Kate Filmer and Shannon Thomson have turned their lives and finances around 180 degrees and they've done it without an ounce of help from anybody.

Three years ago their families were crippled by debt, stress and depression. Kate's health was deteriorating, so was her husband's business. She barely had enough money to feed her girls.

Living parallel lives, the mums for the first time, devised their own budgets — listing money coming in and going out and sharing their ideas, they learnt to save in every area — shopping bills, loans, you name it.

"We were living everything we were writing about and we were doing everything we were telling all of our readers to do — it has started to create these most wonderful lives for us", Shannon said.

It would be the basis for a book, "Hidden Path", a self-help guide to happiness and a wealthy future. "You could end up saving $200 a month — some people could end up saving $200 a week", Kate said.

As a nation Australia has one of the highest ratios of household debt to disposable income in the world. We're in the red to the tune of $750 billion — $45 billion just in credit cards. For every $100 we earn, we owe $130.

Tonight here are the bill buster's secrets to a debt-free life.

Tip 1: Save on insurance
"A big one is to look at your insurances. Every time they come up to be due and pay it again, don't just go on what they say and repay — look around and you'll save yourself some more money", Kate said.

Tip 2: Save on groceries
"The next one you can save big on is your grocery shop. Grab out your brochures you get delivered to your letter box, work out your meal plan around what's on sale", Shannon said.

And where you can, the duo says buy home brand.

Tip 3: Consolidate debt
"Consolidating a lot of your debt — a lot of people have five loans out there, one for car, one for home, all these bits and pieces. Putting all them into one loan and you'll be paying everything off in one go", Kate said.

Many banks have financial planners who can do that for free.

Tip 4: Create more income
"Another one is to increase your streams of income, follow through with your ideas that you get, create yourself more than one stream of income. If you've got three streams of income coming in you can't go wrong if one falters", Shannon said.

Shannon started an online retail store; Kate a book keeping business and she now trades shares. Both have built their dream homes on the Sunshine Coast — next door to each other — and they saved on them too.

They say ultimately the path to wealth is about becoming responsible with money, keeping track of every cent and thinking positive, setting goals and following through on them.

For further information:

Hidden Path retails at all good book stores for $49.95 or you can order it online at www.hiddenpath.com.au/

HIDDEN PATH'S TIPS FOR CREATING A WEALTHY FUTURE

PRACTICAL
Get realistic about your financial situation
'Initial Estimate' – Estimate what and where you are spending your money on a weekly basis.

'Actual Estimate' – Record everything and work out where you actually spend your money. There is often a difference between what we perceive we spend and what we actually do.

'Revise' – Lastly spend the month finding areas within your budget that you can save, do your research and shop around for the best deal. Find out what is important and what is not.

Take action, look for several outlets of creating wealth, don't limit yourself to one stream of income, unless you make changes to your life the changes won't be made for you.

MINDSET
Develop yourself a prosperous mindset and make your decision accordingly.

Be a part of a worldwide thought pattern shift and believe that it is not just the select 2% – we can all attract mass wealth.

Begin to feel better about your situation by being grateful – 'to get what you want, want what you have'.

Concrete prosperous beliefs to your subconscious with affirmations such as "I am full of money making ideas" or "I am surrounded by opportunities of creating wealth".

Start anticipating and making future strategies with the expectation that life will not be bound by the limitations of money.

Think it. Envision it. Write it. Say it. Believe it. Release it. Appreciate it. Claim it. Live it!