Chances are if you’re reading this, you’re a young[ish] person with an enjoyment for the finer things in life.  Foods, clothes, accessories, shoes, vacations – these are an Achilles’ heel for many.

Unfortunately for young spenders, ‘fine’ creates a not so fine bill when we exercise our rubber arms with our best hate crush: the credit card.

Hot (Broke) Messes chronicles a slice of finance writer Nancy Trejos’ battle in the struggle to become debt free.  Nancy is an unassuming voice which chronicles her financial ups and downs, while holding the title of personal finance columnist at the Washington Post.

Due to her job and her debt, Nancy is a voice one can relate to with ease.  Her words are unapologetic and unfettered, and while she may be admitting a daily financial “mess”, she tells it like it is without excuses and gets right down to how she corrected the slip.

Hot (Broke) Messes is a memoir of being young and assaulted by credit offers and all that credit misuse brings – high debt, balances you can’t pay off, lifestyle changes and buying without thinking.  We join Nancy in reliving her crash of realization that her cavalier financial attitude cannot sustain itself, and how she chose to get back on track.

It’s Nancy’s shared experience that allows readers to be receptive to the professionals’ help she cites, which ranges from an accredited financial planner to those running finance awareness and debt management groups.  Through this, we absorb some of the shock and shame that debt laden young people endure, and address the basic issues without coddling, enabling or excusing behavior.

H(B)M also sheds light on money saving practices one already knew of, and reminds us to be creative and not intimidated into buying or accepting prices not fitting within our budgets.  This book is a reminder that even if we feel like we’ve dug ourself debt holes to the center of the Earth, with proper budget planning and resolve we can too be on our way to become free of credit card debt.

You’ve got the will and there are ways – it’s time for all of us to curtail our poor credit practices, pay off those balances and learn to respect the card!  Through Hot (Broke) Messes, I feel that this fight is one I can win.