What it's Not

I've done a lot of searching and reading on a lot of debt-related blogs looking for the answer or for the simple way out of this problem and I've noticed that they all have one thing in common - they're all not for me.

There's some great tips out there, but they all boil down to spend less than you earn. Great. Thanks. Yes, I kinda got that. About as helpful as the old "lose weight? eat less than you burn" advice. At the end of the day what I need is ideas for how to do that. I know, it sounds silly, but when I'm looking at my work pants and seeing how shabby they are it's so very hard to think "spend less".

Yes, we can all save chunks of bar soap and stick them in a pair of stockings to save a bit of cash, but reality is that we won't do that. I like getting my sandwich fresh from the shop, I like my morning latte. But maybe, just maybe I can find an alternative that costs a little less.

This blog is NOT about preaching what you know, it's about how I learn to walk the walk. Oh and as for coupons, irrelevant. We don't have them here so you won't be hearing about them! I know I'll be up and down and I'll have good days and bad days, which is why I'm here - I hope that you can help me to keep on track and turn the good days into the habit!

Now, I need groceries so I'm off to the shop!

Starting small

I'm actually quite terrified starting up this blog - for one thing the exposure is high, and even though I'm one to not be too worried about privacy, finances are still one of those areas where we tend to remain very private. For another I'm scared of failing. What if noone bothers to look at this? What if noone cares? What if I give up and continue to spiral down?



Enough of the negative talk!

I paid off some more of my debts today, well, I made some payments on them anyway. I also turned out the spare change and managed to scrounge together €20 to start off my savings jar. It's not much in the grand scheme of things, but it's a start. I'm still waiting to find out what the total lawyers bills will look like. I suspect it will be a fair bit higher than I imagined. Turns out that my ex was spending up big on the girlfriend before we broke up, and joy of joys that debt is shared between us grrr... I really feel totally ripped off, but sitting here and moping will not help me.


Paid off today - $550
Savings today - €20

About Me

Thanks for stopping by my blog! My name is Kirsten and my (now ex)husband and I got into a little bit of debt in our 20s and 30s. Okay… more than a little bit of debt. As at June 2010 my current debt is 19,695.20 Euro. I know, I know…how can someone let their debt get that high?

We lived the high life, both of us earning well and neither of us having any real regard for the future. We had a gorgeous and expensive apartment that we rented, always had the best of everything ($100 for a saucepan, why not?). Then, the rest of our debt accumulated throughout the years. We took up the offers of new credit cards that were thrown at us from every quarter, seeing the platinum sheen as a badge of honour, but really we were just getting deeper and deeper. Trust me when I say this, spending more than you earn is a recipe for financial disaster. Years of spending more than we earned is why we ended up in a pretty bad situation and then dealing with the debt by going on holidays certainly didn't help the situation!

However, things were looking up and I'd managed to pay off about half of the debt we had in 2005 when disaster struck - divorce. It got bitter and nasty. When I finally emerged out the other side I found myself with massive lawyers fees to pay on top of my split of the debts.

In June 2010, I decided that things needed to change. Worrying about being able to pay your bills and being able to afford groceries is not fun. It was also a little depressing that my net worth was a big negative number. At 37 I should have a positive net worth and be saving for retirement. With the breakup of my marriage children has become an even more important thing for me - I want them, I'll tell anyone, yet I cannot even begin to contemplate that path unless I can afford to take time off and my new wonderful partner should not have to pay my debts while I do that.

The Indebted Shopaholic was born to help document my financial transformation. It provides a place where I can go to vent or to celebrate reaching a milestone with my debt payoff. This is my tool that helps to keep me on track to pay off my debt as quickly as possible.

If you've read this far then I'm sure that you either think me daft or daring. Whatever your thoughts, I welcome them - providing they're positive!