Our Story

October 2018. 8 months pregnant. $120,000 in debt. Unable to sleep. Every credit card maxed out. $7 in savings.

HOW did we get to this place?

We had two jobs, no kids, and were making $100,000 combined. From the outside it appeared like we were “making it”. How had we failed so badly?

Well....the list of purchases was endless. But the biggest problem was we had NO IDEA HOW TO BUDGET!

We researched a ton online and learned words like 'debt snowball' and 'every dollar'. But there were zero guides on HOW to actually start budgeting. Just a bunch of people lecturing us that we needed to do so.

So, I did what I'm good at when I can't find a resource and I created my own... the very first Connect the Checks Budget System!

It started as a notebook with a list of our monthly expenses and slowly grew to include a paycheck to paycheck planner and eventually to a complete financial planner for our family.

Over the course of 3.5 years, we paid off all of our debt. We made huge sacrifices like cutting down to one vehicle, no 'fun money', $50 a month for dates (we were charging around $2k just on eating out before!), and sold all the junk we had been storing as we moved from home to home.

I started helping coworkers, family, and friends for free because I loved numbers, excel, and helping others.

But when I lost my job in a reorg, a bunch of my employees asked me if I was going to start my own finance/budgeting company....and Connect the Checks was born!

My goal is to give others the peace that comes with financial freedom and hopefully 'stick it to the man' a few times by teaching you how to fight and negotiate unfair bills!

<3 Emily