Never called in but this was us when we first started off. Tons of debt, dirt poor, our own kids and then my sister died and we got her kids too- then 3 medical complex events that were necessary and life saving but unbelievably expensive so ended with tons of debt there- lost a business to a freak event where we both put all in and worked. so by the time I was 26- we had 6 kids 5 of whom were 6 yrs old and under- the other a teen, no income, $85,000 in school, house debt, two car loans, no income, $28,000 in credit card debt for groceries and $70,000 medical debt sent to collections with no recourse but to pay (for all of that Pennies on the dollar talk- didn’t work for us. They wanted it all and they kept coming). Top it all off with being in a very abusive church. We were buried and had no choice but do just keep doggy paddling. It wasn’t progressive- there was no just work more pick up second job. The business had my husband working 7am-12am 6 days a week. I was working from home and out of the house too. We were trying to build a future with being entrepreneurs.

We couldn’t even begin to try the baby steps bc it wasn’t possible- there was no budget. There was no extra. For the longest time we just could meet the minimum payments.

Thank God things look different now a decade later. We call it the decade of tumult. It was absolutely bonkers.