Clarity

This defeats the chronic debtor every time. How did I get here? Where do I go? What do I do? I have found that nothing moves forward without clearing the way a little.

So I write down everything I spend in a little notebook. This used to have me hiding in the corner at night so that no one could see. I have no idea why, but it was the most embarrassing and shameful thing I could ever imagine doing.

Now I write everything down as soon as I spend it: coffees, newspapers, bus tickets as well as the big purchases like mortgage repayments, gas bills and petrol. Write it down in as much detail as possible.

Once I have got into the habit I can start using shorthand or abbreviations. I have "T/O" for take-out, coffee or a sandwich. "Rest" for a restaurant meal or "B Rest" for a business lunch. I gradually start to see that not all eating out is the same.

Remember I want to change the way I live and stop every incurring another debt in my life. So I want to start looking at what my life really looks like financially. I personally tend to spend a lot in having coffees with friends but not that much on restaurants with friends. I can also meet clients over a coffee where I live with relative ease. The amount I spend might look very high in the coffee shops but the amount I spend in the restaurant category is quite low, as that doesn't suit my lifestyle so well.

Groceries is too general for me. with todays huge supermarkets, I can buy cleaning products, new socks and shampoo as well as a fine box of chocolates. The spending on each one of these items has a different impact on how I feel. In fact so much so, that I can resent buying cleaning products and spend more on chocolate to compensate. I then call the whole lot "groceries" to hide from myself what is really going on.

Remember this not so much how we perceive we ought to live, but rather how we actually do live financially so we can get an idea on how to change.

Six weeks of this and I can start to get an actual picture of what I really need to stop increasing my debt. We are not trying to get rid of the debt yet, just to stop increasing it. Six weeks might appear to throw up an unusual spend, the plumber had to be called or the car needed a new tyre.

This can vary a bit season to season but if a real record of six weeks of all my spending is written down, I can start creating a tailor made plan on moving forward away from debt.