can find excel templates or now a days there are tons of apps that can help with this.
After this look at your essential spending. Mortgage/rent/utilities, food/groceries, essential items, healthcare, income earning expenses, paying minimal payments on debt/loans.
When you are done with this then you can start improving your financial status. Build a small emergency fund if you don't already have one. Roughly 1 month worth of expenses. Once you reach this stage I would make sure you hit the full match if your employer offers retirement matching in a 401k or similar.
Then pay off debt starting with the highest interest debt first or you can look at the benefits of avalanche vs snowball methods and see what would psychologically benefit you. Whatever the case is very high interest debt such as credit cards should be paid off asap.
Now depending on your situation you may want to look at ways to increase income (mainly if you have any major debt) even if that's temporary. Sacrifices need to be made if you want to get out of it. Also investing in more training/school/self learning so you can find a career with higher pay. This can often be worth it if you can get in the right program/career that can significantly increase your pay. IT, healthcare, trades are good examples. Getting into more debt may be worth it if you have a lower paying job and can enter a field that pays much more. I have many friends that have done it in healthcare. Nursing school, radiation tech/sonography school, PA school, etc. Not gonna get too into this as this is entire separate subject all together with tons of personal nuances to consider.
Once you can accomplish all of this you then increase emergency funds. Ideally 3-6 months. Maybe more if your have a family and your the sole provider (more so if you don't have the most stable job/career).
You can now move on to the next step of paying off moderate interest debt. There is nuance to this of course.
After all this is accomplished and you're out of the hole, you can start truly building wealth. Increasing retirement contributions. IRA's and employer plans. If you have a HDHP with a HSA that may be worth maxing out before contributing more to a 401k.
IMO if you have reached this point, continue to increase your income, continue to have leftover liquid funds year over year you can start contributing heavily or maxing retirement accounts, making larger contribution to 529 plans if you have kids, mega back door roth IRA if that applies to you and even investing in a taxable account, saving for other needs, real estate, etc.
I can promise you it's all worth it. My wife and I take personal finance very seriously and have been doing so for over 15 years. Because of it we are in a great financial position especially given our age.
