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.

On This Morning today we were talking about what to do when you’re facing repossession and we dealt with some viewers’ housing problems. There are certainly a lot of people all over the country who are facing the prospect of losing their home, and it’s very scary for them.

However, there are things you can do:

1)    Get help EARLY. The people at Shelter say that they often have to help people once their house has been taken away but they know that they could have prevented it if they had known about the problems early on. Even if they can't stop you being repossessed, at least they can make the process more bearable and help you organise rented accommodation early.

2)    Get good, free advice. Shelter are brilliant for all things housing and they are free. So are the Citizens Advice Bureau. The Consumer Credit Counselling Service are also excellent for debt problems, as are National Debtline. All these organisations can help you budget and will represent you to your creditors, including the mortgage company.

3)    Get a grip on the situation, even if it seems like a terrifying monster. Get a friend or family member to help if you can but do face the situation and see where you can cut back on spending and increase you incomings. Have a look at our section on smart spending for lots of cost-cutting ideas. Also check out our money-making section for ways of making more cash.

4)    Remember that if you are on income support and unable to pay your mortgage, you may be able to get the interest on your mortgage paid. It’s only the interest (in fact, just interest on the first £100,000 of your mortgage), and it doesn't kick in for about nine months but if you can manage for that amount of time then it could make a big difference. Speak to the Benefits Agency about it and see if you might be eligible.

5)    Do what you can to keep hold of your home right now. Even if it means moving out of your bedroom and sleeping on the sofa in order to rent it out and get some cash in for a few months, do it. If you can move in with your parents or friends and rent the whole place out for six months or a year, then do it. It’s best to sacrifice in the short-term and keep hold of the house so that you can make long-term gains.

6) Make a fuss and keep making a fuss. If your lender won't talk to you get the CAB or Shelter or your solicitor to demand an answer. The more you demand help the more likely you are to get it.

7) Don't think that this will ruin your life or scar your children. If anything, it can make you stronger. Denise, the agony aunt on This Morning, told me that she was repossessed when her children were young and there were times when she didn't know how she would feed her family. But she got through it, was stronger because of it and she said she really appreciated good things much more afterwards. She also said that her children went on to do well and have happy lives. This will pass. It's not forever. Get the good out of it, however miserable it is at the time.

8) Get support. Don't suffer on your own. Friends and family can be a great strength at this time - you also get to find out who really is a friend. And get support online. Go to our messageboards and tell others about your situation. You'll be surprised at how many others are going through something similar.

Honestly, you're not alone. There are people around to help and support.

Keep going. Don't let the stories of doom and gloom stop you.

If you think you have enough of a deposit to put down on a place you like (and we're talking at least 10% of the value of the property now), then get in touch with our partners, the mortgage brokers London & Country to see if you could get a mortgage. You never know - it's a free service so you've nothing to lose. You might be pleasantly surprised!

Don't be discouraged if there's nothing for you right now though. Things are tough in the mortgage market but they will ease up at some point.

We've just had a press release in from Moneyfacts about the current mortgage market, compared to a year ago, which makes interesting reading. Apparently:

• Last August there were 13,027 mortgages on the market. This month there are 3,748
• Last August there were 11 lenders offering more than 100% mortgages. Now there are 0.
• And, on average, the maximum 'loan to value' (percentage of the house price) lenders were offering was 90%. Now it's 80%.

So, yes, loan criteria are much, much stricter now and if you don't have enough money for a deposit you can't expect to be given the full amount of cash to buy a property. You're going to have to take a bit more time and effort to put some more cash together.

However, house prices are coming down and are likely to continue well into next year (who knows about 2010). So you've got a window of opportunity to get saving - to spend less where possible and make extra where feasible and put all that money you have left over into a high-interest savings account. There are some really great deals around for saving - that's another good bit of financial news right now - including the latest flexible savings account at 6.55%.

These are not bad times for first-time buyers, they're actually pretty good if you're willing and able to wait before you buy. You can get on top of your spending, first by switching utility bills and essentials with our comparison service, then by getting the best bargains and the most free stuff you can to get the most for the least! Take our tips on smart spending and never pay more than you need to for anything.

Then it's a question of making some extra cash wherever you can and putting it into your growing savings account. You know we have loads of ways of making money - see our whole section on it here.

Then it's up to you to do those things and keep doing them until you reach your goal.

Yes, everyone's saying we're facing a tough time financially and it's no lie. As a nation we're going through a correction and that's not pretty! But that doesn't mean that it has to be tough for you. There are still ways of saving money and making money and you can do your best to make the most of these excellent savings rates (which, I think, are going to be around for a while).

Profit where you can. There are always ways to make money and save it. Downturn or not, you can do it!

We've had a lot of queries about the fuel oil comparison site I mentioned on 'This Morning' this week. The programme's lawyers won't let us mention brand names or websites which can be a nightmare!

The site is www.fueloildirect.co.uk and it's the only oil comparison site we've found so far. If you know of others, do let us know because this is a big issue for people who live in the country particularly.

I also wonder if anyone who has oil-fired heating can use cooking oil as my friend Tira is doing in her diesel car (yes, really - she says it's perfectly do-able and she's driving around with Waitrose's cooking oil in her car!). We're going to be researching fuel and power alternatives over the next few weeks so keep checking the site for news on discounts and grants for solar panels and any help we can find for people struggling to pay their heating bills.

I've just been on This Morning with a lovely young couple from Norfolk and their son Jack who is one of the sweetest little boys I've ever met. We went to see them because they wanted my help to get them to save enough money to put together a deposit for their own place. Currently they rent a lovely detached house in the middle of the country, half an hour's drive from Norwich.

Having seen what they spend on a monthly basis and the money that is coming in, I had to break it to them that if they really, wanted to save enough for a deposit then they would have to make some lifestyle sacrifices for a year or two. And that's what I say to anyone who really wants something big rather than just jogging along from day to day, just about managing but never really getting anywhere.

It's not fun to have to sacrifice, but if you're serious about buying your own place/moving to another country/ starting a family or a business or any of those big 'life' things that cost money, then it's likely you will have to cut out some goodies on a regular basis until you get there.

I call it short-term pain for long-term gain.

So, for example, if you want to pay off your mortgage early and get enough financial freedom to do what you want, then you will need to cut out a holiday or two, maybe work at the weekends for extra cash, cut down on meals out and posh clothes, and do it for a few years in order to pay it off in double-quick time, as we explain in this article on paying off your mortgage.

For my Norfolk couple today, I suggested moving out of the lovely house they were renting, moving into a smaller place in Norwich itself and getting rid of the car. By doing that they would save around £300 a month in one go. Then it's a question of getting some more money in every month through different jobs and money-making ideas. I said I wanted them to be able to put away £400 a month into a high-interest savings account until they had saved at least £10,000.

It's a tough one for a couple that loves living where they do but, unless they can find another way of making an extra £400 net a month, I think it's a sacrifice they have to make. If they set themselves the goal of saving for two years then that would make it easier. If you have a time limit on the 'pain' it makes it a lot easier to bear. Having a goal to aim for makes the whole experience go by much quicker, as we show in this article on how to detox your finances.

So think about this if you keep saying 'I wish I had the money to go round the world/ start a family/ get out of this job' etc. Set yourself a savings goal, put a time-limit to it and then do everything you can to achieve it. Right now is a fantastic time to save, too, as there are some great savings rates around, as we show in this article on saving. The long-term gain always outweighs the short-term pain so just get on and do it!

Fancy a whole new wardrobe for just a few quid? I got one a few years ago when I was badly in debt and determined not to spend a penny more per month than I had to.

It was beginning of the summer and I was packing away winter clothes and taking out summer clothes. I realised that there was a pile of cotton items that I didn’t want. Most were white – trousers, two skirts, a couple of T-shirts and a two piece – and some were just light-coloured like cream and pale pink. I was going to take them to Oxfam when I realised that actually I could turn them into something wearable.

I popped round to my local hardware store, bought a few boxes of Dylon washing machine dye and then picked up some large packets of salt at the supermarket – I’ll explain why in a moment. There are great dye colours on offer – deep red, pink, navy blue, primrose yellow, beige – and I bought eight or nine of them. They’re about a fiver each and then the salt is under £1 for a kilo bag.

What you do is put the thing (or things) you want to dye in the washing machine and wash it for a full cycle. Then, when the cycle is finished and the clothes are still damp, take them out and empty out the contents of the dye pack into the washing machine drum. You need to get the powder through the holes in the drum (probably so that you don’t get patches of strong dye on the clothes). Then add in 500g salt (yes, that’s what it’s for) and, again, get that through the holes in the drum.

Then you just put the clothes in again and switch the machine onto a full cycle – at it’s hottest – without washing powder. You just want the clothes on a hot water cycle – no actual washing going on.

Once that’s finished you should immediately switch it onto another cycle – without washing powder. This cycle sets the dye and washes out the drum at the same time, so that when it’s finished you take your newly-dyed clothes out, but the machine is totally clean.

Dry the clothes and put them on – it’s that easy!

When I did it I ended up with new pink trousers, a beige skirt, a fuchsia pink two-piece, a yellow skirt, a red t-shirt and a navy-blue t-shirt. All for under £50!

Go on, do it, and tells us on the messageboards what you’ve created. Hey, upload a picture if you have one!