Carina, $85,000 Worth Of Debt And Growing:

 “My father bought me your book for my birthday and I tell ya what, it is the best thing I have ever received.”

“I have debts totalling around $85,000 which I do have under control, but really would love it all to be gone. I sat down and worked out all my bills for the fortnight and realised I only had a couple of hundred dollars left for the fortnight and that didn’t include my credit card minimum payment. Yes, that’s right, I was paying the minimum. I would pay more on my loans. I must mention that I was still putting away about $200 a fortnight, so I am not as in debt as much as some.

I am on a mission, I want to buy another house, but of course I will have my bills paid off beforehand. I have begged for more hours at work which has worked and I am able to pay $500 a fortnight off one bill which is the credit cards. Sometimes it leaves me only one hundred dollars for the rest of the fortnight, but hey, I don’t need anything, my shopping is already done.

I love it and I write everything down, I just can’t believe I am 35 and only just starting to have over $1500 in the bank. That’s not good, but you have to start somewhere.

Thank you so much, Adam.

Carina Casey

Carina, you said that you have debts of $85,000.00. Could you tell us a little more about these debts and how they came about?
I have 2 credit cards $11,000 between them plus $35,000 for a new car. Also around $38,000 for house renovations.

You said that this amount of money is under control? How do you control it?
Before I read your book I was paying extra on all of them except the credit cards. The car I was putting in extra and the renos I was paying $130 extra a fortnight. Then after I read your book, I now pay the minimum on renos, same with car and am now paying $500 a fortnight on the credit cards

Since reading the book what have you changed in your life and what steps have you put into action?
 I have started putting money away in plastic moneybags for the water bill, car rego, and electricity so it will be there when the bill comes in.

Do you feel like you are going to make a dent in you debt going forward? Have you projected a date when you would like it all gone?
Absolutely, I am determined that it will all be paid off within 5 years and I will be buying another house as an investment/kids’ uni house. LOL, gee that makes another bill, lol but one that will benefit the kids.

You said in the email that you are 35 and only just starting to have over $1500 in the bank. If you could go back in time to your 18th birthday what would you tell yourself about money?
I would tell myself that money is hard to come by and that I should have been looking more towards my future being more secure. Not getting into debt from the start would be a major thing. If you don’t have the money, you don’t buy it.

Have you any saving tips that were not in the book that should have been in there?
We still go on holidays but we have a separate account that we (meaning my husband and me) put $30 each away a week into what we call our Queensland account and that gets us there every 2 years. Also we go to Wallaroo every year so we have an account for that. I know you’re going to say about the fees but these are online accounts so they have no fees.

Has there ever been a time in your life where you have really struggled with money, have you got an interesting story about this?
We have struggled for money and we were living week to week. But you know what, we were smokers back then, but funnily enough we never ever went without cigarettes; you always find the money for them. Thankfully, we don’t smoke now.

The global financial crisis has affected most people. How has it affected you and your life/work?
It has not affected us; I am a nurse so hopefully I will always have a job.

Do you plan to cancel your credit cards in the future?
Absolutely, I have given them to my husband until I pay them off. Believe it or not, it was paid off at Christmas when Citibank offered me to transfer funds to theirs for 2.9% so I did but didn’t close the other card, so consequently the urge was too strong and I spent it. But I have changed my ways and they will be paid off by March before I start uni.

The day that you finally lose the $85,000 debt, what do you think this will feel like?
It will be terrific; I will have all this extra cash that I can save.

When looking at your spending each month, were you surprised at anything in there?
It was funny cause after paying all my bills I had plenty of money left after each fortnight. I was happy I had money in the bank and I could buy whatever I wanted. Then I read your book and wrote everything down and realised that it nearly came to $1000 a fortnight and at that stage I wanted to pay $500 off a bill a fortnight but it only left around $220 that was after I was putting $200 away into various savings accounts. I also found that I was going down the street to get groceries was too much and that I would not only just get what was on the list, I would get more, so $50 later I would walk out. Not anymore though, I shop fortnightly and if it runs out bad luck.

Moving forward, do you regret some of the decisions you have made in the past about money?
Every now and then I regret not having money, especially when things break down around the house. But I think you have to live through debt and hard times to really appreciate what you have.

You said in your email that the book was a present from your dad. You say it is the best thing you ever got, why?
Well, it has made me realise that yes I have really overdone it this time, although I am not panicking about the amount of debt. I didn’t realise how much I actually spend, and without your book I would never have known it. It was exciting to read and with each part I could relate to it. I was excited to read it and kept talking about it at work. Your book has taught me that I don’t really need things (although the clothes in the catalogue are pretty good lol).