Episode list

Bill and Tasia are sinking deeper into debt every month and they just can't figure out why. They agreed that Tasia would stay at home with their two small children. So the couple is living on Bill's part-time income while he tries to get his own business off the ground. To friends and family, they appear to be a couple perfectly in control. But Bill's health and their relationship are crumbling under the stress.

Wendy and Dan have been married less than a year and have a 6 month-old daughter. They also have significant debt, loans from family that have ruined relationships, and a baby who needs special formula that costs $200 a week. Dan is working all the time to make ends meet, and Wendy, a dance instructor, is contributing a little cash by teaching. But their tiny income, disgruntled creditors and their inability to meet their bills could be the curtain call on their relationship.

Rob is a physician who feels entitled to the nice things in life because he works hard and earns a good annual income, in the range of $100,000 to $125,000. However, his excessive spending has put their family in total debt of about $320,000. His wife of twenty-five years Yvonne owns a scrap-booking store, which sometimes will go through slow periods when she will not take an income. She initially allowed him his excesses because she felt she could do nothing about them. Finally fed up only a few months ago, she inserted herself into the household financial management, which has not seemed to help, largely because of Rob not wanting anyone to question what he feels he and their family deserve. She has vowed to dissolve their marriage if their financial situation keeps on going downward, as she feels she needs more consistency and order in her life. Gail believes they need to organize their lives, largely by decluttering their house and their finances. She needs Rob to get over the issue that he has to maintain an image, while she needs Yvonne to treat the store as a business and not a hobby. And she wants to see if they have the same life goals, which may determine whether they stay together as a couple or not, which, if they do stay together, means working together as a team.

Mark brings in more than $100 thousand dollars a year. His wife Nicola, a teaching assistant, earns one quarter of that. She has Mark on an allowance of $100 a week for his gas and spending money and Mark is fed up. They also have 3 kids who play sports 5 nights each week, forcing them to eat fast food on the run. With absolutely no savings, if Mark loses his job this family of five would be living on less than they pay for sports every month. Can this couple make the sacrifices needed to make the save?

Married Roxanne and Shawn have different views of money and credit. Having a zero balance or less in savings scares Roxanne, whereas Shawn believes why pay for something now if you can pay for it later. As such, Roxanne has begun not to be totally honest with Shawn about money, i.e. she hides money from him. Their money problems began when they bought their house - which happened a year earlier than they anticipated - a step they saw as working toward their goal of starting a family. But all those hidden costs of home ownership without curbing their other spending, such as frequent meals out, have threatened that goal of children in the near future. Gail wants them to plan what their life will be like with a baby, which means not only researching costs, but living on what will be their reduced income due to maternity leave. Gail gives them an even more realistic taste of what that life will be like. Gail makes them look more clearly at the entire notion of "buy now, pay later" plans, which means for their life now finding money to pay for their latest "pay later" purchase. And she wants them to set priorities for their spending whenever they do have any fun money with which to splurge.

Krystal and Chris both grew up poor and say they've never learned how to handle their money. Gail wholeheartedly agrees. These two love to spend cash on tanning salons, hair care and entertainment, and rack up $60 bills at convenience stores on cigarettes and candy. They're financing their lifestyle with credit card advances and payday loans, leaving them thousands of dollars in debt and bewildered about where to begin to fix things. Looking over their litany of bad habits, Gail is wondering the same thing.

Rick and Jennifer are constantly battling about money. Between them they make 90 thousand dollar a year. But Jennifer's impulsive spending and "consumeritis" have already led to two bankruptcies and they fear a third. Jennifer has trouble saying no to her teenage daughter and even keeps a separate bank account so Rick can't monitor her buying. Rick's sister, an accountant, has tried to put them on track. Can Gail succeed where family has failed?

Brian and Theresa are both irresponsible with money. They eat out at least five times a week, have $3,500 in unpaid parking tickets, a $2500 unpaid cell phone bill and take their daughter on weekend trips on a regular basis. Brian is putting his business expenses through their home income, and Theresa never knows how much money will be coming in. They agree that their relationship is crumbling. Can this couple salvage their finances and marriage for the sake of their 3 year-old daughter?

Bev and John are a fun couple who love to dance. But the vicious cycle of high interest payday loan advances and thousands of dollars in debt to family and friends have them dancing around disaster every time a bill arrives. This couple took some bad financial advice a few years ago, which began their spiral into the red and their disorganization has kept them there...to the point that they fear losing their home. Can Gail get them back in the black and on the way to financial freedom?

Nell is contemplating walking out on her eleven year marriage to Darrell because of their consumer debt, which currently sits at $60,000. Nell handles all their household finances, and thus feels the weight of dealing with that issue all on her own. While Nell and Darrell have a joint bank account, Darrell also has his own bank account, from which he indiscriminately spends. To protect herself, Nell has secretly been stashing away $100 a month in a workplace savings plan about which Darrell knows nothing. When Nell tries to talk to him about their finances, the conversation, which generally leads to a yelling match, ends with Darrell making a joke. He does it in an effort to diffuse the situation, not fully comprehending how badly that makes Nell feel as she doesn't see their finances as a laughing matter. Their nine year old daughter Aprielle is also affected. Aprielle sees and hears her parents' constant fighting, Nell feels ashamed for always having to say no to Aprielle for anything that Aprielle may ask for, and Nell and Darrell have so far taken $6,000 out of Aprielle's education fund to deal with their debt. Gail wants this couple to balance out their finances in every respect, meaning that Nell should have what Darrell has, or conversely Darrell should give up what Nell already forgoes. She also wants them to do whatever it takes to give back to Aprielle what she has been missing or given up in her life, which probably means they have to find ways to make more than their current combined $60,000 per annum income.

Rosyln and Kevin are a couple on the edge. Roslyn has a hard time denying their precious 2 year- old daughter ANYTHING, and recently spent $1500 on her birthday party. They have 10 credit cards, thousands of dollars in debt, hide purchases from each other and have family living with them who don't pay rent. Rosyln and Kevin have filed for divorce in the past, but reconciled a week before it was finalized. The process cost them $3000 in legal fees. Can Gail turn this couple around for a storybook ending?

Becky and Mike, who have been married for thirteen years and have two children, have a combined income of $100,000 annually. They rarely talk about money or its management within their household, paying bills only when the final notice has come in and only to those vendors or creditors who yell and scream the loudest to them. They have no idea what they are doing wrong financially, never having money to pay the bills on time and already being a negative situation as soon as they receive their next paycheck. As such, they have no savings for a rainy day. And they have amassed a consumer debt of $56,000 on top of their $190,000 mortgage. They know that they are disorganized - one of the reasons bills never get paid on time - but they are unaware of how self-indulgent they are in their spending until Gail points it out to them. Becky and Mike have to plan their lives and the spending of their money, and talk about what they want to accomplish with their lives to see if their future spending will be on the same page. They have to find substitutes to shopping as entertainment. And Gail wants to show them, and in turn their kids, that nice things don't necessarily have to come from stores.

Fiona and Alister have amassed $110,000 of consumer debt in a short two years. Their financial problems started when they bought their house out in the country. Even with that extra debt load, they did not cut back in spending in other areas of their life, most specifically Fiona's habit of shopping online, and Alister sinking money into his many trucks, one, his favorite, which now largely sits idle since it's a gas guzzler and he can't afford the fuel required to drive it. Those money issues are compounded by the fact that they have separate bank accounts so that each, especially Alister, would have a sense of financial independence, but which instead has led to indiscriminate spending. On top of it all, Fiona is five months pregnant with their first child, a child which they don't know how they will be able to afford. Gail wants them to focus as a couple on the upcoming baby to make them change their priorities away from their other areas of unnecessary spending, such as Fiona's want for more lingerie, or Alister's fancy red truck which acts now more as a lawn ornament than a useful part of their transportation.