It was when Shane Warne retired from international cricket after the 2006-07 Ashes series that the lightning bolt struck me. Bugger! How’d I get this old, this fast? Not moving-into-nursing-home old. Not time-to-get-regular-prostate-checks old. Not even where’d-that-grey-hair-come-from old (too late). But old enough to realise some childhood dreams were now, finally, a snowflake’s chance in […]

If anybody thinks that the Melbourne Cup is actually about horses and jockeys and trainers … I’m here to tell you, you’re dreamin’. It’s about money. Obscenely large amounts of it. If Australian horse racing were an independent economy, I’m thinking it would be bigger than Tasmania. Just on Cup Day itself, tens of millions […]

“EX-TER-MI-NATE! Debt is the devil! It will kill you! You must not relax until all debt has been eliminated! Cancel worldly pleasures until debt is destroyed!” Um … you’re not a dalek. No, it’s not. No, it won’t. Yes you can. And the only person you’ll be punishing is yourself. Seriously, enough of this rubbish […]

Everyone has a love-hate relationship in their life. If you don’t, you should go out and get one. It should be a pre-requisite for getting a licence to breathe. Love-hate relationships are about passion. If you’re not passionate about something … anything … you’re probably wasting oxygen. (And your licence to breathe may be revoked!) […]

Like a good old-fashioned slap in the face, you don’t usually see a truly life-changing event until it has reversed into you. Sometimes, the bump is pleasant. You didn’t ask for it, but it’s going to make you happier, or less stressed, so you run with it. For example, an unexpected job opportunity. Some events […]

All backsides deserve to be kicked occasionally. If they misbehave and poke themselves out … army boot, raised to 3pm, swung swiftly with torpedo punt follow through all the way to 11pm. Companies need it regularly for greedy decisions. Say, Westpac and the Commonwealth Bank for raising interest rates way above the Reserve Bank’s moves […]

Parties seem to be what life is about. The rest of our lives seem to just be filling in time between them. In our modern lifestyle, the more parties you attend, the more popular you may assume you are. By that measure, Mrs DebtMan must be one of the most popular people on the planet. […]

I’m no fan of naysayers. Negative people, in general, can sod off out of my presence, thank you very much. And given a choice between having a laugh and having a good old blithering, tissue-soaking sook, I choose giggles. The Goodies? Or the episode of A Country Practice where Molly dies? The Goodies everytime. But […]

One of life’s great, yet simple and indulgent, pleasures, is a good ham and cheese toasted sandwich. A slice of cured, honeyed pig, some tasty cheese, perhaps with butter, preferably honoured with some good bread (or bad bread – it’s actually the least important ingredient). Then cooked until it starts dribbling heavenly, yellow rivers of […]

KERRRRUUNNCH! “What was that?” I hear you ask. That was the sound of a severe cash crunch. Perhaps you’ve heard that sound before yourself. Don’t panic. It was definitely mine, not yours. But it was no gentle “snap, crackle, pop” like DebtGirl’s cereal. It was rudely loud. It woke my neighbours. Again. (I have been […]