Marge Simpson, Anonymous Woman Struggling With Money:

This week I have interviewed someone who has written an email to me saying that they are having great success with the book. I have asked them to do an Inspirational Story interview for the newsletter. They were happy to do this; however they wish to be kept anonymous. So for this interview we shall call her Marge Simpson.

Hello Marge, let’s start slowly. When did you get the book and how much debt were you in?
I got the book around 6 six months ago. And I was in about $32,000 of personal debt and owed $275,000 on my home loan. I was really struggling to pay each month as our family is now on only one wage.

What stage are you up to now in the book?
I’m up to stage 3. But I have to admit, I only stayed on stage one for 1 month and not 3. However, I felt like I was ready to move up as both my husband and I were very committed.

So tell me about the months before you got the book and what your money situation was like?
Well I thought we were doing well financially. We paid all our bills on time and kept the electricity on. However then I was let go from my job that I had been at for 11 years. Then two months later it hit me. We can’t just live on my husband’s wage. The bills kept coming and we didn’t have enough money to cover it all. I was really panicking. Then we came across your book and started speed reading through it.

What has changed since reading the book?
We have made huge strides in our life. We have gotten rid of pay TV. We have changed home phone, mobile phone and internet companies to save money. We have started using fuel vouchers. We shop around on price now. Plus we have even changed our electricity company for a saving. But the best bit is we now know where every dollar is going and we are paying off our debts and getting rid of our credit cards. Plus our kids have even helped by taking a cut in their weekly pocket money (every dollar counts).

Are you able to live on what you earn currently?
Just, it’s still tight. However once I get a full time job again (hopefully before March) we will be extremely comfortable. Also we will be able to make additional payments off our debt, making that go down quicker.

If you had some advice for people reading this what would that be?
I thought I had an extremely safe job. There was no reason for me to worry about my position. However out of the blue I was let go. Look at your debt and think what would happen if one person in your partnership lost their wage. How could you cope? I’m back working part time, but only 10 hours a week. So until I find a full time job it’s still going to be hard.

Can you give the readers some saving ideas?
Look very hard at all your bills: phone, internet, mobile phone, electricity and gas. I never really thought about them before. However, it seems the companies that I was with would charge up to 20% more than other companies that I could find. Shop around. We are still waiting on getting cheaper insurance because our insurance is on a contract. But I look forward to that.

Anything final you would like to say?
Yes, if you are in a partnership you need someone who is committed to doing this. There is no way that it will work if there is only one person doing it. I was lucky that my husband wanted to do this from the start. If only one person is committed you won’t be able to achieve anything.

Thanks (Anonymous/Marge Simpson).