16 of the Biggest Things People Did To Change Their Financial Lives for the Better

"After I got divorced, I moved back in with my mom and dad. My girls and I lived with them for almost two years, which helped me save on rent and child care costs. That breathing space helped me pay off my legal fees from the divorce and rebuild my savings. The downside was that I didn't have sex for two years because ... I was living with my parents!"

"I got pregnant when my daughter was only 10 months old. Then we found it was twins! At the time, I was doing a job that I loved but only made about $50,000 per year. Infant day care costs about $1,200 a month in my area, so when we did the math on day care for three kids under the age of 2, it became clear that it didn't make sense for me to keep working anymore.

"I quit my full-time, professional job and became a SAHM. Now I do Instacart shopping on the weekend and we probably bring in more money with me doing that then I would if I'd kept working at my 'real' job."

"Housing costs are really bonkers here, so I wasn't sure we'd be able to ever become home owners. A few years ago, my best friend found a duplex for sale and suggested that our families buy it together and we did. It wouldn't work for everyone, but we were really careful about having good communications and a lawyer to help us draw contracts make sure we had plans if either family wanted to move and stuff like that. We couldn't have bought a house on our own, so this works great for us!"

"One of the biggest choices we made for mostly financial reasons was to terminate a pregnancy. I was in my second year of medical school when I got pregnant following a birth control fail. I already had a 5-year-old but I knew that having another baby at that moment would totally derail me from med school and from the earning potential that comes with it. I chose an abortion so I could keep working on path to becoming a doctor and I've never regretted it. I'm an Ob-gyn now (and a mother of three) and I'm glad I waited until I was in my career before I had another child."

"I've lived in big cities my entire life, until we moved to a rural area about three years ago. My husband is a doctor and we had about $250,000 in student loans, which was overwhelming. We found a program that helps pay those loans down in exchange for moving to an area that has a shortage of doctors. Between the loan help and the lower cost of living, we are living a lot more comfortably than we were in our city apartment."

"We live about a mile away from a major stadium, so we've both started doing a ride share side hustle. On nights when there is a concert (and thus surge pricing), we drop the kids off with my parents and we drive. We've been averaging making between $500 to $750 extra every month, which we are using to pay off credit card debt."

"I got divorced about three years ago from a man who cheated on me the whole time. He made loads more money then I did and so he has to pay me child support and alimony. The alimony would end if I got remarried, so I'm staying single. On paper at least! I have a great girlfriend but I want my jerk of an ex to pay me every penny (which I am saving for a down payment on a house), so we won't get married until after his last alimony check clears."

"Ours is kind of a painful story. My husband's career dream was to become a history professor. He started grad school and we realized that it would take him about seven years to finish. In that time, he'd barely make any money and we'd have to live on a combo of my salary and student loans. After two years, we had a serious talk. It had became obvious that we were not going to be able to have kids, to own a house, or to build a financial future while he was in grad school.

"The problem is that the job market for history professors is TERRIBLE, so there were no guarantees he'd even get a good job when he was done. We eventually decided the financial struggle wasn't worth the risk, so he dropped out and got a real job. It isn't his dream job but at least we can afford kids now."

"I sold out for more money! I've always used my accounting degree to work at nonprofits that align with my core values. Nonprofit pay is terrible though so I ditched the nonprofit sector and am working for The Man in a corporate job now. I feel a little guilty that I'm not making the world a better place, but I make three times what I used to!"

"I declared bankruptcy. I never thought I would do that. I was raised that you always have to take responsibility for your own debt. I was between jobs (and health insurance) and I got in a bike accident. The medical bills were horrible and I couldn't work for a few months so we were living on credit cards. That one accident lead to over $50,000 in debt and I knew we couldn't pay it off. We did the bankruptcy to give us a fresh start and a chance to have a financial future."

"We live in California, which is great. Unless you want to buy a house. The starter homes in our area are $600,000 minimum. It's crazy if you don't have generational wealth. We really wanted to buy a house though, so our kids will have that generational wealth, you know? We decided to do what we called the all-in year. One year of nonstop grinding and saving money.

"My husband and I both got second and third jobs. We saved every single penny. We cut cable. We didn't eat a single meal out for over nine months. At the end of the year we had $40,000 in our down payment account, which helped us get into our condo. We sold that three years later and had enough for a down payment on a house. It SUCKED that year, but it ended up being worth it."

"I took a $10,000 pay cut two years ago that was the smartest money decision we could have made! I left my job as an office manager to take a similar position at one of the colleges in our area. Once I'd worked there for a year, my kids became eligible to participate in the tuition discount program. We are saving about $25,000 a year in tuition this year with my first kid in college and double that in two years when my daughter goes. The best part is that they don't have to take out loans, so they'll be starting adulthood on a good financial path."

"We swore we would never be the people who moved out of the city and into the 'burbs, but ... the money made us do it. It's just so expensive to live in NYC with kids and we got better schools and more space for less money by moving to New Jersey."

"My husband has a serious gambling addiction. I love him and I'm trying to get him help and figure out if we can save our marriage. We got divorced about six months ago though because I needed to have a way to make sure he didn't cost us our house or totally drain all of our savings."

"I'm currently a gestational surrogate for the second time around. Surrogacy is a complicated process and I do it because I want to help couples have a family. But I'd be lying if I said that the money didn't matter. I got around $30,000 for the first time and I'll get $45,000 this time. That money has paid off my student loans and will help us make a down payment on a house soon."

"We bought our 'dream house' in 2014: 4,000 square feet, a pool, a big yard, the whole deal. Almost immediately, I felt like we were house poor. The yard took so much work, the pool was expensive to maintain, our property taxes and insurance were more than we expected. The house stopped feeling like a blessing and felt like a burden. In 2019, we sold it and downsized to a 1,500-square-foot house with a small yard.

"Did I miss the big house when the pandemic hit? YES. However, downsizing saved us about $,2000 a month and we've been able to travel more and breath easier without feeling so stretched to make the big house dream work."