Couldn't resist that headline from the Sun - say what you like about them, they've got a sense of humour when it comes to titles!

But poor old Kerry Katona. Seriously, I do feel sorry for her. She had a really difficult upbringing and her mother's still making her life a misery. It's understandable that she's turned to drink, drugs and over-spending to try to make herself feel better. Obviously, though, none of them have helped in the least. In fact, as always, they've done the opposite. Now, eventhough she makes hundreds of thousands of pounds a year, she's been made bankrupt.

It just shows, again, that what the economists say is true: when it comes to being rich, the amount you spend is more important than the amount you earn. It really doesn't matter if you make millions. If you spend more millions then you're going to have problems. Look at Michael Jackson. He makes even more than Kerry but he's had problems because of his massive spending habit.

Kerry needs to feel loved and whole and worthy (who doesn't!?) Like so many, she's trying to fill an emotional and spiritual void with all the wrong things. I'd like to sit down with her and go through what she feels is wrong and find out ways to put it right. Until the underlying problems are dealt with she will continue to lurch from one crisis to another.

She's incredibly resilient and even if this bankruptcy sticks (according to her agent, Max Clifford, it will be annulled next week when cheques clear...hmm, we'll see) I think she can bounce back. I have a few friends who have been made bankrupt in the past and they've learnt from it. Sure it's tough, but it's by no means the end of the world. It can be a good wake-up call and can make you determined to have control of your money and never be messed around by it again.

Our article on bankruptcy gives you the facts. It's not pretty and it does mean that you won't get any credit at all for a few years, particularly in today's financial climate. But it doesn't last forever and there are ways of cleaning up and rebuilding your credit record afterwards as this article shows.

I'll be interested to see what Kerry says about her experience in her OK! column. If I were her, from now on I would set aside a good proportion of the money she gets from that column into a special savings account to pay her tax and VAT. It's the only way. If you work for yourself you just have to keep doing that, every month, so that when the dreaded bills come in, it's not such a horrible shock.

I just have to write. I'm so irritated!

Yet again I've been asked about a secret Government fund to pay off people's debts. It's not true!

Don't let anyone tell you that the Government hasa special law that will wipe out your debts for you. It's simply not the case. Can you imagine the Government being able and willing to wipe out our non-mortgage debts, currently standing at around £400 billion?! This is the Government that got us into the debt problem in the first place remember, and they're trying to get us to spend even more right now to keep the economy going.

This cruel rumour about Westminster paying off our debts has been perpetrated by dodgy IVA companies, many of which are using the keywords 'Government Debt Help' in their websites. Don't believe it, don't take any notice of it and certainly don't sign up to their so-called services.

Yes, it is true that IVAs, or Individual Voluntary Arrangements, can effectively wipe out a load of your debt, possibly (though rarely) up to 75% but they don't involve Government help or Government funds and they have a lot of downsides. See our article here about IVAs, which gives you the pros and cons. One of the main cons is that most of them don't work and people end up having to go bankrupt. Another is that a lot of dodgy companies have sprung up recently to do IVAs for people who shouldn't have them. It's just a money-maker for them and they prey on the vulnerable.

Anyone with debt problems should check out our free advice in this site, look at cutting down on their spending and increasing their income. Also, if the situation is serious and complex, get in touch with the FREE advice agencies like the CCCS, the CAB and National Debtline. There's no point paying debt advisers if you can possibly help it - and tell all your friends to do the same!

On GMTV this morning we were talking about how to have a good Christmas without putting yourself into terrible debt for January. Basically it boils down to not spending money we don't have - not putting stuff on plastic if we can't afford to pay it off in Jan; not buying mounds of presents; cutting down on food shopping so that none of it goes to waste and sending e-cards rather than real cards if money is tight....that kind of thing.

It doesn't harm kids to have fewer presents, so long as there is love and fun in the house over the festive season. Before the programme, Fiona Philips (who I used to work with years ago) was saying that there's something vulgar about the way so many children now just toss aside the mounds presents they get from family and friends at Christmas. She says that for her boys' birthday parties she now tells the other mothers not to bring presents. They just have a big, fun party. She was surprised to find that none of the other mothers copied her - and so was I. After all, there are a lot of apparently well-heeled people who are actually badly in debt on the quiet. Even families on pretty good incomes are feeling the squeeze and you would think that they would get together and multi-laterally decide to cut out the expense and competitiveness of big birthday presents for classmates. I've certainly heard mothers complain about the cost of yet another present for yet another child's party.

I'm not against presents, in fact I love giving them (particularly wrapping them) and we have purposely researched fun, quirky presents to buy if you have the money in this article. But it's only fun for all concerned if one really has the money to buy them. If not, pick up some of our ideas (while there's still a bit of time left) in our article on how to afford Christmas and check out our tips for a stress-free Christmas (which includes cutting down on the spending!).

I really believe that with a bit of thought and, importantly, a refusal to be jerked around by our consumerist society, we can have a genuinely happy Christmas with a minimum of spending. Dare to be different - kick a ball around in the park with the family for the afternoon, go for walks, play Monopoly by the fire, go to church, sing some carols and generally put two fingers up to the yuletide horrors of over-spending, over-eating and feeling dissatisfied with life. Happy December!

Another day another crazy figure - apparently 4.4 million of us still have debts left over from last Christmas! That's according to Moneyexpert.com which also says that we're estimated to spend £53 billion in December
(not all of that on Christmas itself but several billion will be just extra seasonal spending).

Are we mad? Have we lost the plot? Hey, I like spending on good things too (that's why we picked out some daft gift ideas for people who have cash to spend) but in all seriousness, spending money never guarantees happiness. We all know this really, but I think we just get hypnotised by the general festive madness and think we have to spend stupid money to give ourselves, and everyone else, a good time.

It's especially bad with children. I keep hearing complaints from parents and grandparents that the children don't appreciate the mound of presents they get. Well no - why would they? They're just things in the end and when they keep getting so many the joy and fun is going to wear off pretty quickly.  Children don't really remember the things they got (unless they were really amazing or terrible), they remember the feel of Christmas - whether there was a happy atmosphere at home or not. That's what counts and it has very little to do with money.

We've all got to get real. Find simpler, cheaper ways of having fun and get into the real spirit of Christmas. That's why we've done a lot of research into charity gifts for Christmas - at least that way you can feel you're doing something good with your money this month.

If money is really tight - and certainly if you're still in debt - then don't waste money on presents, go for free ones that you make and that mean a lot. A friend of mine is writing a personalised poem for each of her friends this year - great idea. I also know of people who give a 'voucher' for their time in the form of babysitting or cleaning or a manicure for their friends and family. It really is the thought that counts and for many of those free ideas there's a lot more thought given to the present than they would have given if they had just gone for the usual box of chocs.

Spend less - live more - that's our motto for this Christmas!

I had mixed feelings when I read about the latest Government proposals to have children as young as five learning about how to open a bank account and manage their money in maths lessons. Apparently they will also be taught about interest rates and investment banking, for goodness sake - at 5?

I'm assuming that that report is journalists getting a few facts muddled because the idea of even an 8-year-old picking up the FT and considering a few choice funds is frankly upsetting.

I'm constantly banging on about the need for proper financial education in schools but mainly in secondary education. Yes, teach five-year-olds about cash, about shopping and what it really means when you borrow money from a bank, but it's teenagers who should get the bulk of the serious money training. Small children have enough to cope with nowadays - including fewer places to play safely and happily - without being burdened with concepts of investment banking, inflation and investment rates.

Personally I would like more emphasis on training adults right now - particularly through TV programmes, newspaper supplements and Government-backed magazine inserts - to help them play catch-up in their financial knowledge. We certainly need to teach the children more but it's the adults who are at sea financially right now and their money problems are directly affecting their children.

The UK debt problem is bad and it's going to get worse in the next year at least, as interest rate rises finally bite, costs go up and banks start to refuse to lend any more to people already struggling with over-priced debts. If we had had the financial education we should have had twenty/thirty years ago we wouldn't be in this mess. For a start, the banks would not have been able to pull the wool over our eyes and we would have been a lot less likely to borrow more money than we could pay back.

Let's get some really interesting, useful and fun (yes fun!) TV programmes on that show viewers how to manage their money, how not to get ripped off and how to make more money without much effort. It's what we're trying to do in this website - more media outlets should be doing the same.

I've said it before (here) and I'll say it again (oh yes I will, don't try to stop me)...we have a completely weird attitude to money and particularly to debt in this country. We will talk on TV in front of millions about every sexual partner we've ever had but clam up if anyone asks about the state of our bank account.

It's nuts. It's the elephant in the room - this huge thing that's affecting millions of us but hundreds of thousands won't even mention it.

It's got to truly stupid levels now. The financial consultant Grant Thornton is forecasting that our gross domestic product (GDP - the amount we make as a country) will hit £1.33 trillion this year, and that's less than the £1.35 trillion we personally owe in mortgages, loans, credit cards and the like. This is the first time in history that we have personally owed more to the banks than every office and factory in the country is pulling in.

So that means we personally owe more than we're earning which is not exactly healthy. Of course we shouldn't forget that the total wealth of the country (if you add up all the property, assets, investments etc) is still way above the total debt, which can give us some comfort. Not a lot, though. Certainly no comfort to the millions (and it is millions) of people who are badly in debt right now.

It's a shocker of a problem, mainly because so many people refuse to face it.

If you want to make a change, though, we have a LOT of help and advice on this site. You can find answers to all your questions in our debt and borrowing pages and on our new 'debt demons' discussion board. We also have podcasts on the subject, including how to avoid bankruptcy. Look out for a documentary I am presenting on Channel 4 on Friday 31st August, 7.30pm, all about debt and irresponsible lending. We have some amazing personal debt stories in there that will make you feel better about your situation if nothing else.