Tricia lives on the Michigan peninsula, a rural area with an abundance of trees but few jobs. She's 29 years old, married, the mother of a 4-year-old son, a college graduate in forestry, and a homeowner.

She and her husband have a negative net worth of $48,477.

That means when you subtract their debts from their assets, they still owe $48,477. How do I know this?

Although Tricia is soft-spoken, with the delicate voice of a young girl, she has posted the family assets and liabilities on the web. She also posts a monthly tally of her main focus, their credit card debt. As of July 21, st it was $29,999, down from $37,614 in early February.

You can check this for yourself by visiting her web log, www.bloggingawaydebt.com.

If you are in debt and want to work your way out, I can't think of a better thing to do than visit Tricia's blog. Instead of lectures on the evil of debt from folks like me, your parents, or others who might be deemed clueless authority figures, what you get when you visit her site is a chance to look over her shoulder. She writes, step by step, about what she is doing to reduce expenses. She's shy, but when it comes to true grit, she's at the top of the scale. It's all there.

Here's her story, from a recent telephone interview.

How did you start getting in debt?

"It was easy. I just signed up for my first credit card while in college. Before I knew it, the card was maxed. But when that would happen, they would just increase the credit line.

"Later (when she had met her husband) we got into buying things we shouldn't have. But every time I maxed, they gave me more credit. Then I got another credit card to do a balance transfer to a lower interest rate. But instead of not using the first card and working on paying off the other, I maxed the first card again."

How did this happen?

"Before the birth of my son, we weren't watching (our spending) too much. When he was born, a lot of everyday things went on the card," Tricia said.

I asked what gave her a positive attitude about paying off the debt.

"I've been using Quicken (the personal accounting program) for a while--- since 1998. But I got serious in 2001. The big thing was getting my work-from-home position. While searching, my attitude was changing. I'm much more positive," she said.

"I started reading about (debt reduction) on the web and I thought, 'Wow--- I can do this!'"

Earlier, Tricia had explained that getting work in their area was difficult and that $8 an hour was a good wage. She and her husband are currently earning a combined income that she estimates at $45,000 a year. Fortunately, job scarcity also means homes can be purchased for very little--- they bought theirs for $35,000.

I asked Tricia if she had a goal for being out of debt.

"I set a date of May 2009. But I want to change it. Now I think I can do it earlier, perhaps by Christmas 2008."

What happened to make you feel you could move up the date? I asked.

Tricia explained that she had worked on getting all her credit card interest rates lowered. She was now paying a maximum of 9.99 percent. She intended to use the saved interest payments to pay down principal.

Among her loans is one from www.prosper.com, a new online person-to-person lending service. Prosper has created a new form of virtual banking by introducing individual lenders to individual borrowers.

If you click on www.networthiq.com from her blog, you'll find her family net worth. You'll also find that she isn't alone. Quite a few show high credit card and student loan debt--- and a large negative net worth.

Starting out has never been easy.

On the web:

Tricia's blog--- Bloggingawaydebt

Net Worth IQ website

The Prosper website