i don't want to look like this. nobody does.

marnie garhand has struggled with her weight all her life. and i don't want to have to deal with this problem ever again. and the last year alone she's packed on 60 pounds. and watching my friends going on vacation, wearing bikinis and stuff, i want that too. marnie, hey! now with ali vincent as her inspiration, marnie is determind to write her own success story. because i really truly believe i deserve a solution to this problem. but will that be enough to get her through? moments like this that you push through are moments that you're going to find that strength, okay? today's episode of live big with ali vincent takes us to the world's famous hollywood sign but first i want to introduce you to marnie garhand. she has a big personality but a bigger appetite.

i go home, rip off my clothes off, get into pajamas, throw on netflix and i start eating. um, bowl of cereal, ice cream, top ramen. as a child, marnie discovered she loved being at center stage. at 17, she was accepted to the prestigious boston conservatory where she majored in theatre. give me a great time. you know, i'm going to say this and this is probably the first time i'm going to say this. i was fat, and i didn't think anyone wanted to watch me sing. so instead, she headed to culinary school, and all the while kept gaining weight, hitting 280 by the time her son aiden was born. i want to be active, i want to be an active

parent for my son. and then marnie met kyle and less than one year ago they tied the knot. marnie had dropped some weight before the wedding. and he's a chef. and immediately he started cooking bbq for me, lots of food, so i didn't have to worry about my weight right? but now, marnie is ready for a change. i'm getting ready to meet marnie for the first time. she wrote into me asking for some help. she's really talented in her singing, she's a chef. she's got a lot of things going on, she just can't get her weight in control. i see here at her doorstep, that she says she's ready for anything, she told me she's ready for anything, i'm ready to find out if that's true. hey marnie! how are you? can i come in? come on in. so what prompted this whole, reaching out to us? ever since i met husband, i've put on about 50-60 pounds, like since that

time, and most of it after my wedding. after waking up and feeling like garbage everyday, i realized i needed to do something. every night i find myself saying i'm not going to do this tomorrow, i'm not going to do this tomorrow. that's like, do what? i really love, ben and jerry's cinnabon ice cream. i will eat an entire carton of it in one setting, horrible. so is this the first time you've struggled with your weight? no, i've been up and down on my weight since i was 12 years old. i lost a very good friend of mine and i turned to food. and i would like sneak food in the middle of night or hide it under my bed. use baby sitting money to go get snacks and like hide them. what made you feel like you had to hide? every time i eat, something that wasn't right for me, i would hear it from my mom, or my grandparents. what would you hear? oh god, my sister has been calling me a cow since i was 13. and my grandparents you know, every time i would see them god you have such a pretty face. you'd look so pretty if

you just lost this weight. my mom said it was time to start looking at colleges, i flew to boston, got a full scholarship. gained the freshman 15, plus 40 pounds. from there i was very steadily, heavy for like ten years. over 200 and something pounds. then i got pregnant with my son and when i gave birth to my son i was 280 pounds. you went to college in boston for, musical theatre. every day when i was at the cafeteria, i would have a fried chicken sandwich, a thing of fries, and thousand island dressing. because nobody's telling me what to do, i'm 17 and, i'm on my own. and i think that watching be balloon up in weight, really held me back from doing a lot of things musically. did it hold you back because you were insecure about getting up on stage, or were you getting passed up on opportunities? both. it's very hard for me to get on stage. you're full of energy and kind of seems like you would be the life of the party.

i feel like i just want to go away make my stomach and double chin, you know. why did you go to culinary school? what was prompt of that? i love cooking. it's a joy for me to watch people eat the food i cook and they're like food gagging. it's going to be fun in figuring out what you like to make and i'll challenge you by saying, okay, well let's make that but you can't use these ingredients. so, no deep frying? do you like deep fry? we have a deep fryer. you have a deep fryer? we do. how often do you use it? often enough that we keep boil in it. often enough to keep boil, fantastic. i need to ask your permission first of all. are you willing to do whatever i ask? yes. i'm like what did i just get myself into. because i'm here, i'm in your house, probably not going to be in here like this again. so i want to go through your cupboards, i want to see what's there. i'm probably going to throw some things out, remove some things. i'm so over being like this and people hurt my feelings when thy look at me you know?

great, so you ready to get started? alright, let's go. okay. up next, we're getting ready. and later, oh god. it feels like it's impossible. live big calorie quiz time, when you're thinking of a sandwich, would you for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat, or a tuna fish sandwich on whole wheat? your answer, coming up.

live big calorie quiz answer time. when you're going for a sandwich you're actually going to want to choose your tuna fish on whole wheat which comes in at approximately 258 calories. versus your peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat that comes in at 420 calories.

to me, that's a huge savings. everything about marnie garhand is big. her voice. her personaliy and her waist line. i don't want to look like this. nobody does. after six months of married life and 60 pounds, marnie has decided it's time for a lifestyle change. so she turned to ali vincent for help. this is you kitchen. this is where the magic happens. this is where the magic happens, awesome. so where are, where's your food? here's our fridge and freezer, which i just have to just, clean out, it's very clean. did you do any house cleaning before i got here? did you throw out all the bad stuff? no. so this is what it normally looks like? this is how it looks like. this is where it might look a little unhealthy. what's in here?

brownies, cupcakes. so you just put a big batch and then freeze them? do you pull them out one at a time? and why? because they're good. tastes delicious. awesome. so we're going to take these out. put those over there. what do we have here? oh my gosh, i totally forgot about those. those are so good. those are so good, let's put those out. french fries, sweet potatoes, sweet potatoes fries. we can have. how do you prepare these though? hahaha, in the deep fryer. look guys it is like literally hidden behind this thing like i can barely, get passed. i know what it is too. creamy artichoke dips, spinach artichoke dips. i found your hidden stash here. no.

and do you eat this usually, a lot? i actually never had it before. i thought i'd try something new. and you thought this was healthy because it said spinach and artichoke? no i thought it would just be good. when you go to the grocery store, do you ever think about what's healthy or do you just simply think about what's good? mainly what looks good. okay we're going to put that over there. because right now, i just don't want you, not that you can't ever have a spinach artichoke dip, in the future, but right now i want you to stay away from creamy dishes, anything like that. if you need to dip something you can do a hummus. oh we got bacon. oh, we got sausage. peas we can do carrots, peas we can do acon ends and pieces, what's that? it's probably good for a sip soup, oh yeah, yeah. just saying. and we're going to take away your bacon because there's turkey bacon which is a better option. not that you can't have bacon but were going to start choosing our more leaner options. kyle, my husband, secretly cries. with the bacon? with everything.

aw, let's get kyle here. kyle! is this leftover? from last night's dinner. how's that if you can't keep it off. stay still. like i'm very hungry right now. well this is something that we're definitely going to lose for left overs. so put that over i gave her free range on me. did you know that? did you know she gave me permission? yeah, i did. and are you okay with that? you're okay with doing whatever she wants right? and you do the smoothies just for. .. just in case i can't catch a meal. okay, that is not okay because i don't want you substituting a meal with a drink. well i would usually not even drink not even half of this is not 120. right 120 calories, half of this is 120 calories. right, that 's not enough for a meal. we want to try to, because we're going to be counting your calories, so much cut them a lot, we don't want you to drink your calories and eat your calories. i heard there's

some crisco so where's our crisco. it's in the closet in the hall. it's for the deep fryer. yeah well guess what, she said i can do anything i wanted to support the both of your healthy lifestyles. so, get the crisco. so we're going to do away with the oil. i'm going to need to get your deep fryer from you. it's full of oil. i'm definitely going to be taking it, i haven't decided wht i'm going to do with it. in the mean time, we have somewhere to go. i'm going to need you to change out of your beautiful little dress. get your tennis shoes on, in something you move in. coming up, good, hands off. i have pains in my side. are you craving ice cream? well if you're like me and you're trying to watch

your diet and calorie in take, instead of ice cream i often think of oh well i'll go for frozen yogurt instead, maybe i'll grab some sherbet. well frozen yogurt still comes in at 140 calorie per cup, and sherbet around 260 calories. my friend told me, why not try frozen fruit ali? it's 120 calories. the next time i want ice cream i'm going to go with a frozen fruit instead.

thirty-two year old marnie garhand is tired of being over weight. i don't want to look like this, nobody does. so she wrote to ali vincent for help. i really truly believe i deserve a solution to this problem. first, ali cleaned out marnie's fridge and freezer but now, things are about to heat up. i want to introduce you to brandon, who's going to be your new trainer. come here brandon. hey! well when we work out we're going to get really sweaty, sweaty, sweaty and you'll need to stay hydrated, hydrated, hydrated. alright let's get started. alright cool. first up, a warm-up on the erx suspension trainer where marnie will use her own weight to build muscle and endurance. you're going to have your hands up like a bird, going to get that chest stretch and then we'll just alternate.

there you go. have your arms up, you're going to step out, feel that stretch and then just switch legs. there you go. and last one. and, good. this one makes me nervous. good, move those hips, no chicken butt, good. keep pulling, keep pulling, and time. good, good. now you get a, kind of a sample what it's going to be like to work with brandon. before we leave the gym though we're going to get you comfortable with a treadmill. what's going through your mind right now? i'm thinking that, i hope i can do this. this was, not as easy as

i thought it would be. and, that i'm kind of ready for the challenge but scared. so you ready to do some intervals? so we're going to start off one minute at a time. you can do anything for a minute right? yeah why not? good, hands off. i have pains in my side. that's just from breathing so go ahead and make sure you breath. i'm really having trouble breathing. good, take it down to 4.5. four seconds, we're going. and go! oh my god, i need to stop, seriously. i'm not trying to complain, or make excuses but i'm having a serious attack. you got to breathe, in through your nose, out through your mouth. you're psyching yourself out so you just need to

calm your breathing down, in through your nose, out through your mouth. but it's hard, because your body's not used to it, and then you panic like i can't do this, it's automatic but you can. you can do it. look at you! show me how much you want this. finish off. moments like this that you push through are those moments that you're going to find that strength. okay? okay. oh god. you can do this! you can do it, ten seconds. you got it, you got it. five seconds. and that's it. jump to the side. good! i can't breathe. yes you can. you are breathing. you lived through it, can i have a hug?

coming up, oh my god, i don't know. don't give up! trying to lose weight? why not substitute one meal each day for salad. it can be either lunch or dinner. you can build a nice big beautiful salad for under 300 calories. not only is it going to look fantastic but it's also going to taste great. there are a couple of things though that you want to keep in mind. you want to stay away from any dressing that is over 50 calories for two tablespoons, and, you're probably not going to want to add your croutons. a serving of croutons is approximately 90 calories. that's too much for this salad. why not add broccoli or fresh caul flower that way you stay on cue for your 300 calories and you you stay on cue for your [ male announcer ]you many new year's resolutions have unrnraveled at the cornr of "good intentions" and "powdered donuts." but walgreens can help you make a healthy change

before you get too far off track. we've got the tools, advice and products you need to trade your old habits for new routines. now at walgreens, finest nutrition vitamins or centrum multivitamins are buy one, get one half off with balance rewards card. at the corner of happy and healthy.

thirty-two year old marnie garhand wasn't sure she was going to make it through her first workout with ali vincent. oh my god, i need to sit down seriously. i'm not trying

to, complain. or make excuses bu i'm having a serious attack. but he bounces back joining ali just two days later for a group hike to the famous hollywood sign but this day might prove to be just as tough to marnie. you guys all here for our hike? yes! that's awesome! i love it. this is marnie. we just filmed her the other day. she's like, she's like wild crazy, crack up so like hopefully you guys start following her journey because i'm really excited for her. i've lost two pounds. she's lost two pounds in two days. so we're going to go ahead and hike and talk and everything as we go. so you guys ready? it's a challenging hike but marnie manages to make it to the top. yay!

this is awesome. i love it. so how many people were up here when you go here? about seven. we got here in 22 minutes. good job. i get to pick on her, for being on my show. so what you have to do right now is take off your back pack. should we give her three or four minutes? to get down? no, no. four minutes to run down to the h, and back and up. we can see you over here. marnie come on, come on. come on marnie, come on girl! who wants to join her? she did it in a minute. you guys, who wants to join her? oh my gosh you killed it. five seconds, do it again. no! yes. we're all doing i. come on. let's go! come on marnie.

run, run, run! come on! don't give up. don't give up. we got this. we're almost there. we're so close. oh my gosh. i can't breathe. you can breathe. come on. gotta go, we got this. come on girl. let's go, a few more steps. no more stopping now. yay! you did it! alright! don't worry, marnie's fine. sometimes working out can lead to dehydration which causes nausea and even vomiting so make sure you drink plenty of water any time you are working out. now that leads me to my big three. three things i hope you take away from marnie's story. number one, don't be afraid to push yourself.

you got the way you are by not pushing hard enough. now it's time for change. just like marnie, you just gotta go for it. number two, it gets easier. the more you workout, the easier it gets. so if it feels easy, it probably is too easy and it's time to change it up. number three, remove the temptation. we took away marnie's deep fryer to help her. now you need to remove the temptation from your life. now remember, just because we remove temptation doesn't mean that we're going to live without healthy and delicious food. in fact i feature all recipes that i feature on live big with ali vincent on the live well website. and if you have a recipe to sharing it with me, ad you better be sharing it with me, post it on my official facebook page we're e. together we're going to help each other live big. okay and ready? jump rope! jumping jacks go! and plank!

i'm going to help you because this is too high. there you go!

still dealing with the fallout from basically opening a business and then closing the doors.

i spend, probably, on a daily basis, five to eight hours out of the day worrying about how i'm going to pay for what i have to pay for the next day. mary, the miller family really needs your help. mary, that's me, award-winning financial expert and one determined woman who believes every family can overcome their bad money habits if they follow my money rules. bad money habits if they follow my money rules. ♪ ♪ today i'm off to hampstead maryland to a family who lives an organic and holistic life but it's causing a natural disaster with their finances. they need my help. hi, we're the miller family.

my name is courtney and i'm 36. my name is luke, i'm 41 years old. we've been married for 10 years and we've been together for 14 years. as a husband, he is very compassionate and loving. he's amazing. courtney is, wow, she's a very energetic person. she's very intense about the things and very passionate about the things she believes in. our family lives an organic, holistic lifestyle. we all enjoy living this lifestyle. my children embrace it. we're the miller kids. they're at a perfect age where they understand that we're trying to teach them a good thing to help live a healthy lifestyle. i wish i could keep my organic... mommy's not listening. sometimes i wish i could eat pizza. i wish everything was healthy for you. like all the cakes and stuff. and candy.

or different kinds of ice cream. sometimes i wish i could have a whole big cheesecake. sometimes i wish i could eat all the food in the world and it wouldn't be bad for me. jake is outgoing, out spoken and fun loving. holly is my princess. she's like a little flower. at least, she kind of projects to be very delicate and very kind of subdued. victoria is probably the polar opposite of that. victoria doesn't so much speak to you as she kind of hurls words in your direction. but she's a sweetheart. luke is my little boy. he is your typical boy. he loves playing with tractors; he wants to work on a farm one day. he keeps to himself. he does his own thing. i work for a very large transportation provider and i'm in sales. 90% of my family's income is my husband's stable job. i like my job. i work for a great company, and it's a company that really has a conscience. there's several things that i do. i'm a personal assistant to a lawyer.

i kind of do odds and end things for her. but i run a small, organic cleaning business. and in addition to that, i went to school and i became a physical therapy technician. in addition to all those jobs i am also doing reflexology, though i only see about two to five clients a week. that would be a good week for me. i teach meditation classes, along with yoga classes. wow. yeah, according to courtney, she has a hundred different jobs, but it depends on how closely you stick to that 'job' definition. that's something where you show up on a regular basis and people compensate you for doing that. i would like for us to get to a place where she had something that was a little bit more stable, that was a little bit more consistent. i'm not even working half of a full time job. i really need to get to working full time again. it exhausting running from one job to one job, being one person and then being another person. i would love to settle down a little bit and focus. i want to focus on one thing. my husband and i opened up a holistic health therapeutic spa in 2006.

we agreed to the small business loan which wasn't much, and we used our credit cards. next thing you know, we had taken an old building and converted it to this immaculate, amazing space. over 4000 square feet of space, with six treatment rooms and a large yoga studio. we put together a business plan. a small business loan only really covered a very very small portion of that. so really, the rest of it got funded on, it was basically personal debt. you know, we've had some money from refinancing the house, and we had a bunch of credit cards. you know, lines of credit that we extended, that we maxed out, in order to make it all happen, to get the doors open. at the end of it, our bill was well over $150,000. initially our business was successful, then the economy literally tanked. i remember it very clearly. spring of 2008, people just stopped coming in. that's when we took a huge hit. and that's when we started making decisions of what were we going to do.

you know it was a really challenging situation, and it's been a really challenging situation because we're still dealing with the fallout from basically opening a business and then closing the doors. even though the storefront is now closed, we still have about $85-90,000 in overhead debt that we're carrying. i think that she had a lot more emotionally invested in it. i think she had a lot more attachment to the idea of having the business. every day that i drive by the wellness center, i can't help but remember the wonderful memories we made helping people. i can't forget it. i miss it terribly. she still has her customers that she sees here, in the basement. we still have yoga classes. we have, one of the things that we're kind of proud of, is we haven't, we've never had to cancel a yoga class. so simply, releasing into the twist. our debt situation has gotten to the point where i have had to consider walking away

from the house. we've been trying to sell our house; it's going on three years now. we put a lot of love and energy into this house, however, it's just too much for us at this time. at this point, we're borrowing money from her dad. i think it's embarrassing. hi dad, it's me. because of our current financial situation, i have to borrow mony periodically, mostly for food and gas. i was wondering, we're doing some food shopping, and i wanted to know if you could help me out with a little bit of money today. it makes me feel embarrassed and it's something that i hope i can stop doing soon. thank you. i love you. bye bye. we're here at the organic market. and we love to buy this food; this is what we feed our family, except it's always stressful because we do not have the money, really, to be here. wait, wait, can we see something cheaper. any money that i'm spending today is strictly borrowed money. i refuse to compromise my children's health on behalf of a few dollars. so today, we spent about 100 dollars. in the last seven days, we spent almost 400 dollars on groceries, buying our

natural foods. food trips were borrowed money, so now i have to spend the next two and a half weeks working to pay for that food money. as we continue to need to buy food. i received a certified letter from our bank letting me know that our five year loan, our small business loan, has come to term. it really caught me off guard, and now i have this $25,000 but i need to pay the entire amount now, up front, or else they're going to pursue legal action. i don't have $25,000 dollars. i'm completely stuck and i don't know what to do. i spend, probably, on a daily basis, 5 to 8 hours out of the day worrying about how i'm going to pay for what i have to pay for the next day. it's a lot. i'm getting upset. i never put it into hours. yeah, it's obviously, we're in a challenging situation.

so there's a lot of, kind of frustration, and a lot of kind of bad feelings that are kind of just tied up with that, with that whole thing. our financial situation, obviously, has negatively impacted our marriage. it has gotten to a place where we didn't know what we were going to do because of the arguing, it got so out of hand. our main goal was not to argue in front of the children. our mom and dad really like, need tips on how to use their money. it's just not sustainable, we need to do something. and we need to do something fairly quickly. and probably something fairly dramatic. mary, the miller family really needs your help. coming up, mary's rules create a big life change for the miller family. i'm very excited about this rule.

i love the miller's commitment to a healthy lifestyle, now i want to see them make that same commitment to healthy finances. hi mary. hey, courtney. nice to meet you. great to meet you. this is my husband luke. how are you? i am very excited to get to work with you. are you guys ready? yeah. we're excited. the good news is that, while there are some problems, there is a window of opportunity. but it is going to require some work. you know it's, we're bailing water on the titanic right now. i mean its... i want you to know, you contacted us just in time. there is a window here that gives you another option. other than bankruptcy and we're going to explore that today. scraping by isn't happening, it's just accumulating more debt and more debt.

it's unsustainable. we're going to put a stop to that, okay? the way to do that is to set down some rules. are you ready for the rules? sure. alright. let's get us started. deal with the past to get a fresh start. you both want a fresh start. there are big decisions, there are tough decisions. you're going to have to make those decisions together and decide what's best. how do you feel about that? i think we're both realistic enough to understand that we're not going to erase those past mistakes, but we need a way to get past those past mistakes. well i think maybe she, they want us to more emotionally let it go, so that you don't continue the emotional negativity that can be attached to the past experiences, just forgiving. it's both. it is tackling it, exactly what you are saying, head on. i mean, you don't want to live in the past. we want to gear this to what kind of future do you want. and i'm going to give you a plan to do it. increase income.

sounds good to me. i love that idea. i know that you want to work and find a steady income and i think the key is to make it a consistent income. preferably one full time day job. something that's consistent, that you can count on. absolutely. courtney i am very excited about this rule. we got you a full time job at the organic market. wow. that's awesome. thank you. their benefits are outstanding, including 20% off. that's awesome. your grocery tab there. thank you. how are you feeling? it's very, kind of, humbling, and just very grateful. family time. it's so important for your guys to not lose sight of why you are doing all of this tough stuff. it's your family. right. so, i'm going to ask you to commit to four hours of family time a week, especially while you are dealing with getting this debt dealt with. you ready?

absolutely. alright, let's get started. let's start working on these rules, right? yep. let's do it. i feel excited about the rules. i'm most excited about having a new job and having an increased income. but overall i'm ready to go. when we return, see what causes mary to cut short her visit with the millers. right now, i think that you guys have some big decisions to make and some important conversations to have.

the millers have a lot on their plate, but they are excited about courtney's new job opportunity. well guys, you know i borrowed your parents for a little bit today. do you know why? i was given a great opportunity by miss mary to get a job working at mom's organic market. yeah. i'm really, really excited. it's great. ching ching. ching ching. first day of work. very excited. i can't wait. yes, here we are. let's get started. i want to introduce you to jen. i'm jennifer, nice to meet you. nice to meet you. courtney. jen is going to be training you today. getting you started, showing you the ropes here. excited? i want to go ahead and just give you a little tour of the store. let's go over to produce first.

so proud of courtney. i know working full time is a little nerve wracking for her but it's what her family needs and she's jumped into this with both feet. courtney, jen, hey. how you guys doing? great thank you. how you feeling? i feel wonderful. i'm excited about everything i'm learning. this really seems like the perfect fit for you. it is. i'm very happy. i'll carry these to the car for you? alright guys, family time. making sure every week there is 4 hours of either game time or play time or whatever you're going to do, you're going to do it together. that is the best rule ever. you like it? awesome. good. so, everybody's all in for game time, and family time. great. deal with the past to create a fresh start. i want you to deal with the past from a financial perspective. getting it behind you so you can have that future.

it's about attacking the debt. there's really one big one, bankruptcy, or negotiate. obviously the more urgent is that sba loan. it's been called in. $25,000. i think you can negotiate with them, to see if you can bring that down dramatically. what you want to think about with a business loan is that once that goes into collection negotiations stop. it's not when they begin. you want to start that conversation now. when you signed the papers for that loan, it said in there, 'any fees associated with collecting this debt get added onto the loan'. so that loan will grow once it goes into collection. so you need to contact them tomorrow. just get the conversation started, so it doesn't go into collections. if they believe you, and believe you're serious, and believe you're negotiating in good faith, you will have someone work with you on the other side. what are we willing to do with the house?

this $2,000 in the hole every month does not include the second mortgage, okay. and if that's defaulted on, essentially, your home's collateral. what you need to negotiate with them now is maybe getting that down a little more and the terms for that repayment. they will work with you. it is in their interest to work with you. this window of opportunity to negotiate, it may not be an option in a month. it is now. you guys have to decide how you want to handle it. that's squarely on your shoulders. there's pros and cons to both. you have your health. you make a good living. you're going to start contributing, making a good living as well. if its bankruptcy, its bankruptcy. the sun will shine again tomorrow even with that. but right now, i think that you guys have some big decisions to make and some important conversations to have. i'm going to go. alright. sure.

i will be back. i wouldn't normally leave at this point. but before i can do anymore, courtney and luke need time to decide what to do with their mounting debt. they've got some big decisions to make and it's really now up to them. i'm hoping that they go with the tough decision, and that is try to negotiate some of this debt away. i think it'll pay dividends over the next decade and help them really re-emerge. i'm keeping my fingers crossed. still ahead: mary makes a return visit to the millers, much sooner than she expected. i've heard some news that things have changed. yes. [ male announcer ] many new year's resolutions have unraveled at the corner of "good intentions" and "powdered donuts." but walgreens can help you make a healthy change before you get too far off track. we've got the tools, advice and products you need to trade your old habits for new routines. now at walgreens, finest nutrition vitamins or centrum multivitamins

are buy one, get one half off with balance rewards card. at the corner of happy and healthy.

the last time i saw courtney and luke, courtney had a new full time job opportunity. they both had some critical decisions to make concerning tht big debt of theirs. but i've heard some news that has me returning a little sooner than i expected. last time i was here visiting your family courtney, you had just got a full time job opportunity that has some consistent guaranteed

income and a great discount on that organic food that you love. absolutely. i've heard some news since then that things have changed, so i figured i've got to come straight back to you and hear what happened. they said they had part time opportunity, and a full time opportunity. however, they required anybody, any employee, and they don't make exceptions, to work every saturday and sunday, all the time. i said i'm a great worker, and i would love to work here, is there a way that you could ask for me to see if they would make an exception, where i could work maybe two or three weekends instead of four. at this point, you know, you are in a situation where that guaranteed income, that consistent, guaranteed income, plus that discount, really would come in handy. sure. so why not work every weekend? it just wasn't feasible with my life. as soon as you say, "this doesn't work for me" or "i'm not able to do this" they say, "next", because there is a line of people waiting out the door that need that job.

i think the most disappointed person was myself, honestly. you were going to make some decisions about all the debt. mm-hmm. tell me what you've been able to do in the meantime. we went on a fairly granular level, went through our financial situation as far as our outgoing expenses on a monthly basis, as far as the debt that we have, that we need to kind of chip away at. we really took the time to take a real, real hard look at that. do you feel that you will be able to negotiate with your creditors? i don't think that's going to be an option at this point. you're still at a point where you need to make some decisions, right? yes. yes. i think there are some challenges there that are going to be difficult to get past. when you look at the two options, one of the things about bankruptcy that is unattractive is the fact that you are not in control of making the decisions, right? right. it's the courts that will make the final decisions about what happens. sure. it's not you. and that can add to the stress, that can add to some of the draa that plays out. at the same time, if you're able to negotiate these loans, then you're

back in control to some extent. absolutely. a lot of other families in this country, right now, are going through the same thing. i don't think that people realize just how much of a crush your debt can be, emotionally. yeah, i mean you have to kind of let go, to a certain extent, and understand its debt, you know it's not you, it's not who you are. it's something, that it's important and its' something that you need to deal with, but you know, if kind of if it all fell apart tomorrow, you'd still be you, and you'd, you know have all of your talents and all of your abilities, and you know, hopefully there's a way to get past it. hopefully our kids don't have to learn the hard way, and that they can learn from some of the mistakes that we've made in that regard. there's a silver lining in everything. sure. it's that they're not going to be these kids who think that credit cards are cash and that they can just spend them and use them in any way they want; they're going to be better off in the future because of that lesson. the third rule was family time. right. have you been able to make time for the kids and have

that family time? absolutely. yeah. i'm like a rock star when i come home. like, i come, i walk in the door and they're like "daddy!" i'm like, yeah! i walk in and they come running up. i mean, how cool is that? just completely forget about whatever happened, whatever kind of bad stuff happened that day, or whatever frustration you're dealing with, and it's just gone. you're in the thick of it right now. right. it's not pleasant, but it will pass. and better days, brighter days, will come as a result of the hard work today. hang in there and good luck to you both and to your whole family. thanks the millers still have a lot of work to do. i can offer them some rules, but it's to each and every family to decide if and when they want to follow those rules. i hope courtney and luke make the decision to get ahead of their debt. we'll be back to find out. in the meantime i'm off to find another family in the meantime i'm off to find another family that needs my help.

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