Folks. I apologise for the lack of posts lately. Suffice to say I have been having a war with TalkTalk (my ISP) the last few weeks. They refused to believe I didn’t have access, and only finally resolved the situation this morning.

Dreadful dreadful service… but you get what you pay for. *ahem*.

Normal service will resume shortly.

• My Financial Meltdown: Part 3
• Weekly Roundup #3
• Dig Yourself Out of Debt: Spend Less Than You Earn
• Personal Recessions
• Catching A Perception Shift

One of the more common themes among personal finance bloggers, is most of us have been or currently are, working our way out of debt. Some of us are nearly there (like myself), some are a little further away but doing equally as well, and some are still dreaming about the Debt Free Day.

The commonality between us all, regardless of race, colour, country or method, is the desire to do it, and the desire to blog about it. And if we’re honest, the running cost of a blog done properly, isn’t all that cheap. Especially for those on a real tight budget.

So I was thinking the other night what I could do about it. I rent a whole server, technology is one of my weaknesses and I love not having to trust any other monkey to do what I can do myself. But this also gives me flexibility, and more CPU cycles than I need for just my few  sites and blogs.

So what’s the deal?

I am offering to provide the web space to host a personal finance blogger with a negative net worth. When you escape from your debt, then we shall rejoice – but you are still welcome to remain. The only real ask is that it’s used to host WordPress and your Personal Finance blog. The technical nitty gritty: Up to 1gb of disk space, 1 MySQL database, ssh/scp access (sorry, no ftp), DNS if you can’t find it for free elsewhere, and I’ll set up Google Apps for you if you need email.

Selection Criteria

Leave a comment with your blog URL, and I’ll come have a read. The story and background and current needs that touch me the most, shall be declared the winner. I’ll leave the contest open for a while, so if you know of bloggers who might benefit from this, get them to drop in and say Hi.

Why Am I Doing This?

Sure, I know you can get hosting for like a dollar a month, but is it good hosting? Sometimes, that dollar might be important and better spent elsewhere. You cannot beat free, after all. I believe in helping others, and that is sometimes done in unusual ways.

I might get no responses to this – or I might be surprisingly overwhelmed – but if I didn’t offer it out there, then I might never know how much proper hosting for a hobby they can’t really afford, really means.

• Say Hello to Kublax
• 7 Reasons My Friend is Poor
• Dig Yourself Out of Debt: Avalanches and Snowflakes
• Personal Finance: Pessimist or Frugalist?
• Dig Yourself Out of Debt: Spend Less Than You Earn

My choices will always be based on whether they tell an interesting story, are timelessly useful, generated a lot of comments or retweets, or just because I had fun writing them. It’s a grab bag of what I (and hopefully others) think was good time spent reading.

1. My Financial Meltdown

This is a mini-series, spread over 4 posts, detailing in rather painful (for me) detail of how I ended up on my debt freedom crusade, and why Five Pence Piece even exists. I walk through step by step how it was my marriage fell apart, my realisation of my debt situation, and how I got the internal energy to go and fight it rather than just give up all hope.

2. The SCRAM Plan

This plan could be the most important document you ever write. If you are serious about increasing your financial stability, make no mistake, you need a SCRAM plan. It takes 30 minutes to put together, and 60 seconds each month to make sure it is still accurate.

3. Dig Yourself Out of Debt

This was actually a 5 part series detailing the route I am taking to getting out of debt. It combines the very best practices from all kinds of tried and true methods and pools resources to get you there as quickly as possible, as cheaply as possible, and to keep you out once you get out. The link above takes you to Part 1.

4. Frugal Friday! Batch Cooking

It surprised me that the one article I didn’t think would get much interest, is actually the one that caused the most comments on other blogs and links from other bloggers! It just goes to show that sometimes the best ideas you have or share, are not the ones you think even matter.

5. Giving to Charity

Even in a recession, it is important to keep giving. The one thing you may have to change is how you give. But the important thing to take away is that you do not have to give money. Check out the article for some of the meaningful ways you can still give but not open your wallet.

6. Credit Card Analysis: From Hell to Heaven

Another little look into my own financial situation here, with some pretty graphs to go with it. This article aims to show you how not managing you credit cards properly can be very expensive.

Do you have a favourite I haven’t listed? Come share in the comments.

• The Credit Crunch Has Positives
• Say Hello to Kublax
• The Importance of Redundancy Planning
• My Financial Meltdown: Part 4
• Dig Yourself Out of Debt: Psychology 101

Yesterday afternoon I received a telephone call from the Producer of BBC Southern Counties Radio. We chatted a little bit about this blog, my journey so far and the reasons why I’m publicly writing about what most people consider a very personal topic.

This conversation culminated in an invite to discuss my story and debt fighting in general live on air at 7:40am this morning. A very scary prime time ’Breakfast’ slot that reaches a huge range of folk from those traveling to work, right along to stay-at-home parents just getting their mornings together.

If you have arrived here having heard that broadcast or some soundbites: Welcome!

As hopefully became evident in the interview, I am running a series of posts at the moment about getting yourself out of debt. This mini series of posts is put together from advice and guides all over the Internet and traditional media, and then condensed down into my own free, simple 5-step guide.

The first three parts are available right now and have been linked below. The remaining two parts will be published tomorrow (September 24) and next Thursday (October 1) respectively. The first three are all you need to begin improving your financial situation today.

Step 1: Know What You Owe

Step 2: Spend Less Than You Earn

Step 3: Avalanches and Snowflakes

Step 4: Debt Psychology 101

Step 5: Cleaning Up The Mess

Once you have begun your journey to debt freedom, be sure to come back and learn how to protect yourself in the future and clean up your credit reports afterwards in steps 4 and 5.

If the debt-freedom and personal finance bugs catch you as much as they have me, I’d be very pleased to see you again to catch all the other personal finance articles that are posted here daily.

Good luck and remember: You are not alone. You can do this. You will succeed.

Embarrassingly, UK visitors who missed the interview can listen to it again on BBC iPlayer by clicking here.

• 10 Economic Predictions for 2010
• Job Front Update
• The Credit Crunch Has Positives
• My Financial Meltdown: Part 4
• Personal Recessions