Soa

GeorgeUK

Your current SOA may not look too good, but i promise you can knock lumps out of it.

Council tax............................. 120
If paying over 10 months, can you ask to pay it over 12?

Electricity............................. 90
Gas..................................... 60
Way too high - time to switch companies. Have a look at uswitch and moneysupermarket

Mobile phone............................ 40
Change to PAYG?

Internet Services....................... 0
No internet? Or do you have a package deal?

Groceries etc. ......................... 500
You should be able to knock 3 figures off of this. Have a look at the old style board for meal plans and other ideas. Go down a brand feedwise - shops own if not the cheaper value goods.

Petrol/diesel........................... 400
Ouch - not sure how you can cut this if you need it for work - is it a gas guzzler?

Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Probably need to add a tenner to each of these...

A spending diary would probably help - at least for a few months. It will show you any areas you are massively overspending in and allow you to probably save money from those areas.

If you haven't had late payments/defaults then your credit score may be in good shape. You can usually have about 3 credit checks in a 6 month period before it affects your score so it may be possible to get a 0% creditcard such as the virgin money one. You can then transfer the highest interest to 0% and possibly even get an incentive (0% or Life Of Balance) to keep open the card you just cleared after a few weeks.

If you haven't already, i advise both you and the wife to look at your credit file - free at experian if you cancel within 30 days. This should give you an idea of what shape your file is in. (It's not worth paying to see your credit score as different companies will have different criteria).

Hope this helps.