I used to HATE talking about money. I was raised in a house where talking about money was the epitome of bad taste. It was literally never mentioned.

So as I got older and left home and graduated university, I never really knew how the state of my finances compared to everyone else’s my age. Was it normal to have credit card debt and no savings? I had no idea. And not talking about it helped me sweep it under the rug for longer than I should have. I could pretend those worries didn’t exist!

After becoming a PF writer (it was all very Confessions of a Shopaholic), and uncovering the world of PF blogs, I realised that not only was pretending my money problems didn’t exist not healthy – talking about money actually was healthy and helpful. I sorted my money issues out, cleared my debts and started saving. But still I only ever discussed these things online, never with friends or family.

However, now that we have collectively gone through such a terrible period of recession, it seems to have become much more acceptable to talk about money with friends and family.

On Sunday afternoon at the pub I got to see a girlfriend have a financial epiphany – after cracking a joke about having loads of credit card debt, no plan to pay it off and no savings, she excepted the rest of us to own up to similar grim states of affairs. Realising that she was still the only one not facing up to her financial woes in a group of four nearly-thirty year old women got her panicking, then thinking, and by the time we left the pub the four of us had sorted her out a budget and at least a plan to track her spending and start paying off the debts.  Two years ago that NEVER would have happened. She might have gone on hiding away from things for years and ended up in a real mess.

So, yay for talking about money every now and then!

Do you talk about money more now thanks to the recession?