The Widlunds' Disappointment

A year after the Widlunds began the Debt Diet, their debt has increased by $37,000. Marnie and Mark admit that they stopped listening to Glinda's suggestions and following the Debt Diet principles about six months into the program. Marnie even stopped speaking to their money coach entirely.

Marnie: Not on a personal level. Just the intrusiveness…

Glinda: It was totally on a personal level.

Marnie: It got so invasive and so intrusive, which obviously we needed the accountability, but it got to be to a level that…

Oprah: You didn't want to do it.

Glinda says she thinks the Widlunds were ready to get out of financial crisis, but they weren't really ready to get out of debt. Before they started the program, Marnie and Mark were behind on most of their bills, but now they're back on track. "I think that they were actually ready to take some action but didn't really realize how difficult it was going to be," Glinda says.

Although the Widlunds ended up deeper in debt, they did have a few small successes. Glinda says they refinanced their home, paid off some bills and increased their income by more than $15,000.