Jacquie left her marriage with only her dog, luggage and $10,000 in debt to her name | Exclusive

As Jacquie Gardiner’s plane landed on the tarmac back home in Australia, all she had to her name was her dog, some luggage and around $10,000 in debt.

The NSW woman had just gone through her second divorce after living in the US for 10 years and burnt through her life-savings buying flights to return back home.

Jacquie, 50, tells 9Honey she was blindsided by her mountain of debt after ending her eight-year marriage. “We had a house and some cars, but we also had a lot of debt that I wasn’t aware of until we divorced,” Jacquie explains.

READ MORE: Why Harry and Meghan won’t spend Christmas with the royals

READ MORE: ‘Top secret’ Johnny Depp rumour debunked

“So, by the time I came back to Australia, I was starting over from scratch which was a pretty scary place to be at that age. I had just gone through my second divorce and there wasn’t much left, financially, from that marriage.”

Jacquie felt disappointed she wasn’t in a better financial position at age 50. It was a money “reset” she didn’t need at this stage in her life.

After returning home, Jacquie says she juggled two part-time jobs but struggled to make a dent in her debt or accumulate any savings.

“It was hard because I had no savings and I also had debt, so I always felt torn between building up my savings and paying off the debt,” she says.

“Sometimes I’d just pay off the minimum amount on the debt, and then I never seemed to make much progress.”

Jacquie went from feeling helpless to feeling financially empowered after stumbling across a course called Mastering Money, run by financial organisation SkilledSmart.

It seems simple enough, but the short yet significant course gave her the tools she needed to start shedding her debt.

It also gave Jacquie back a sense of “control” over her money, which she had lost in her post-divorce financial hardships.

“I didn’t feel like I had any control over my money, I didn’t know where it would go,” Jacquie adds.

“It felt like the money came in and then just disappeared and there never seemed to be much leftover.”

READ MORE: The best Black Friday tech deals you should know about

Jacquie began by completing exercises to see where her money was going. She tracked her spending and got a “shock” after realising how her money was spent.

“It was a bit of a shock, but a much-needed reality check,” Jacquie admits. 

“Once I got a clear picture of where my money was going, I was able to see where there were opportunities to bring down my spending

“It also helped me become a lot more mindful with my spending. Just from a few small changes, I was able to quickly bring my expenses down by over $200 per week.”

Her goal was to be debt-free by Christmas 2022. Incredibly, Jacquie paid off her entire post-divorce $10,000 debt in just three months.

It can be scary going out on your own, especially if you’ve never felt confident financially

She finished the Mastering Money course in October and was finally in the “green” for the first time since returning home.

“It was my present to myself,’ Jacquie says happily “I worked really hard on implementing what I learned in the course and putting every penny towards paying that debt off.”

Within nine months of finishing the financial education course, Jacquie has also been able to accumulate wealth – $10,000 of it.

“I never thought I’d have $3,000 in my bank account let alone $10,000 and in just a few months as well,” she adds.

Jacquie says the most important thing she learned from forensically analysing her own finances was that knowledge is power.

READ MORE: TikTok chef shares viral potato-peeling hack

Just knowing exactly where her hard-earned cash was going each week was the key to minimising her spending and maximising her savings.

The course also covered topics such as investing, tax and budgeting.

“It’s given me the confidence that I can achieve my goals, that I’m not doomed to financial failure because I’m older or because I made mistakes in the past,” Jacquie says proudly.

Since slashing her debt and starting a new life as a single woman, Jacquie learned some important truths along the way.

Initially, her life setback made her “scared and embarrassed” to ask for help. But money doesn’t define you – nor does being in debt.

“You can start over, and build a successful life for yourself. It can be scary going out on your own, especially if you’ve never felt confident financially,” she advises.

“But I hope my example inspires other women to know that you can succeed financially on your own, even if you’re starting over from scratch whether that’s because of a divorce or something else. 

“It doesn’t have to take decades to build your life up again, and you absolutely can do it.”

For a daily dose of 9Honey, subscribe to our newsletter here.

15 ways to save money this Christmas