Sally’s story begins with the bare facts. She is a single mother, living in subsidized house, and facing the challenges of raising two children on her own, one of whom is disabled.

She has to limit herself to a work environment that allows her to see to the needs of her disabled child at any time. That means a minimum wage job and a constant struggle to make ends meet. Sally knew that, living in Spring City, she needed a car. Her old car was about to turn its last corner, so she enrolled in Open Hearth’s Family Savings Partner-Program, which she had heard about through a social services resource person available to her through her subsidized housing association.

Sally had always wanted to be able to save her money, a little bit at a time, but had never really been able to manage it. Somehow, she had always seemed to go from pay check to pay check, barely managing. “I thought it was a great program for me, a real motivator, really disciplined.” Sally remembers. “I was always able to save a little bit, but not consistently. This gave me the discipline I needed.”

Sally started saving through the FSP program, and by doing so, she changed her life. She started traveling down a different road than the one she had been on. Before she had quite met her savings goal, her old car died on her. Through Open Hearth’s Jumpstart Program, Sally was given an interest free loan to have the old car repaired so that it could see her through until she no longer needed it. Open Hearth’s programs are designed to enable people the tools they need, such as a reliable form of transportation, to get themselves through the hard times.

Sally saved for two years and accumulated $2,000. Open Hearth matched her savings, so she was able to buy a previously-owned car. The 1997 Mercury Tracer that she chose has proven to be a reliable set of wheels, but what is really carrying her forward now is Sally’s ongoing commitment to saving consistently and improving her lot in life through the power of a disciplined savings program.

Sally explains, “Saving and watching my savings grow was great!” She saves consistently, setting goals for herself, meeting them, and then setting new goals. She also is teaching her daughter, seven years old, to save and helping her to do so by giving her whatever change is in her pockets at the end of the day to put into her savings account. What a great way to ensure your child’s future success in life! As Sally explains it, “If an emergency expense comes up now, I don’t fall in the hole. I use my savings to deal with it, and get myself right back on track.”

Before her involvement with Open Hearth, Sally was unsure of her future, and knew very little about money management. As part of the FSP Program, she attended three information workshops and learned quite a lot. She learned how to improve her credit score, and she learned about the tools of money management that are available, things like IRA’s, CD’s, 401K’s and life insurance. What she found most helpful was creating a detailed three-month budget for her self. She did this instead of attending a fourth workshop and found that she learned a tremendous amount from the experience.  “I learned to control my spending and my savings,” Sally recalls. What comes to mind for her in relation to this experience is the word “empowered.”

Sally’s empowerment allowed her to exercise her freedom of choice in the matter of her car purchase. Instead of spending the entire $4,000 that were available to her, and even taking out a loan to make up the difference on the purchase of a new car, she opted to buy a less expensive car, with more miles on it, and to keep some money in savings and avoid having to make car payments. Because of her low credit score at the time, she saw that she would pay more in interest than she was comfortable with. “I didn’t think I was ready for that,” she says now. She used the information that she had acquired, and her freedom of choice and made a decision that felt right for her. Now, that’s empowerment.

Sally sums it all up. “Now, I want to know more about money. I own CD’s now. I am almost debt free and am improving my credit score. My goal was to save $2000 in one year, and I have already reached my goal. I’m ready for Christmas!” Sally recently felt comfortable enough with her financial situation to make a donation to Open Hearth, to express some of her deep gratitude for the help that has come to her through the organization. Sally’s advice for the rest of us:  “If you want to be a millionaire, you have to think like a millionaire."