Jasmine Birtles will help with soaring costs
Growing up I was never taught, either at home or school, how to look after my money properly. We lived in Sussex and I can remember my father, a customs officer, warning me never to get into debt. But he never really explained why this would be such a bad idea or gave me advice on how to budget or save.
As I entered adulthood, meanwhile, the banks were doing all they could to encourage me to spend more than I could afford. This was the late-1990s and it felt like they were throwing free money at me, offering overdrafts and credit cards.
The mindset was very much ‘buy what you want first then pay for it later’ and I never even questioned it. I just happily took the money and thought it was the normal way to operate a bank account — to have a permanent overdraft.
I did manage to get myself on the property ladder by buying a house through a housing association shared-ownership scheme. It initially gave me a 40 per cent share of its value, and after a couple of years, I got a bigger mortgage to buy the rest.
But as a freelance journalist with an erratic income, I relied on credit cards for extra cash, running up debts of thousands of pounds doing up my first home.
I was also trying my hand as a stand-up comedian, though that was something I did more for enjoyment than financial gain.
The crunch finally came when I realised I could no longer meet the minimum payments on either of my two cards. I was now in my late-20s and my borrowing had reached a level so unmanageable that worrying about it kept me awake at night.
I’d been in denial for several months, barely glancing at my statements and simply hoping for the best whenever I went to withdraw money from the cash machine.
But the day came when I was unable to pay my bills — and that was when I finally faced up to the situation.
Whatever the money worries, I have ways to help you live cheaper and manage your finances
My stomach churning, I went to the cash machine and printed off the slip that would show just how deeply into my overdraft I was living.
Back home, I pulled out all the bank and credit card statements from the various drawers I’d stuffed them …….