We couldn’t afford $3 fish food

When my husband, Jesse, finished law school, I thought we were finally about to have a little breathing room in our budget.

We had worked so hard to get through the law school years without taking on debt. We’d lived in a tiny basement apartment, stretched our grocery money, worked side jobs, and said no to so many things.

But the job we’d been counting on didn’t work out.

We were devastated. We’d been living on around $1,000 a month, and this new job paid $36,000 a year. To us, that felt like a HUGE pay increase! We’d planned so much around that income.

I remember how shocked I felt… and honestly, just numb.

I was pregnant with our second baby, so sick and tired in my pregnancy, trying to get a side business off the ground, and adjusting to motherhood with our toddler.

Just when we were starting to feel really desperate, Jesse got a last-minute job offer in another city. With only about a week’s notice, we found a new townhome to rent, packed up our little apartment, and moved.

I thought we would finally be able to breathe a sigh of relief.

But that was short-lived. That job didn’t last long, either.

We found ourselves with a toddler, a newborn, a bank account with very, very little in it, and no steady paycheck. Plus, we now lived in a new town where we only knew a few families.

It was lonely. It was exhausting. And I was so anxious so much of the time.

I remember running the numbers over and over in my head. My chest would tighten as I wondered how we were going to pay our bills.

In fact, I will never forget the day money was so tight that we couldn’t afford fish food for the little fish we’d gotten free when I mystery-shopped a pet store.

It cost around $3.

We had to wait two full weeks before we could find those $3 in our budget.

(Gratefully, the fish somehow survived and lived quite a while after that no-food incident!)

So if money feels heavy to you right now, I remember that feeling. I get what it looks like to have a really tight budget and to feel so much stress and anxiety around money.

For me, starting with what I had meant using a laptop, an internet connection, and the things I’d learned about stretching our money. Eventually, those became the starting point for MoneySavingMom.com.

I couldn’t see that future when I was sitting there scared about our bills. I could only take the next step.

It’s one of the reasons I wrote The 7 Habits of Financially Healthy Women.

I wanted to put the encouragement AND the practical help I needed back then into one book.

If you’ve been asking yourself…

• “Where is our money actually going?” I’ll walk you through getting a clear picture of your income and expenses.
• “What could I possibly do with what we have right now?” I’ll help you identify resources you already have that could help you save or earn money.
• “What if I’m just bad with money?” We’ll look at beliefs that might be keeping you from trying—and how to begin challenging them.
• “Where do I even start?” I’ll help you choose a manageable next step instead of trying to fix everything at once.

My heart is to help you sit down with your money and have a clearer picture of what you have, what needs your attention, and what you can do next.

If you need help finding your next step, I wrote this book for you.

And right now, when you pre-order, you can also receive FREE bonus resources to help you put what you’re learning into practice.

We’ll be selling these bonuses as a bundle starting in January, but you can get them FREE when you pre-order before the offer ends Tuesday, October 27, at midnight.

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P.S. If you already know you want the book, order before Tuesday, October 27, at midnight so you can get the bonuses, too! Get your copy and claim your FREE bonuses here.