The New Year is here and, as my 2005 resolution, I was bound and determined to deal with my credit card debt. I was going to go public with my bills, come clean with my debt, and embarrass my family all at the same time. This is how alcoholics begin to quit drinking in AA (Alcoholics Anonymous). They admit to everything, including all the little nit-picky acts that eventually add up to a past that seems absolutely horrific. After all, "it's the ants, not the elephants" that will get you every time, no matter if it's a DUI or an IOU.

In spite of all my good intentions, another woman beat me to this public admission of debt. Additionally, she's a graphic designer with a sense of humor?I could relate, but I'm a bit jealous that she beat me to the punch with her self-styled come-clean methodology. Not only does she tell all, she intends to eliminate her debt with graphic proof of her expenditures.

I first found Kate Bingaman through the January issue of Money Magazine (page 29). She's twenty-seven-years-old and a graphic design professor at Mississippi State University. As a grad student, she "posted photos of everything she bought over the course of two years?on a website that she calls Obessesivecompulsion.com." Although this site began as a statement of social interaction with materialism that eventually became photos and installation art in a gallery, she found that this piece of politically slanted art consumed not just her time and talent, but also $20,000, mostly in credit card debt. The second version of this website replaces the original. Entitled, "Obsessive Compulsion II," or Ocv2, Kate displays her efforts to pay off her debt.

Against Kate's $20,000, my debts seem minor if I delete my school loans. Also, I pay all my bills online, so I manage to avoid looking at my paper bills. Kate, on the other hand, displays a penchant for personal inquisition as she obsesses about her owed amounts. She literally draws her bills, scans them, and adds "six new drawings every month of generic pieces of paper that cause financial pain" to her site (look for the link of the drawn bill under her current homepage photo).

The genius of this website is that a woman from contemporary western society actually admits to her financial weakness. The additional brilliant maneuver is that Kate appeals to all of us - not just women - who buy into "necessities" and eye candy only to find ourselves victims of our desires. By any other name, this would be called an addiction, but when you make this addiction into art it's called "Obsessive Consumption." This appeal extends so far that we might purchase something from her website to help her delete her debt, only to find ourselves staring at a credit card bill next month in wonder as we realize we got sucked into yet another purchase.

For example, you can purchase a T-shirt that displays one of Kate's credit card statements ("Wear my debt! Awesome!"), or another T-shirt that displays logos to the companies that Kate owes. On the other hand, you can invest in Kate's art with a purchase of Obsessive Consumption postcards or pins or a handmade book filled with viewer submissions of what Kate's fans bought - possibly inspired by Kate. The online store is actually a smart move, and I hope she pays off her credit cards so she can take that money and expand on her art and - hopefully - begin to invest in her future. But, I wonder what she'll really do once those bills are paid?

One clue to what she might do next is included in her survey. She states, "Help me out with my first OCV2 site survey and e-mail me what or who you owe. Examples can range from owing your friend a dollar to owing the IRS $50,000 to owing your little sister a [P]epsi" This survey led me to think that if Kate runs out of ideas about what to do after she accumulates enough cash to pay her bills, she could begin a business that works to pay off everyone else's credit cards. For instance, if I were willing to come clean with my debt, I would give Kate my bills so she could draw them and post them online. This act alone would force me to admit to my material consumption.

Then, she could become selective about her artwork as she adds her clients' obsessive consumption collections to her already burgeoning display. Never mind that the bill was for a meal that is long gone or for a vacation tan that faded months ago. She could draw these achievements and post them, just to show that the debt was not for naught.

As Kate uses her art and other merchandise to pay off her clients' debts, she could make a good living and become an internationally acclaimed artist and financial therapist to boot. Just think - if I had a $35,000 debt (not counting the interest) and she made a 20% profit for eliminating this debt, she'd make $7,000 for my account alone. If she paid that debt off within a year, I would make out, too, because my combined credit card interest is hovering somewhere around 23%. What a deal!

At the end or at the beginning of any year, we're all responsible for our own debts. I don't know how you'll feel after viewing Kate's site, but she brought home the ridiculousness of some of my own purchases within the past few years - purchases I still pay for today. If nothing else, I intend to watch Kate's progress over the upcoming year as a barometer for my own progress. After all, there's nothing like a little graphic debt to help me visualize the pain of my own Obsessive Consumption.

Until Next Week,
Linda Goin