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"It's a total nightmare" says Heather Sargent from Caversham. The freelance business analyst has recently separated from her husband and has to change from a joint mortgage to a single mortgage. This is proving to be very difficult for the mother of two.

When Ms Sargent checked the same sites a year before it was a different story.

"There were loads more available, and now it's like 'forget it'.

She adds: "It is really difficult as I'm getting to the point where I'm thinking 'I need to earn more money in order to keep this house going' but if I can't for any reason and I need to downsize, how easy is that going to be?"

Meanwhile her utitility and phone bills are also "going through the roof".

"The last set of bills three months ago really made me think we've got to cut down a bit because they were huge. I think they went up by at least 20 per cent."

But the Sargent family are hoping to combat rising costs by reviewing their spending habits - a method that has so far proved successful.

"We're turning the heating down. We took a look at mobile phones and internet usage and we were wasting a lot of money for historical reasons - I had things set up that we didn't need any more.

Bills, bills and more bills

"The kids have been good about when to use the phone and whether to phone mobiles from it and what are the cheapest times.

"I looked at all my outgoings on the bank statements and looking at things that I didn't really need. There was a computer games magazine we'd been getting for years which nobody really seemed to want.

"I looked at all these little bits and pieces like union membership subscription - now I work as a contractor so it's no use to me.

"Also I had gym membership but where I'm working as a contractor there's a free gym there which I'm allowed to use, so that was obviously a candidate for going straight away."

So with a bit of financial spring-cleaning Ms Sargent is looking to combat the climate of economic downturn, but that doesn't stop the threat of a cash crisis looming overhead.

"I'm not in a panic yet but I can imagine you could be. It's very much a knife edge."