We cut back bc we HAD to, then we ADAPTED. We were scammed by a “bill consolidation program” (in 2012, with government backing, non-the-less) they took all of our debt & contacts, so for 2 yrs we paid in $10k, thinking they were settling our debt, until the Sheriff came to the door. Our credit scores went from 720 to...I couldn’t even look. Not only did we lose what we paid into it, BUT the scam leaves u unable to afford to do anything about it. We cut up the credit cards, sold our home, paid cash for a foreclosed home that sat for 2 years with the proceeds, set up automatic payment programs with all the accounts in collections, still paying on 1, and did everything we could to scrape by. We never even applied for government assistance, well, bc that was the scam’s end game. The sheriff told us he delivered 5 more notices regarding the same scam that day. When I say, we did everything, I mean sold all our valuables, scrapped metal for groceries, had yard sales & worked hard, 2 jobs each. We’ve worked really hard to rebuild our credit, not having any loans or credit cards actually hurt our number. Our score went down when we paid our vehicle loan off, but I followed Turbo recommendations to build it back up. You asked, how did we cut back & this is our story. Believe me, it’s not easy, but our son has learned the true value of a dollar & every way to save one.
