Til Debt Do U$ Part

- Season 6

(2009)

Married forty-somethings Alex and Valery are both creatively oriented, both jazz musicians, Alex with a degree in jazz composition. They are both not living their musical dreams... to some extent. Valery is four months into her personal bankruptcy. In the meantime, she collects employment insurance while she indulges herself in those things that make her happy: taking an expensive course in expressive arts therapy seemingly solely as a self-improvement measure, and filling their small rental house with artistic little touches, which includes antiques and collectibles....

Together for twelve years, early forty-somethings Mike and Sheila are both recovered alcoholics who met at a treatment center. Both have had difficult emotional pasts, which they hope is behind them. Part of their recovery was being told not to deprive themselves, which they have not done, especially in furnishing their house. Mike is the sole household breadwinner, earning about $70,000 annually as a sheet metal mechanic, while Sheila goes to school, and takes care of her aged grandmother, with who they have a difficult relationship. Mike realizes that the amount of ...

Married couple Amy and Paul earn a comfortable $110,000 per year. They bought an older house, which they are addicted on renovating without considering the cost of each project. As they started some renovations, they found additional problems, such as asbestos and termites, which ended up costing more money to rectify. Despite this uncontrolled spending on the house, they have not cut back on any of their other spending. Paul, who admits he has always spent money foolishly on such items as fast and junk food, sticks his head in the sand about their household finances....

Married couple Melissa and Ted are a police officer and paramedic respectively, earning a comfortable combined annual income of $155,000. Because of their chaotic work lives while they deal with two pre-school aged children, they are always on the run, not thinking about where they spend their money, or communicating with each other about where he/she spends, which they both do largely on impulse. They have upsold their house twice, thinking they could make a profit on each sale, but realistically they lost on both while having a larger mortgage for each successive ...

Early thirty-somethings Jillian and Orson, who have two toddlers, earn a combined income of $70,000 annually, which does not go very far for a family of four in the expensive city where they live. They were already in debt individually when they came together. Jillian spends on little things, such as going out for lunch with coworkers leaving the brown bag lunch Orson made for her sitting uneaten in the fridge, which over time adds up. Orson works at a low paying job he doesn't like, but feels he needs it to support his family. Jillian has a large extended family, ...

Ed and Brandi are engaged. Ed, a pilot, used to make $115,000 annually, but has temporarily taken a $40,000 job instead to reduce the stress in his life. Ed, the controlling one in the relationship, still spends like he has that higher paying job, often to buy Brandi gifts, or to go out on the town (sometimes out of town as they can get cheap airline tickets) for expensive meals, including the best bottles of wine. He has dipped into his retirement savings to pay for many of Brandi's gifts. Ed takes care of paying all their household fixed costs, such as rent and ...

Angela and Gord have had to grow up really quickly over the last few months. They have just gotten engaged because of Angela's unexpected pregnancy. Neither ever having left home, Gord is moving in with Angela into Angela's parents' home, neither having to pay rent. They are planning their weddings (i.e. they are having two different weddings) and for the baby all at the same time, the latter which includes their combined $75,000 per annum income soon being reduced because of Angela's upcoming maternity leave. Both are bringing debt into their marriage, both who spend...

Now with two children (one preschool aged and one infant), Paula and David have been in a common law relationship for eighteen years. Their money problems have stemmed largely from David's uncontrolled habit of shopping online, most specifically for stereo equipment and sporting goods. David doesn't pay attention to money issues so he never fully understands the extent of their money problems. Paula doesn't learn about his purchases until they have arrived in the house. In rebellion, Paula goes out and shops for things for herself. Their consumer debt sits at $56,000,...

Despite being married and having an infant son, Karissa and Karl, who earn a combined income of $105,000 annually, largely see their lives as separate from each other. Beyond shared hobbies such as off-roading, they do other things separately, including spend. As such, Karl, in particular, sees Kari's debts as being her own, and his as being his own. Kari has no idea how big their debt is, so while Karl wants Kari to get her debt under control and pay it off, Kari does nothing to support that as a goal, especially while she was on her ten month maternity leave which ...

Evelyn and Andy live off Andy's annual income of $128,000, as Evelyn is the stay at home housewife and mom to two infant children. Despite their comfortable income, they still have $73,000 of consumer debt, and no house of their own. They used to own a house, but moved across the country twice, the first move to Calgary which led to Evelyn feeling isolated and like they were starting all over again, the issues at the core of her emotional spending, especially on online makeup (as she feels stuck at home with nothing else to do) and spa treatments. Andy can't ...

Dina and Bill, who have two teenagers at home, Jasmine and David, have a combined annual income of $105,000. They bought their house ten years ago for $154,000, which carried an initial mortgage of $130,000. They have done some renovations to the house, some which ended up being incomplete, such as for the kitchen, because they ran out of money. Those renovations plus some bigger ticket items, such as vehicles, they have since rolled into their mortgage. They don't like to deprive their children of anything, sending them off to expensive specialty summer camps among ...

Ivy and Carson, who have two toddlers, live on Carson's single $80,000 per annum income while Ivy stays at home with the kids, her maternity pay which ended six months ago. Ivy will soon be returning to work, but that will be short lived as she is once again pregnant. They are still spending as if they had Ivy's income. They are highly family focused, which includes buying organic and fair trade, largely for health reasons, at whatever the financial cost to themselves, and at whatever price. Carson handles all the transportation needs for the family as Ivy doesn't ...

Lucy and Dave, who have two teenagers at home, have a healthy combined annual income of $139,000, but they still have major debt problems to the tune of $60,000 in consumer debt alone, not including their mortgage or what consumer debt that have already consolidated into their mortgage. They know that the biggest mistake they made was borrowing money for the down payment for their house. But they also know that the largest problem to that consumer debt is Lucy's addiction to shopping. She shops for all the family's needs, but she spends uncontrollably on unnecessary ...