InDenialMoney.com

Let’s see, where should I begin. First, I would like to welcome everyone to InDenialMoney, so welcome! I want to thank Sally for this opportunity to share my experience on overcoming debt. Just some background information on me, I’m 37 years young and am originally from the great state of Texas. I now live in the Lucky Country; Australia. I emigrated here about 10 years ago to be with my Australian partner, Charlie (a pseudonym since she won’t let me use her real name ;-).

We have had some huge highs and lows financially over those 10 years. At first things were great. Charlie was making a very good salary which came in handy since I wasn’t allowed to work due to visa restrictions. We were happily spending her salary (over one thousand dollars a week) on “nothing”. Two years went by and I was finally allowed to get a job but by this time I had become very isolated and had lost my confidence. I didn’t know at the time but I was suffering from Social Anxiety Disorder. Over the next year my anxieties only got worse. I became a hypochondriac and suffered panic attacks. I was literally one step away from becoming agoraphobic.

Things only got worse that next year when Charlie lost her job. I should have gone out and gotten a job to help but my anxieties kept me locked inside our unit. I had never paid much attention to our finances before then but I took it upon myself during this time to look at ways we could save. It was the only thing I thought I could offer. It took her 8 months to find a job and in that time we had gone through all of our savings ($10,000), racked up around $7,000 on the credit card and had to borrow $3,000 from her parents so we wouldn’t lose our car. Her new salary wasn’t the greatest ($41,000) so I set up a budget. We cut our spending to the bare essentials and set goals on getting out of debt and becoming financially secure. Taking control of the finances also helped me with my anxieties in that it gave me positive self esteem when we started saving. I used (and still use) a diary to track our expenses to the penny. I also used my diary to help me overcome my social phobia. I would write down goals for both and every time I reached them it would make me feel good. That’s not say that it was easy. My partner was beyond patient with me during this time. She really should have left me but she persevered.

Five years later and we are excelling financially. We have gotten rid of all of our debt (technically we do have a mortgage but this is interest free due to us having enough funds in the account to pay it off…It’s called an Offset Account here). We also have over $40,000 in savings and $44,675.00 in our retirement accounts (although that is declining daily due to the current bear market). I was also able to finally conquer my Social Anxiety Disorder for good and two years ago I got a job in a busy retail environment. I now work full time and I love being able to contribute financially. Those five years where we struggled financially and I struggled with my issues have made us who we are today. Had this not happened we probably wouldn’t have changed our habits but now it’s not just our spending habits that have changed but our core values. We are better people today and we will never go back. That’s not to say we’re perfect because we do have the occasional hiccup now and again.

Here are just a few of the reasons why I decided to start this blog:

• I think everyone should face their finances head on. Putting your head in the sand will only lead to financial ruin. It’s never too late to take control over your money and get on track. By doing this it will give you freedom; physically, emotionally and mentally! The stress that we suffered when buried under all that debt was horrible! It’s wonderful to be FREE from all that worrying :)

• Today’s economic climate is becoming harsher by the day with high gas prices, sky-rocketing food prices and record home foreclosures. If anything I write can help people save more and cope better then it will be worthwhile.

• I’ve been there and done that. I think I have a lot of experience to share. Debt CAN be overcome!

• Let’s make living frugally fashionable again. There is nothing wrong with that F-word!

• I also thought by writing this blog it would help US stay on course. Like I said before, we aren’t perfect and can and do make mistakes. We also don’t know what’s around the corner since Charlie’s government job is not looking very secure at the moment.

I think I’ve probably blabbered on enough so I’ll end it here. I look forward to sharing my money saving tips and learning from other frugally minded people. We will go into more detail on just how we have achieved our financial goals to date but here are 3 tips that I think are essential

• Set up a budget and tracked every expense down to the penny to get an idea of where your money is going
• Be willing to cut your spending on non-essentials
• Set Goals

Let’s get saving,
Ms. Penny Pincher