debt-ridden household

Shin Myung-in, 59, who runs a small machine parts supplying company, used to spare no money on designer's clothes. But it is now a thing of the past. Now she frequents to a second-hand shop near her office to buy clothes worth only one tenth of those she used to buy at a department store.

Before the business went sour the family used to eat out quite often, board a plane rather than bus or train when going to other city, and shop at department stores. But things turned bad in 2000 and she had to take out W20m in loan before the company went bust.

"Without the loan, our business must have gone bankrupt," she said.

The business is still struggling and the company earns only slightly enough to get by, so they only manage to pay a monthly interest of W150,000, postponing to pay up the principal.

She said she tried to be frugal in every part of living.

"My husband and I had 4 or 5 monthly meetings with family friends but we reduced that to only two. And during winter, we don't turn up the heater until it gets really cold."

Her rickety family car is 11-year-old, apprently causing lots of problems. They badly need a new car but can't afford it now.

"Once our car just stopped in the middle of nowhere during travel, so we had it towed to a repair center and had to rent a car for the rest of our holiday."

"My husband has been for years really anxious to get a new car. So when the business picks up again and we pay off all our debt, the first thing I will do is buy a new car."