How We Went from “Just Getting By” to “Better Than We Ever Thought Possible”
As I sit here this Thanksgiving Eve I can’t help but think about how different things were 3 years ago on Thanksgiving. Our first son had just turned 6 months old and my husband and I were thankful, but also tired, stressed, and facing his first Christmas without really knowing how we were going to pay for it. Every week since his birth we would sit down and try to figure out how we were going to pay bills and groceries. Every week we would end up stressed out and feeling helpless. We knew that as he got older our baby expenses were going to go down, but we weren’t sure when that was going to happen, or if we could financially hold on that long.
Like most people our age we came into our marriage both carrying some debt from credit cards and student loans. Then we bought a house, racked up some joint credit card debt, and both had car payments.
It wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t more than we could handle.
However, once our little bundle of joy come along, it all of a sudden became very clear (even through the lack of sleep) that we needed to change something. We felt like we were living paycheck to paycheck even though we were both making a decent living. So we tried doing budgets on our own, we bought books written by experts, and bought software we both thought would help. Some months would be better than others, but for the most part it didn’t work and for the life of us we couldn’t figure out why. We both have business degrees and accounting backgrounds.
This should not be hard to figure out.
We could not get on the same page regarding our finances, or figure out a system that would work for what we were trying to accomplish.
In April of 2012, I came across the Fiscal Fitness website from a Facebook post from a college friend. As soon as I saw what Kelsa was offering, I knew this was the answer.
It took me 3 months to convince my husband that we needed to meet with Kelsa. All it took was one hour.
One hour to change our lives.
One hour for us both to believe that not only could we get through our current financial situation, but that we had control over what was happening to our finances and that it could be better than we ever thought possible.
In the year and a half since we started working with Kelsa we have paid off, or restructured, $20,000 in debt. That’s huge! We have worked our budget to help us live the life we want to live. We get to do the things we want to do and spend our money on what is important to us, all while working within the structure of what we know will work. We have been able to make improvements to our home, handle emergencies, grow our family, and enjoy our lives along the way. Kelsa and her system have taken stress out of handling our money. We have long term goals I know we will reach. It is work, but once you take control of your money and your budgets you don’t mind the work because you know the outcome!
I cannot express how thankful we are for Kelsa and Fiscal Fitness. Kelsa is so much more than a financial coach. She is a trusted advisor, a marriage counselor (or a referee!), and a life coach. She has amazing insight, compassion, and concern for her clients and she is just as invested in your budget working as you are.
Working with Kelsa has brought us peace of mind.
We now know that we can handle anything that comes our way. My husband and I are so much happier knowing that we understand and control our finances, and that when we need help we can call Kelsa. Thank you Kelsa, for being the amazing person that you are and for giving so much of yourself to your clients. I don’t know where we would be without you!!
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