Sunday 7th January

Well, I'm half way down a bottle of red wine, sitting alone in my cottage. This is my first attempt at a blog - so it may not be as slick as more experienced bloggers - Hey, but I'll learn.

Why alone? My wife and I split up a while back and I moved out. I work for a landed estate - you know the sort of thing - the farmland and forest we all drive through, every day. It is usually owned by someone, a family or trust or something. Well, I work for a family who own a good bit of the south coast. They were very good and let me rent a farm cottage - so here I am.

Why am I blogging? Well - firstly because I wanted to see what the fuss was all about. Blogging has been high on the media radar for a long time and I needed to find a way to add my own few thoughts to the on-line world. Well, why not? Thousands, hundreds of thousands of people are doing it. Why not me? I don't live in a depressed area, I don't live in a country where the media is opressed and blogging is the only way of getting news out. But I still have something to say.

I love writing, I love using words, but could never get anything together with a publishing house. I tried starting my own, and wound up doing vanity publishing for other people, never for me. That was long before the Internet developed the strength and power it has now. I recall trudging the streets of a big Wiltshire city, trying to encourage large bookshops to take a few of the books I had produced for local writers and poets. They were priced to allow the retailer to make 100% profit on his outlay - and still that wasn't enough for some of them. Seeing the books on the shelves and being looked at by punters gave me a hell of a buzz. I had produced that product for the poet and it was selling. Several months later, I saw some copies in the 'Final Reductions' bin - and that hurt!

That was a long time back - almost 20 years ago. Now everything is instant. The Internet has made everything easily accessible and information is there at everyone's fingertips - thanks to Google and the other search engines.

What have I got to say that could possibly be of interest to anyone else?

A four-lettered word - DEBT

Got you hooked? Well it ought to have. I thought I was OK. I thought I could manage - but I just did the ostrich thing and stuck my head in the sand. I ignored all the warning signs - Lord knows, there were enough of them! I didn't want to know - I just applied for another credit card or loan - and got them! Easy Peasy! Move balances around, playing one off against another. Always looking for the 0% interest offers - and still spending. Bank loan, credit card - "Hey fella - we've just upped your credit limit."

What a bloody fool. It don't work. Credit is a killer. I know - I tried that as well.

What I want this blog to prove is that my parents were right. Don't owe anybody anything. It makes for a happier life. I want you to follow my journey through the debt minefield and learn from me. I want to help you out of the same pit I'm in - How far? Almost £90k without a mortgage. Read it and watch me weep.

I have made two resolutions this year:-
1) I will not go bankrupt - it's too easy and proves nothing.
2) No more credit.

Help me - follow me and we will see how I do.