Well I was tagged by Loonies And Sense to continue Moolanomy's My One Money Advice (MOMA) Meme. The aim of this meme is to help promote financial responsibility and awareness in our hyper consumption society.

The question: If you can give one advice, tip, or story related to money, what would you share?

That's a hard question. After thinking about this for a while, my advice would be:

"When you think you can't ... you can."

For me, it was all about budgeting; for years I just stuck my head in the sand and did nothing about my finances. I let the debt pile up and just kept on spending. The debt seemed too big for me to handle ... that there was no way I could get myself out of my situation, so why bother trying?

When I finally sat down and tried to figure out a budget, it was really hard for me because I never had a budget before. Every month, I would revisit my budget and see if there was any fat I could trim off. It became a game to me - how little can I spend each pay period? It was really surprising how much money I could save if I just made it my priority. And just when I thought I couldn't possibly trim my budget down anymore, I found another way to save a dollar. If you're reading this and looking to create a budget and start hacking at your debt, it takes discipline and it's not easy, but you got yourself into this mess, now get yourself out.

I used to be very good friends with this girl in college ... she was the type of person who would complain and complain about being "broke as hell," but wouldn't do anything to change her situation. Meanwhile she would continue to buy booze every week, dine out with her BF, buy her expensive clothes, go dancing on the weekends, concerts with her friends in Vancouver ... things that aren't cheap!

She says that she deserves all of the things she spends money on, because she works hard. She says she can't live on such a small amount of money, can't get ahead, can't save, can't get a second job, can't change her ways. Can't, can't can't. It's not my place to give her advice, but if she ever asked for it, I would tell her that SHE CAN. She just has to believe in herself and stop making excuses.

There's always a way out of every problem ... but as I'm sure all of you PF bloggers out there already know, it takes sacrifice and hard work to correct years of poor financial decisions. No one can force you to do anything, so you've got to want it. But it can to be done, no matter what type of situation you've gotten yourself into.

If I can do it, she can do it, and so can anyone else out there.

Anyway, that's my advice. Believe in yourself, because when you put your mind to it, you can achieve anything. Sappy, but true. :)

Now, I'm going to tag NIUiceprincess, Dimples, Angie, SavingDiva and No More Spending.