Debt is nasty. It's like a splinter you can't get out. It's like gum wedged into the tread of your sneakers. It's like an unpleasant odor in the house, one you can't quite identify.

When I started the Women in Red column a few years ago, most of us -- faithful readers of the column and its humble writer -- were deep in the red. After years of struggling against debt on our own, I suggested in a column that banding together would enable us to do better and beat debt once and for all.

Then, a gal in North Carolina took that notion, shifted gears and hit the gas pedal. Inspired by the Women in Red message board, where thousands of readers gathered to swap financial advice, Becky Purvis realized readers needed a special forum about debt and debt alone.

What are the Racers?

In September 2006, with the support of many readers, Purvis launched the Women in Red Racers, an online working group that would provide support and cheerleading to those laboring in the debt trenches.

"The idea was that each person would race against herself to pay back her debt -- not against each other," Purvis says. "You work at your own pace, and everyone's pace is different."

Becky's budget tips

It doesn't sound much different than making those monthly payments on your own. But Purvis and the other women who joined the Racers' crusade came up with two powerful tools to keep people motivated:

• Accountability. All Racers were required to post exactly how much they owed and how much they were paying, and regularly update their progress (or stumbles). Women who didn't update were taken off the roster of active members.
• Reinforcement. In a world where senseless shopping always gets a gold star, it's hard to find any support for putting money toward financial freedom instead of feeding that plastic monster. To that end, the Racers created a system of smileys that each member "earns" as she pays her way out of the hole. When you win your race, you get a rose.

But perhaps the most powerful anti-debt force in the universe was unleashed almost by accident, as the Racers slowly but steadily started making progress toward the finish line.

That force was camaraderie, community spirit -- call it what you will. I think of it as the buddy effect.

"It's not like you can talk to your best friend about your financial problems -- or your mom or your sister," says Angela Bauer-Friedman, who co-founded a companion working group known as the Women in Red Savers.

"So having a forum where you can say, 'I just got a $25 birthday check, and I'm putting it toward my Visa balance' -- and then getting a round of cheers from your fellow Racers -- it's incredible."

That's because what getting out of debt requires, more than anything, more than money itself -- is stamina.

Tales from the Racers

Why does it take so long to break free of it? Because, as financial expert Jonathan Pond explains, most people make a simple but drastic mistake when they borrow from their cards or homes: They don't think about having to repay the money with after-tax dollars.

Why debt's so tricky

What it means is that if you go into hock for $5,000 on your MasterCard, it will cost you about $7,500 in gross income to come up with the cash you need to pay that balance.

And that doesn't take into account the buildup of interest.

It's the group support of the Women in Red Racers that helps people steel themselves for a looooong uphill battle -- and succeed.

And success is what these Racers are all about. The Racers are not even 2 years old, yet together, a few hundred members have collectively paid off nearly $3 million worth of credit cards, home-equity loans, car loans, student loans and even a couple of mortgages. The tally is more than $4 million if you count the debt paid off by Racers who have dropped out.

If you feel like your debt is dragging you down and you don't know how you'll get out from under, maybe it's time to put on your running shoes. Ready, set . . .

Published July 16, 2008