stop-the-bleed-triage

Stop-the-Bleed Triage

When there's not enough money for everything, paying bills in the order they arrive — or freezing in panic — does the most damage. Crisis money has a priority order: essentials and severe-consequence bills first, unsecured debt last. This triages your situation: what to pay, what to let slide, what to protect at all costs, who to call for hardship help, and a calm next-24-hours plan — so a spiral becomes a sequence.

What This Skill Produces

• A payment priority order — scarce money sequenced by consequence: housing, utilities, food, transport to work, and essential insurance first; unsecured debt (credit cards) last
• The protect-at-all-costs list — the essentials whose loss causes cascading harm (a roof, heat/power, the car that gets you to work), defended first
• A "safe to let slide (briefly)" list — what has less severe short-term consequences, so you delay the right things
• Creditor calls that help — who to contact and what to ask for (hardship programs, deferrals, reduced payments, medical-bill relief) — asking early beats defaulting silently
• Help to tap now — assistance programs (utility, rent, food), food banks, and nonprofit credit counseling
• A next-24-hours plan — the few concrete calls and moves to make today, so panic turns into action

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• The gap — roughly what's owed vs. what you have coming in
• The bills — what's due and how essential each is (rent, utilities, car, cards, medical)
• What's threatened — an eviction/shutoff/repo notice changes the order
• Where — region (assistance programs are local)

Framework: Protect Essentials, Delay the Rest, Ask for Help

1. Protect the essentials first. Housing, utilities, food, and transport-to-work come before everything — losing these cascades into much bigger costs. Anything with an eviction/shutoff/repo notice jumps up.
2. Put unsecured debt last. Credit cards feel loud but have milder immediate consequences than a shutoff or eviction — they wait while essentials are covered.
3. Delay the right things briefly. Some bills tolerate a short delay far better than others — let those slide first, deliberately, not randomly.
4. Call creditors early and ask. Hardship programs, deferrals, and reduced payments exist — but usually only if you ask before defaulting. Asking is strength, not shame.
5. Tap assistance now. Utility/rent/food assistance and food banks are for exactly this — using them is smart triage, not failure.
6. Make the next-24-hours plan. A short list of concrete calls and moves today — action breaks the panic.

Output Format

Stop-the-bleed: gap ≈ [amount] · [region]

Protect at all costs: [housing · utilities · food · transport to work · essential insurance].

Pay in this order: [1 essentials/severe-consequence & any shutoff-eviction-repo notices → … → unsecured debt last].

Safe to delay (briefly): [the milder-consequence bills].

Call and ask: [creditors → hardship/deferral/reduced payment · medical-bill relief].

Tap now: [utility/rent/food assistance · food bank · nonprofit credit counseling].

Next 24 hours: [the few concrete calls/moves today].

> Not financial advice — this is triage, not a plan for the underlying situation. Nonprofit credit counseling and local assistance programs can help you go deeper.

Quality Checks

• [ ] Sequences by consequence: essentials first, unsecured debt last
• [ ] Names the protect-at-all-costs essentials
• [ ] Bumps up anything with an eviction/shutoff/repo notice
• [ ] Directs early creditor calls for hardship help
• [ ] Points to assistance programs; gives a concrete 24-hour plan

Anti-Patterns

• Paying the loudest creditor instead of the highest-consequence bill.
• Prioritizing credit cards over rent, power, or the work car.
• Staying silent instead of asking creditors for hardship help.
• Skipping assistance programs out of shame.
• Freezing with no concrete next-24-hours action.

Example Trigger Phrases

• "I can't pay all my bills this month — which ones come first?"
• "I'm broke and panicking, what do I do right now?"
• "What bills should I prioritize in a financial emergency?"
• "Should I pay my credit card or my rent if I can't do both?"
• "Who do I call when I can't cover everything?"