I've had a difficult time "getting" the whole finance thing. As a young girl, whatever allowance or babysitting money I earned just slipped right through my fingers. I had no sense of the true cost of things, or the true value of money. As I ventured out into the working world after high school, I somehow managed my money well enough to pay the rent, but other than that, I was clueless. I literally drifted my way across the country, and eventually landed myself into dire financial straits where bankruptcy was the only choice left. It ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me. For one thing, it forced me to get rid of all my credit cards (I had a bad credit rating anyway so they were no good to me). And a side benefit of bankruptcy was that I lost all of my furniture, but then ended up with an apartment full of borrowed stuff - which taught me a living lesson about the true generosity and kindness of my friends, and it also taught me how to ask for help (which I'd always had trouble doing before).

For seven years following my declaration of bankruptcy, I had to pay everything by cash. The bankruptcy counsellors taught me how to budget. But the reality was that I was not able to make enough money to make ends meet - even though I was living in a mouse-infested dive of an apartment and probably paying the lowest possible rent, I still wasn't bringing in enough to house, feed, clothe and transport myself. So it remained a struggle for many years. I'd like to say that I figured it out on my own, but the truth is that it wasn't until my hubby came into my life that I was finally able to manage my finances satisfactorily - and that's because I finally had enough money to manage!

He's taught me all about managing my money, to the point where I have been able to invest almost all of my parent's inheritance money, which brings me in dividends, which give me enough spending money each month to enjoy retirement at 50. I'm not rich by any means, and have had to scale down the budget considerably, but we're comfortable enough. Twenty years ago, it would have been so far beyond my wildest dreams to think that I would ever be able to retire, much less at 50!! (Mind you, the premature retirement was forced by my breakdown in 2002.) Still, I'm delighted with my new ability to manage money now!

If anyone's interested, I'll share how I also broke my shopping addiction. I inherited that from my Mom and it took me close to 40 years to get it under control. It's still one of my favourite pasttimes, but now I control it, it doesn't control me or my bank account.