My name is Sally and I'm a shopaholic.

My credit card balances are too high, I have loans and lay-bys to pay and I own so much stuff, clutter has become a major problem. I also live at home and have a Mummy Card, i.e. my Mother has lent me money in the past which I am trying to pay back because she is on a pension with a very limited income. Before you come down on me too hard, I do share the expenses but if it wasn't for the safe and inexpensive alternative of living at home (thank goodness my Mum owns her home), I have no idea where I would be.

So what brought about this confession? The cosmic alignment between Christmas, Boxing Day sales and a seriously low bank balance. Where talking about a balance that has just ducked below the $300.00 mark, hardly enough to cover the cost of replacing a flat tyre.

Okay, seriously, I may not be an actual shopaholic as such, but apparently I've started spending more than I make and that doesn't work out too well in the long term. It's not too good in the short term either for that matter.

A friend of mine was telling me she was hanging out for payday because after Christmas she had the princely sum of $3.80 in her bank account, yikes! My bank account may not look quite that bad but I realised that it wouldn't take much. In fact it was more good luck than good management as I didn't even look until my friend piped up about her sorry financial state. It occurred to me that I have been spending money with my eyes closed and any minute now a big truck called debt was going to run me over.

I was watching some financial guru on the television the other day and while I was paying attention, well, sort of, it was only now that his words have worked their way through the grey matter. He was saying you should always have at least a month’s salary in your bank account, in case something goes wrong and you lose your job. One month is the absolute minimum, you may not consider it living on the edge but it would be pretty close. Ideally you would have 6 months. I have maybe a day, two at a pinch and only if I eat nothing but corn flakes, no milk.

While I have risen every morning with the heartfelt belief that the last thing my boss would do is sack me, the events of the last year has made me realise that it may not be something my boss could necessarily control and it is up to me, not him or anyone else to secure my financial future.

So I decided to make a New Year’s Resolution. Yeah, right, how long with that last? I hear you ask. Unfortunately, I tend to agree with you. New Year Resolutions have a tendency to fade faster than an ice sculpture in the Sahara Desert.

Then it occurred to me, I am not alone. There are a lot of people out there, not only in my age group but in just about every demographic, that is in the same or similar position with their finances, maybe they will want to know how I am meeting this challenge. Maybe they can glean an idea or two, or be inspired to go on their own quest for financial success. Read that, stability, responsibility, at least a couple of extra 0s in the old bank balance.

It is easy to forget or fudge a resolution when it's a secret so I decided that the best way to keep my resolution is to let people know. Even better, have the whole world watching. So I have decided to write a regular article outlining what I am doing and how successful it has been, or not. And to keep myself really focused I will do updates daily on twitter, let the world run bare foot through my spending habits so they can comment, suggest, criticise, throw twitter rocks at me depending on the occasion.

To start with I am going to take control of the money I am spending on a daily basis. For instance the money I waste on cafe bought cappuccinos when my work supplies perfectly good instant coffee or those impulse purchases I regret later when I get the credit card statement. I have no doubt it will take a much more detailed plan to turn my finances around but this seems like a good place to start while I work out my next step.

So come join me on twitter to see how I go and catch up in the next edition when I will outline my plan of attack. Watch out credit cards, I’m coming to get you.

To follow me on Twitter go to: http://twitter.com/SalsResolution