Although many blogs track the mundane details of daily life, there have been startling exceptions, such as chronicles of cocaine or sex addiction.

Now a growing number of US bloggers are beginning to tackle one of the other great unmentionables: debt.

People in the US enjoy easy access to credit and they are using it more than ever. According to the Federal Reserve, total consumer debt rose from $1.98 trillion at the end of 2002 to $2.42 trillion in April, a 22% increase. The average American household now owes $21,000 in nonmortgage debt and now some are turning to the web for support.

A case in point is Debt Kid (www. debtkid. com), who ran up over $300,000 in unsecured loans by the age of 24. His blog recounts the long road back, which involved raising his income, selling his house and filing for bankruptcy. The net result is that he anticipates lowering his monthly repayments from over $8,000 to a more manageable $1,500.

His debt is the result of day trading in stocks and grew dramatically after he gambled on recovering his losses by more trading. However, Debt Kid is unlike many other debt bloggers.

Most get into trouble by using credit cards to live beyond their means.

For instance, the author of My Debt Blog (www. mydebtblog. com) managed to run up over $14,000 in credit card debt by his mid-20s, by covering holes in his finances during his college years and helping to pay for his wedding. Upping his repayments and shifting balances to low interestrate cards has helped reduce the total to $11,500.

A similar tale is told by Tricia, who authors Blogging Away Debt (www. bloggingawaydebt. com). "In our minds, we were spending more than we made because we thought we would make more money later to pay it off, " she wrote. Her credit card debt of $37,000 in February 2006, has been reduced to $20,000.

Tricia acknowledges that blogging about her debt and building an audience has helped maintain her discipline. Indeed, acknowledging the problem to others is one of the 12 steps advocated by support group Debtors Anonymous.

Here in Ireland nobody has broken their silence yet, but with interest rates creeping up, some Irish people may yet find themselves in the same boat as those across the Atlantic.