Even so, things are a real struggle. Kirsty contacted moneysupermarket.com to see if we could cut her outgoings so she can clear her debts sooner and start saving for her wedding.
Kirsty, 33, works as a marketing assistant in Nottingham but has had to take on a second job as a barmaid in order to keep up with loan and credit card repayments.
She lives with her fiancé Simon and they would like to tie the knot next December but that may have to be postponed unless Kirsty can clear her debts and free up some money to save.
It is not just the wedding they can't afford. Kirsty said: "We are constantly struggling for money and watching every single penny. I don't have the money to fix my car, buy clothes, or do fun things like go to the pub once in a while or take a holiday.
"All this despite the fact that I work two jobs to keep us afloat."
Determined to have the first moneysupermarket.com wedding (and an excuse to buy a new hat), we went to work. Using the comparison tools available on our site, we were able to save Kirsty an incredible £2,150 a year.
Kirsty said: "I'm surprised at how much we could save by shopping around. These savings will definitely help us prepare for our wedding next year.
"And just knowing that we can cut our monthly outgoings takes a huge weight off my shoulders - we're currently paying out more than we're bringing in each month."
There are two things affecting Kirsty's gas and electricity costs. She receives both her gas and electricity from Southern Electric and like millions of others, is paying the standard tariff (which isn't the cheapest). She also hadn't been providing regular meter readings and recently found she'd been massively underpaying and her account is £520 in debt. Consequently, her monthly bills are even higher than they should be because she needs to repay that money.
Kirsty is paying £200 per month. We reckon it will take her another four months to repay what she owes - she must then make sure her direct debit is reduced. Based on her usage, she should then be able to reduce her monthly direct debit to about £90, saving her £1,320 a year.
However, Kirsty stands to save an additional £190.94 a year by switching from Southern Electric onto EDF Energy's Online Energy v5 tariff. This figure is based on products currently available so Kirsty should check again to see what the best deal is once she has cleared the outstanding debt with Southern Electric. If she moved now she would have to settle her account before moving away from Southern Electric.
Kirsty owes about £5,300 on four credit cards and has £2,900 outstanding on a personal loan with HSBC . The rates of interest she is paying varies, but the highest is 34.90% on her Alliance & Leicester card. By contrast she pays 12.22% on her Mint card.
Her aim should be to minimise the interest she is paying. However, unfortunately, her financial situation means she won't qualify for any of the leading interest-free credit card offers available. Also, she is close to her credit limits so she can't move the debts over from her more expensive cards onto her cheapest card.
Kirsty will also struggle to qualify for one of the leading personal loan rates. Her best bet therefore is to get another loan from HSBC and consolidate her credit card debts on to that. Because Kirsty already has a relationship with HSBC (she has a current account with the bank as well as the loan) this is her best change of bringing her borrowing costs down.
If it agreed to extend her loan from £2,900 to her full debt of £8,200, she could potentially qualify for its typical APR of 8.7%, which would save her £477 in interest every year.
Of course, that depends on her credit history. It is also worth Kirsty getting a copy of her credit report - she can then check that no incorrect information is held on there that may be affecting her ability to get new credit. This is available from the credit reference agencies Equifax and Experian for as little as £2.
Bundling your home services - phone, television and broadband - so you pay a single provider for all products is often more cost effective than paying a separate provider for each product. Kirsty does this - she has her phone, broadband and TV with Virgin and is paying £45 per month.
However, she has the XL package for all services. If she reduced her phone and TV deal to the Medium package, she could reduce her monthly cost to £36.50, saving her £102 a year.
Kirsty has current accounts with HSBC and Alliance & Leicester (A&L) but it is the A&L account that she uses. She is overdrawn by about £800 and, although she benefited from a free overdraft for the first year with A&L, she is now being charged 50p per day (although this is capped at £5 per month).
Barclays' offers a 12-month interest-free overdraft to people who switch their current account over to it, so if Kirsty opened a Barclays' Bank Account she could save herself £60 over the next year.
Do you think we could save you money? If so, and you would like to feature as one of our makeovers, contact us at makeover@moneysupermarket.com
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