Hi everyone, my name is Melissa and I have a strong passion for Money and helping others with it!
A Little History:
Growing up I had the opportunity to see both sides of the money spectrum. In the beginning, my family didn’t seem to have money problems. We always had more than enough. When I was around 10 my parents split. My brother and I lived with my mom, who up until that point didn’t have to work. We watched her struggle to make ends meet. I went off to college in a different state to try to change the path of my life. All that really led to was more debt. I had no knowledge of how to handle money, credit cards, or what a credit score was. Two years later I had my degree but nothing more to show. I had starved endless nights and ended up evicted from an apartment I could no longer afford. It was time to give up and go home.
More Debt:
I did get a job right away so that was a good start. But I was also a young adult wanting to experience things and live on my own. So naturally, that consisted of more credit cards. My job paid right above minimum wage and still, I had no clue how to manage money. My student loan re-payments started coming in, garnishments from past debt. I was sinking but had no guidance on how to get out. I just paid what I could and figured this was my life.
Fast Forward 8 years. Yes, 8 years of living paycheck to paycheck. I was finally making a little more money and at this point, I have a family. My other half and I are able to pay all our bills and on time, but our credit is incredibly low from our past choices. Credit cards are all charged and still we think this is normal. A co-worker of mine starts telling me how she is buying a house, and not with the 20% down that I thought was required. This has me fascinated…I want to buy a house! I reach out to a mortgage lender and this was the start of a huge change in our life.
Moving Forward:
I started to learn about credit and how to manage money. We worked on improving our credit score and starting a savings. I read every money book there was. I became so fascinated with how you could change your life, how the way we lived did not have to be the norm. It took time and a lot of effort but we did it. We bought our first house, paid off all of our credit card debt, and joined the 800 credit score club. It is possible as long as you want it and I love to show people how they can change their life!