When I lost my sight, I spent most of my time in the kitchen or working on a computer.
That’s because I knew I would have trouble paying bills and had no way of getting out of bed.
In my mind, I was on autopilot.
When my family needed to take a break, I would get in the car and drive myself to work, I told myself.
It was the only way I knew how.
After my stroke, I lost control of my finances.
I was broke, with debts of $250,000, mostly to credit cards and medical bills.
My husband was struggling to get a job and was losing his home.
He had no money to pay rent and mortgage.
My children were in and out of foster care.
My job was a precarious one and I wasn’t able to spend the days away from work.
I couldn’t afford a trip to a dentist or a doctor’s appointment.
And there was nothing left to do.
The last thing I wanted was to leave my wife and two young children behind.
I thought that I could handle this.
I had the tools to deal with my financial crisis, but I just couldn’t do it.
I wasn´t going to make it work.
My financial adviser told me that I should just get out of debt.
He said that I was making too much money and had a tendency to blow it.
The advice sounded good, but it wasn´T right.
I knew that if I didn´t make any changes to my lifestyle, I might have to move to a place that had fewer resources and fewer benefits.
I would be forced to find another job or lose the right to work full time.
And if I left my job and left my kids behind, they would have no one to support them.
I needed help.
What I needed to do first was figure out how to get out from under the financial burden of my illness.
I needed financial counseling.
The financial advisor told me to start looking for a new job and start paying off debt.
I went to the local library and looked through their collection of books and magazines.
There was something for everyone.
But when I came back, I noticed that most of the books were geared towards older women.
I started to wonder what was wrong with me.
I looked up the title of one of the most popular books on the subject of financial management.
It said: “What to do when your debt gets out of control.”
It was like an advertisement for a different kind of financial advice.
It explained how to manage the debt of a young woman with a stroke.
In addition to the advice to pay down your debt, it provided advice on how to pay your bills.
“If you are in a position to pay, pay your debts.
But if you are not in a situation to pay,” the title said, “keep your assets in place, keep your savings in place.
Keep your savings at home and make the money you earn from investments.”
The book even provided some practical advice for when you don´t have enough money to cover all of your debts, such as when you lose a job.
It also suggested that if you need a loan, you can use a credit card to make the payment.
In short, the advice for managing your finances was to pay off all of the debts you have.
I learned that I didn’t have the financial skills to manage my finances on my own.
And when I finally found a job that had enough resources to provide for my family, I had to get help.
I began searching for ways to help my wife, children, and grandchildren.
Eventually, I learned of a financial coach that was very helpful in helping me manage my debts.
He would show me the steps I needed on my home page and help me make the changes that I needed.
After the financial coach took a break from teaching me to manage finances, I found myself spending more time with my family.
I became a more independent person.
The financial advisor recommended that I start using my credit card more frequently.
It didn´ t help me much to pay my bills on a monthly basis, but at least I could use the money to buy things like clothing and shoes that I wasnít able to buy before.
By the time I had finished my recovery, my debts were down to about $25,000.
But my financial situation wasn´ t improving.
I still had some expenses and I had been using my husband´s disability to pay for things.
I could afford to pay the bills, but my financial life was going nowhere fast.
I continued to pay $250 a month in rent and medical expenses.
And my credit score was so low that it was impossible to get loans or a credit line from a bank.
Even after my stroke had been under control, the debt was still a problem.
I lost the ability to manage all of my debts, and I didn�t have a way to pay them. And
