When I reached out to NVME in 2020, I was a newly single mom caring for three children while working two jobs in healthcare. There were limited finances for paying the mortgage and all of our bills. And our house needed repairs.

I took the My Money Works class and learned about home spending plans, increasing savings, cleaning up debt, and using resources such as matched savings programs. I was approved for a Family Development Account (FDA) to save $1,000 and get a match of $4,000 towards repairing our home.

As it turned out, there were so many needed repairs that I wondered if I should sell my home. This was followed by going from two jobs to one, decreasing my earnings, and I fell behind in mortgage payments. Luckily, because I had been saving for over six months, I was able to change my FDA goal from home repairs to emergency savings and use the funds to pay my mortgage and bills and purchase a reliable car. After selling my home, I used my remaining FDA funds in 2023 when we experienced health challenges and my earnings fell short of our financial needs. Again, my savings and the match helped me pay the rent and bills.

I’m now working in education–my new job pays better and my schedule aligns with my children’s schedules, which is much easier to balance and manage. I am very happy in my new job, renting a home that is near my work, and building my savings up again. My next goal is to buy an affordable and safe home for my family.