Despite being left out of most personal finance books, romance and having a life aren\'t mutually exclusive with money. It seems every week there is a new statistic telling us a large number of Australian women are bad with their finances.

We either have mounting debts, no money put away for a rainy day or just
no interest in our finances whatsoever.

Armed with my own set of personal finance conundrums and a desire to learn more about money, I wrote Living Thin, a novel with a personal finance twist. Using the business acumen of Melbourne financial consultant Jason Cunningham and a little bit of help from my friends, Living Thin is the tale of Maggie Rose, a down on her luck journalist who has got herself into some serious debt and not a clue what to do to get out of it.

Maggie has problems many women will be familiar with; she has three maxed out credit cards, no savings and a love life on the verge of overdrive. In order to lose her debt she is forced to go on a realistic financial diet that would help most women get a head start with their money troubles.

Gone are the five nights out a week, gone are the three café lattes a day and gone are the café lunches. Instead, Maggie tones down her life, cuts back her debt and has a life at the same time. So how does she do it? The first piece of advice given to Maggie was pretty straight forward; clear your debts first then worry about saving.

Maggie starts cooking at home, walking to work and basically cutting back where she can to make a difference. She also sells her car and learns the foreign concept of willpower to stop herself spending her last $50 on a Friday night blow wave before a big date. Rather than going out every night of the week, she embraces home time and learns, when she is out on the town, to have a good night on the cheap.

These are small changes that any woman can make to put a dent in their debts or save some extra cash.

Another great savings tip, take control of your finances and keep track of your spending, paying yourself first when the fortnightly pay cheque comes so you have money put away and being realistic about what you can and cannot afford.

Living Thin by Antonia Magee, is available at all good book stores - RRP: AU$24.95