Through the blogosphere, I have learned so much about personal finance, the importance of managing your money, and the simplest ways to get out of debt.  But learning and acting on what you have learned are two completely different things.

Money is scary, lets face it. Money makes people uncomfortable – whether you’re a baller or living from paycheck to paycheck, money is a sore subject for most people. And because of that mentality, many people are sticking, or have stuck, their heads in the sand for a long time: myself included. The warped reality for the misguided is: if I don’t see, it’s not happening. Deniability. Then sooner or later, you are hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, getting evicted, and loosing your job: No Bueno.

But there will come a time, whether it is when you have ask your parents for help or filing for bankruptcy, that you have to let everything out – get it all out into the open. For me it was not being able to pay rent because my consumer credit cards were asking for $300.00 minimum payments – and even then, I didn’t commit to righting myself full force; that came years later. When that happens, life comes to a grinding halt and you have to figure out what to do.

I moved back home. It was horrible. Everyone knew why, everyone kept asking what I am going to do, and I blew everyone off with the same answer – pay off my cards and save money. That sorta happened.

One day, my Dad, and best financial adviser at the time, sat with me and my stack of bills. We went through each one, seeing how much was due, which ones were at final notice, and which ones had the higher interest rates. At the time I had a super shitty job – so I didn’t have much cash flow. His idea was to pay all the minimums to get them current – which surprisingly worked. Then to pay what ever I had left after everything evenly to the cards; paying just over the minimums, which worked for a while. And I lived like that for some time.

Then early this year, I started blogging heavily – really getting into the different genres of the blogosphere. My blog at the time was mainly for documenting what time I had left with my Grandma, photography, and crafting. I never really thought of it as a truthful outlet, a tool for betting myself, or any sort of networking tool – I just wanted something to type on besides Myspace.

But then, a mini miracle happened. I found Google Reader. It introduced me to hundreds of blogs I might be interested in – including personal finance. I was instantly hooked. Instantly. The first blogs I started following religiously were Frugal Dad, Get Rich Slowly, and Clever Dude. They had such insight into an area of my life that I literally knew nothing about. They all had advice for the different stages of getting out of debt, saving, and living frugally. It was astonishing how much they knew [and know!]. And that’s when I decided I was going to legitimately start turning my financial life around, start saving for my future, and start living within my means.

Getting a grip was step one. After doing some research and deciding which steps I could easily follow, I decided that I was going to start out with a budget and debt snowball. So, I laid out all my bills and expenses again [this time with a slightly better paying job] and quickly made work on which cards had the least amount on it and which bills I had to pay each month. Within 2 months, that card was gone and all my bills were being paid on time. And since then, I have paid off 2 more consumer credit cards using my debt snowball and have been living within my means because of my budget.

During step one of my personal finance turn around, I learned that, for me, it is important for everyone to know my financial situation – to know where I am coming from when I say I can’t do something, or I have to save for it. Blogging has been a great tool for that. While it is scary putting everything out for everyone to see, it is what keeps me in check. I guess it is the fear of letting not only myself down, but my blog readers, my friends, my family, or acquaintances who read this. Disappointment is worse than being mad at me in my book – so I do this, this open air financial blog, so I can not loose sight of my goals.

Step one was the hardest. Digging my head out of the sand, learning the different tools that are at my disposal, and actually forcing myself to do something through fear of humiliation was the hardest – but boy has it paid off.