In my 20’s, I spent money however I wanted and lived with no financial plan. Then, my life turned upside-down with a surprise pregnancy, and all of the sudden I was getting married, buying a house, purchasing a bigger car, and paying medical bills. 

Credit and debt felt like the answers to my problems because I didn’t have money or a plan to take care of myself and my family. 

Life threw more curve balls as I took over the family business after my father’s death, had a second child, and my marriage ended in divorce. My life felt like it was wrecked. My home was foreclosed, and I couldn’t pay my bills or child support. This was the hardest season of my life, and it seemed impossible to recover. 

It took a lot of hard work, sacrifice, and perseverance, but ultimately I did recover. Now, I’m living the financial life I only dreamed I could. I have a solid plan for my money, and I’m completely debt free. I even paid off my house!

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I grew up in a family where I never gave much thought to how money worked.

My father frequently tried to teach me practical money lessons, but as someone who labeled herself as bad at math, I simply wasn’t interested. Not to mention, I told myself there was plenty of time to figure it out “later.” 

As a young adult, I got married and continued my lackadaisical approach to finances. We lived outside of our income and didn’t budget. I mostly worked commission-based jobs, which made it feel even harder to apply a budget to our lifestyle. We moved often in the first years of  marriage, and while we paid off our debt with each move, the cycle would just start over again. As the “spender” in our marriage, I see now that my overspending and lack of a money plan put a strain on our relationship and goals. 

Over time, I learned to think about money differently, which caused a real change in my actions.

Today, our finances look very different...