The PF Bloggers have decided to do a monthly group writing project. We decided to start off with our personal financial histories. We thought it would be a good way for our readers to get to know us a little bit better.

I’ve written several posts about things in my financial past that made me the way I am. You can read about my first financial memories and the money lessons I learned from my parents. This writing assignment had me scratching my head thinking about what else I could possibly say about my financial history. So I’ve decided to just talk facts.

My first job was at McDonalds. I was 17 and making $4.25 an hour. I remember working 41 hours and my check was $104. I was pretty excited about that! haha. But considering my monthly bills totaled $140 a month, it really wasn’t a bad paycheck.

For the sake of the article my next job was at a coffee shop. (I bounced around a bit between jobs, nothing worth mentioning) By this time I had moved out on my own and had about $4,000 in savings. At the coffee shop I worked for tips and brought home an average of $10 an hour. I honestly don’t remember much about my bills during that time. They were minimal. My rent was $425 and I didn’t have any debt whatsoever. Over the next 5 years I was able to bring my savings up to about $15,000. I was 23.

This is where it starts to go downhill. I would like to skip over the next three years but what can you do, that’s how life goes. I got pregnant with my daughter and looking back, the only time her dad and I got along was when we were spending money. I compromised what I knew was right in order to try to keep my daughter’s family in tact. Of course that couldn’t possibly ever work out. I started working at a bank earning about $30,000 a year. Our bills were still fairly reasonable but our spending was out of control. I kept quiet about things I disagreed with in order to keep the peace. When we finally separated my savings account was drained and I had $3,000 in credit card debt. Once I was on my own I was able to pay off the credit cards in about 6 months and began to rebuild my savings. I’m sure I will write a whole post about this time in my life someday.

It didn’t take long for my life to really turn around. Once I got my act together I got married, bought a house, and now have a good sized savings account. I was able to quit my job and become a stay at home mom.

Make sure you check out all the other PF Bloggers to learn about their financial history.

Girls Just Wanna Have Funds

Living Almost Large

Master Your Card

No Debt Plan

Our Fourpence Worth