It’s been a couple of months since I’ve blogged about Sarah. I’m sad to report that our arrangement has come to an end. I’ve lost contact with her and won’t be continuing with her as a case study.

No matter. In the end, it was very difficult to try to convince her of what she should do. Many times I’ve reminded her to do simple things like bring a lunch to work to cut down on expenses. However, I believe she had only brought lunch to work 1-2 times. Her work offered free gourmet coffee but that didn’t stop her from buying her coffee each day. She couldn’t afford her car payments but that didn’t stop her from buying a new car. The point is, as much as she SAID she wanted to save money and change her life around, she didn’t do it. There’s an expression – you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. In this case, I can advise her on the things to do, but until she really wants to do it for herself, she won’t.

I wish Sarah all the best in her life.

So it’s been a while since I updated the status of Sarah’s financial situation. The last time we chatted, she was heading in the right direction – on her way to balancing her books. She had paid off one credit card debt and was managing her okay with her other credit debt. Things seem to be going her way.

So it came as a shock to me when she told me her financial situation has gotten a lot worse. The payments for her new car are eating away at her cash flow. This was something I brought to her attention before she bought her car. However, she felt that she could handle it if she cut back on some of her expenses. The problem was, she hasn’t cut back on her expense yet.

One of the major expensive for the coming winter is enrolling her son in hockey. It cost $450 a season and that’s before the hockey equipment. Hockey requires a major commitment both in time and money. Unfortunately the $450 has put her in negative territory. I understand that she wants her son (5 years old) to not miss out on important aspects of a childhood, but her financial situation doesn’t allow for it.

She’s also informed me that she’s maxed out her other credit card. We didn’t get into what she purchased but it’s obvious that she didn’t initially have the funds to pay for it so she charged it. She told me she’s been using pay day loans again to make ends meet – $200 every two weeks. The cost for pay day advance – $40! In her situation, she needs all the money she can save and every pay day, she’s already $40 down the hole. She’s been getting credit card offers too but I advised her not to do it. She can’t handle her current debt, what makes her think she can handle more?

I’m not sure of what else I can do to help her. She knows what she NEEDS to do, but she’s not willing to do it. There are 2 ways to get out of debt. 1. Earn more money and 2. Spend less than you earn.

She’s mentioned that maybe she can take up a part-time job. Sure but that takes her away from her son 2 evenings a week and maybe 1 day during the week. Is she willing to make such a sacrifice?

The other option is to spend less. But I’ve not seen this commitment in her either. She buys lunch regularly and I seldom see her pack a lunch. It’s money she doesn’t really have to spend. Smoking is eating away at her money too but she hasn’t cut back either.

I will try to persuade her to cut back on her discretionary spending. However, I can only suggest and offer her advice. I can’t make her do anything she doesn’t want. I really do want her to succeed but she has to want to succeed herself.