Kill Your Debt

Home truths about debt and managing it

IF you go to an accountant and ask them to help you do a budget, they are going to be very “matter-of-fact” about it.

If you go to your spouse, parent, teacher, lecturer, or anyone else and say you want to do a budget, they are also likely to be very “matter-of-fact” about it.

The problem with all these people is they are either in denial, or have never actually done a personal budget before.

I learnt some time ago that dealing with your personal finances is very, well, personal. Trying to work with someone on their personal budget is going to get emotional. It can’t be helped.

Not being a pschycologist I am really unsure as to the specifics about why budgeting becomes so emotional, but I certainly know it does.  Having helped several people with budgets, I can guarantee you will encounter a range of emotions and responses some of which will be in the following list:

• anger
• fear
• despair
• denial
• depression
• hysteria
• resignation
• frustration

I recall working on a budget for some one very close to me. She broke down in tears, and actually started sobbing so bad it took a good 10-15 minutes for her to get herself together.

Another person I was trying to help walked out on me for no apparant reason and never wanted to discuss his budgeting again.

Budgeting is a very life changing experience if done correctly, and as with all life changing experiences, emotions are involved.

If you are serious about getting your finances sorted, you will need to be prepared to feel very vulnerable and have buttons pressed that you did not expect to have pressed.

I am looking forward to this, sharing these ideas journey, and I hope you will follow me on it as I once again go through the process myself.  Get your box of tissues ready, you are going to need them!

KILL Your Debt was actually started around 2001/2002.

I was heavily in debt, came close to bankruptcy and was struggling to even keep a roof over my head.

Around that time I read a couple of books called “The Richest Man in Babylon” and “Think and Grow Rich“.

They were pretty much life-changing.

Unfortunately despite looking through backup disks and old computer files I can not find the original site.  So here we are in 2009, with a new economic crisis hitting the world and my previous articles are lost forever.

Rather than let it get me down, I decided to start from scratch.  The principles I have used are still there, and if anything, my skill as a writer has improved.

I hope that over the coming months I will share disciplines, ideas and observations that will position you so that you too can kill your debt.