Photo by: ellievanhoutte

With a recession looming, I wonder, are people keeping more money secrets than usual?

Do you spend more money than you have? Do you run up high credit card debts? Do you spend and keep it a secret from your significant other? Are you having trouble controlling your spending when you go shopping?

There have been several recent articles about financial secrets and I am sure this is just the tip of the iceberg.

If you are one of the many people who are keeping your spending a secret, you are probably harming yourself, even if you think you have it under control. Keeping secrets can be physically and emotionaly draining. In one of my recent blog entries, I quote Martha Beck ,who writes for Oprah Magazine: "... keeping secrets is very stressful and has well-documented physiological effects such as a decrease in immune function and even how long we live."

In another recent blog post , I discussed how keeping financial secrets from your spouse can ruin a marriage. It's important to understand why you are really keeping the secret in order to begin to solve the issue.

Confessing your spending sins is one way to release the stress of keeping them all to yourself. Finding a good, supportive community is a great step to increase your confidence that you can find help and improve your situation. Once you are back on track, go one step further and see if you can help someone else by lending non-judgemental ear and offer support.