The Widlunds' Disappointment

Marnie admits that if she and her husband had listened to Glinda, they might have been able to put their additional income to good use and pay off some of their debt.

"I think, too, that maybe I wasn't listening to all of the bigger goals," Marnie says. "I think we achieved the majority of my goals that I wrote down, but I wasn't seeing everything that was available to us. I'm very remorseful about that but…next year."

Once the Widlunds refinanced their home, Mark says they paid off a few bills and then lost focus. "We felt like we had done it all," he says.

Glinda says that debt starts to add up when people aren't held accountable for their financial decisions. "Everybody needs to be accountable to somebody, whether it's a coach, whether it's accountable to your partner," she says. "So because our communication broke down, there wasn't that accountability to say, 'This is what I plan to do.'"

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