As Valentine’s Day looms in February, there will be thousands of ads calling for you to spend money to show your true love.

Romance doesn’t go amiss with the Debtfix Crew and while red roses and choccies are gorgeous – so is showing some adoration to your KiwiSaver account.

After all, your long-term saving scheme will still be there to care for you when your skin sags and your eyesight fades.

In 2033, what might you say to the you of today? That’s the you who has launched into 2023 and all that it will bring – good, bad, and sometimes just meh.

Since we are all our greatest critics, it’s probably a good guess you’re thinking about the things you could do better and maybe beating yourself up over mistakes you’ve made.

The Debtfix Crew think it would be great if we all started every day, not just each New Year, with positive goals to boost our confidence and to better manage our money.

During Money Week the Debtfix Crew wanted to know what New Zealanders were wondering about bankruptcy.

We threw some questions out into cyberspace, and you gave us an insight into what you think our people know about the debt solution.

Most significantly, 86 per cent of respondents wanted to reduce the whakamā (shame) people may experience when they are bankrupt.

Since 2019, the total number of applications for bankruptcy in New Zealand have decreased, as have the number of bankruptcy judgments approved by the courts.

The Debtfix Crew is stoked to hear the good news, but we know our work is not yet done.

There are different thoughts about why the number of bankruptcies has decreased, mainly focused on the money distributed to businesses to minimise the fallout from Covid restrictions.

Why is it always so easy to sign up for something and so mind-numbingly difficult to shut that same something down when we are done with it?

It’s like joining a club or maybe even a cult – that no one will let you leave.

If you have signed up to direct debits to pay for a gym membership, power account, phone bill, insurances, or any other regular bills, it can feel impossible to stop the payments.

It is so easy to spend money when you don’t actually have to hand over money.

Making cashless payments requires zero thought and there are so many ways to do it that most of the time it doesn’t even feel like we’re spending a cent. A great way to hit reset on those unplanned, incidental purchases is to use cash for a week, or longer if you can manage it.

The Debtfix five-week debt bootcamp kicks off on Monday 9 May, 2022.

Sign up for this free guided programme, now.

When signing up to study at a tertiary level thoughts of career prospects, learning about subjects you’re really interested in and student parties are most likely top of mind. For most New Zealanders, university or polytechnic life also means signing up for a student loan.

Debtfix advocates paying off the most expensive debts first and the advantage of a student loan is that while students remain in New Zealand, they have an interest free loan. It doesn’t get much cheaper than that.

That’s another Christmas done, the kids are back to school (hopefully for a full year) and the working year should be in full swing (Covid traffic lights willing).

How’s your credit card feeling? Is it suffering from Paywave fatigue? How about that buy now, pay later account? Has later arrived much sooner than expected?

If you are feeling the effects of post-holiday-debt-disorder you are not alone and now is the time to make one small change to prevent the same cash-tastrophe next Christmas.

You would be hard pressed to find an adult in New Zealand who doesn’t have some debt, because even signing up for electricity supply or mobile phone plans are both forms of debt.

The Debtfix Crew has noticed many people have similar experiences when debt threatens to swamp them.

What are some warning signs your debt is getting out of control?