Til Debt Do Us Part

As a person who loves saving money, I love watching shows that focus on money management.  One of my favorite shows is Til Debt Do Us Part that airs on CNBC on Saturday nights at 10:00 and 10:30 pm.  There are two 30 minute episodes that are back-to-back, and the shows are set in Canada.

Til Debt Do Us Part has Gail Vaz-Oxlade helping married couples (mostly) to acknowledge and deal with their money issues.  During the 30 minute shows, Gail scares the hell out of them, makes them do certain challenges, and at the end, Gail may reward the couple with up to $5000 to help pay down their debt.

Why do I watch this show?  Well, for a couple of different reasons.  First, it makes me feel good that I am not in the position of the couples that Gail is helping because I know how much I owe, I know how much I save, and I know where my money goes.  Next, I am fascinated that there are people in such denial about what they are doing with their money.  Toward the beginning of the show after Gail informs the couple as to where their money goes and what their true debt is, she then will say something like, "if you keep spending like this, in five years, your consumer debt will be (whatever the amount is)."  When the figure ends up being something like $750,000, the look of disbelief is unbelievable! 

Although looking at Gail, one would think she is a cupcake of a person.  Wrong!  Gail is one major task master, but she will help set the couple on the right track!  The one thing that she does is to make the couple give up all of the credit and debit cards and live on cash that is put into little glass jars for various purposes; when money is taken from the jars, an entry has to be made in a spending journal.  That forces the couple to keep track of where the money goes and how much is spent. 

If you are having problems managing your money, watch this show!  It will give you things to think about.  The one thing that is key is that ignoring debt is only going to make matters worse.  Face it and deal with it!