Oh and please don't think of getting a house until you are "sure" you are ready, even if that means waiting a little longer than 2 years to get a house. Once you get your debt in a more managable shape, start saving, saving , saving and get all your bills including utilities bills, all up to date. Get your savings account growing, use an ING or some other high interest yielding savings account, don't take on any needless debt, just to try to improve your score. You debt to income ratio is just as important to getting financed than your FICO score. It's a long hard fight but very doable. I would also recommend buying Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover". You can get it at any bookstore for about $25 or you can get a used one from Amazon for around $10. It is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!
Once piece of advice would be pull your last few months bank statements and such from you and your spouse and crunch the numbers and see where you can start saving some money. For example
1. How often do you eat out, (if alot start buying more groceries and use coupons) Take your lunch to work.
2. do you have cable? It's really not a necesitty, Maybe think of down grading to just basic analog cable or get rid of it all together.
3. How many phones do you have? Do each of you have a cell phone and a normal landline phone?
Maybe look to get rid of the landline phone.
4. Transportation? How do you get to work everyday? Is public transportation available. The money you could save in gas.
They are alot of ways to cut costs and start working out your budget. I hope this helps. Good luck.
