<human>: As for the back story, I am a 21 year old male who lives in Louisiana. Myself and two friends got an apartment together during the fall of last year. One of the friends, we shall call James, couldn't get a job for a while and was struggling to make ends meet, as such I had to pay his rent for two months. He did eventually get a low paying job but he still struggled to pay on time. He would be late on paying me utilities or not pay them at all, he was living month to month so there wasn't much I could do. 

Little expenses added up and here we are today. He really is my friend, hes not trying to manipulate me or anything, James is just very irresponsible and not good at money management. Because of that he hasn't been able to put a real dent in the debt (he has payed be back a total of 200 dollars). 

We both know how much he owes me, I have an excel sheet and he didn't dispute any of the claims. My main concern is how do I actually approach him about collecting my money. He can't pay me back the money he owes immediately, like I said he is living month to month. 

My other roommate is very sympathetic to my cause and is willing to help in any way he can. My first idea is to form a contract with him where I outline the things he owes and start a payment plan where he pays me an x amount each month. I'm not sure about the legal process that I have to do to solve this, but that is where you come in. 

James would willingly sign a contract, I just have to figure out how to properly draft one up and have it notarized.

Can you succinctly summarize the text in 1-3 sentences?
<bot>: friend/roomate owes me 600 dollars and is willing to cooperate but I need to figure out some sort of payment method.