How to clear your credit cards

This list may not be fixed like a mortgage payment that keeps a roof over your head, but is something you feel you need all the same.

• Food
• Broadband
• Mobile and landline phones
• Non-essential insurance (mobile phone insurance etc)
• Car maintenance
• Petrol and travel costs
• Pets (including food, toys, boarding fees)
• TV licence
• Savings/pension payments
• Home maintenance (cleaning products, light bulbs, etc.)
• Parking tickets, toll fees

Again, look at each category and work out how much you spend each month. Use your paperwork to help you; scan your bank and credit card statements and find any receipts in your purse/wallet that will help you to tot up how much you spend.

Compare three months' bank statements to find an average figure for each section. Make sure you're as accurate as you can. Generally it's better to overestimate spending in each area if you're not sure.

For example on the food section, take one month's bank statements and circle all the grocery shopping bills. At this stage don't include restaurants and fast food, which are luxuries not essentials; those will be included in the next section.

Add the figures up and don't forget to include your estimate for single items from the corner shop, perhaps paid in cash. Write a weekly figure down; then multiply it by four to get a monthly figure.

Take the realistic total for each section and note them all on one document.