hollyisstoppingshopping

Welcome to the first (of many!) "Five Frugal Minutes With..." interview.

FruGal and I have teamed up to bring you an exciting new feature that we hope will bring a bit more excitement to the already wickedly exciting world of Personal Finance blogging. Every Monday you'll be able to read interviews with bloggers that we love and hopefully you will too. I'll post one week and she'll post the next so be sure to pop in past every Monday to get some tips/advice/perspective/inspiration etc. to get you off to a good start for the week.

FruGal's blog is one of my favourites and she frequently posts on the very same subjects I've got floating around in my head. She's dedicated to saving yet always remembers that she needs to be able to enjoy life at the same time.

So it gives me great pleasure to introduce Five Frugal Minutes With FruGal!

Tell me a bit about your "lightbulb moment".
When I first moved to the UK I racked up a lot of credit card debt in a very short time (I discovered London's extensive shoe-shopping opportunities). It got to the point where both of my credit cards were maxed out, and I realised that each month when I paid off the minimum amount, there was a window of about ten days before the monthly interest charges were calculated and added, which would once again take me up to the credit maximum. This was my window of opportunity to shop (ooh, the shame). One day, eighteen months ago, I was standing in Oasis, paying for a sundress, saying mental prayers that the interest charges hadn't yet been added for the month so my card wouldn't be declined. The transaction went through fine, but as I walked off with my new sundress I didn't feel as elated as usual with my purchase. I guess I had always vaguely believed that one day I would have a huge chunk of money available to repay the credit card debts. It dawned on me that that might never happen, and unless I wanted to live the rest of my life sweating at shop tills, praying that my card wouldn't get declined, I needed to take some steps to sort my finances out. I have never used those credit cards since.

What made you decide to start blogging?
I'm a personal finance writer by trade, so I spend my days thinking about finance in the general sense. It occurred to me that there was a practical application for all the things I've learned from that, that other people might benefit from. I had also been reading personal finance blogs for a few months, and was attracted to the supportive community that existed around it. I also love the way PF blogging makes me think about the financial world in a different way rather than just in the objective sense; it forces me to think about how things like the imploding financial markets affect real people in the real world, and opens up discussions that I find so interesting – but none of my friends would want to talk about over a bottle of wine!

A lot of personal finance bloggers talk about keeping their "eyes on the prize" - What's your prize?
In the short term, it's definitely our wedding in February. All our spare cash is going into that at the moment so that we don't get into debt for it. Whenever I am pining for a new pair of shoes I just try to remember that it will all be worth it on the day. Beyond that, it's definitely the desire to be completely debt-free, which should be the case in about 18 months.

What's your top tip for saving money?
Don't try and cut back in all areas at once. If you want to make changes to your financial habits do it gradually and leave yourself enough money to enjoy yourself – otherwise you'll never stick to it, and you'll be miserable!

Recommend a blog that you couldn't live without?
Ooh, tough one. There are so many that I enjoy reading everyday. I might have to say it's a 3-way tie between Budgets and Sexy, Sallie's Niece, and this great blog called Holly is Stopping Shopping – have you heard of her??

What's the best financial advice anyone ever gave you?
When my dad gave me my first credit card when I was 16 for school books and emergencies (was he crazy??) he said to me as he handed it over, 'don't EVER use this card to withdraw cash. EVER.' I've done some stupid things with money since then, but I've never done that and never will. Those interest charges are the world's biggest rip-off!

And there you have it! Be sure to check FruGal's blog next Monday for the next exciting interview and to see who's up next. Got any other questions you'd like to ask? Feel free to comment.