<prompt> Human: Looking for some ways to repair a credit score after taking a huge dive. 6 months ago I changed jobs from a production supervisor to a senior mechanical design engineer, Although this seems like a good transition I took a 15000 dollar paycut. This was right after building a new house and having a new baby. Within 3 months I was bumped up 5000 dollars but I was still struggling with a 10000 dollar pay cut. Ive kept up on the house payment, cars, etc but my credit card debt and medical bills from the baby were put on the backburner while I was trying to get caught up. In the past few months my wife and I have lost several cards due to deliquencies including the first credit card I ever had. Credit score went from 750 to 550. Need constructive advice on how to repair this credit score once I get caught up on my bills.Assistant: Formatting. Its your friend.Your total debts.- Capital One -- 966.43- Chase CC -- 495.05- Chase CC -- 3041.50- Chase CC -- 5350.49 - Chase CC -- 3143.85 - Chase CC -- 958.8 canceled - Credit Union CC -- 4977.52 - Citi CC -- 2677.53 - Citi CC -- 2600 canceled- Care Credit -- 260 canceled- Mortgage -- 1100mo 169k house- Car Payments -- 650moHoly shit, you have a spending problem. A major spending problem. Quick answer to your problem is to tackle the CC with the largest APR rate but something tells me that they are all very high with your credit rating. You, sirmadam, are a gold mine for credit card companies. Thats not a good thing at all.Whatever you are doing right now, it is not working at all. Im concern about your other spending habits -- mortgage, food, car payments, etc. as well as you never mention them. That tells me that you likely havent properly made a budget at all to address your dire financial issues. You need to make a COMPLETE list of your monthly expenses and see where you trim the fat. You have to be very honest with yourself if you want rpersonalfinance to help.Edit: Whoops, OP did mention mortgage and car payments. Statements I made still holds true though.Human: Sorry about the formatting, It looked better until I submitted it. Ill try to get as specific as I can. Note the above numbers in addition to the following: Carlife insurance: 200 per month Electric: 90 per month student loans: 230 per month Phone: 165 per month TV: 55 per month Internet: 20 per month Heat michigan winters : just got a pellet stove to put me at 100 per month rather than 300-400 per month for propane Gas: 250 per month Baby supplies: 150 per month Food: 400 per month Personal Loan: 172 per month Health insurance: 145 per monthThis is approximations on this, Im coming to the conlusion that I need help tracking and making a budget... daycare: 160 per month  <response>: Tracking your expenses is one thing, and making a budget is another. I find that many confuse the two. Making and sticking to a budget is all about starting at a high level and working your way down. 1 Start with a reasonable goal in mind with a stretch goal with self reward and floor goal. Id like to reduce my debt by XXX by the end of the year, but am ok if it is XXX-xx. Id be delighted I can do it by XXXxx an will reward myself by zzz.2 Working backwards, what does that translate to per month? Is it too much? If so, repeat Step 1.3 The details... This is where tracking expenses come in. Now that you have a monthly amount to cut, you need to decide where to cut, which means you need to know where your money is going to direct your efforts of where to cut. The items you mentioned all seem to be necessities, but I doubt you got to where you are just by those expenses alone. Where are your discretionary expenses going? Do you go out for lunch every day? Coffee every morning? Dine out every week? Expensive vacation in the dead of winter? You cannot act without data. You cant just say to yourself, this month, Im going to bunker down and not spend anything. You have to KNOW that this month, were budgeting only xxx for food, so well have to cut dining out to fit within that. 4 Create budgets for each category of expenses. Discretionary expenses are the easiest conceptually but hardest actually to cut. Your wife will need to be on board. In fact, its best to include her in the whole process. As a former Production Supervisor, I think you can appreciate that its easier to get buy-in for a major change if you include your people in the planning. 5 Once youve decided budgets for each category of expenses you just have to stick to them. Easier said then done. You can help yourself by monitoring them closely. Mint.com is a great tool for this. Some banks have their own version. The key is to have immediate feedback and tight control of your budget in near real time. Know your the actual amounts in each category and keep track of them. 6 Reward yourself. If youve met your monthly budget, reward yourself with something reasonable that will not blow your budget. Think movie with the family or dine out. This is important as you will likely get discouraged along the way. These little rewards helps to keep you going. 