When the weight of financial hardship collides with the raw challenges of family life, stories like Jo's emerge as beacons of shared struggle and resilience. This episode of Raising Rich Podcast peels back the curtain on the reality of transforming a modest $2 shop into a thriving gift store, only to be met with the crushing blow of Jo's sister's cancer diagnosis. Amid the delicate dance of pride and embarrassment, the shop's journey — from budget knick-knacks to sought-after Yu-Gi-Oh cards — becomes a backdrop to the unraveling of her marriage, illustrating how money troubles can magnify heartache.
We recount the loss of not just a marriage, but the stability of a rental property and the merciless visit from debt collectors. Jo opens up about the personal despair of a failing business, the legal battles, and the challenge of being thrust into single parenthood. Yet, within these trials lies a silver lining — the opportunity for community, where single mum can come together to share and learn from our collective experiences. It's a call to all who listen to find solace and empowerment in our stories, and to join us in raising children who are not only financially astute but equipped with the wisdom of our journey.
So, pour a glass of wine, and let's navigate these complex waters together.
Follow our mother daughter journey towards financial freedom!
When the weight of financial hardship collides with the raw challenges of family life, stories like Jo's emerge as beacons of shared struggle and resilience. This episode of Raising Rich Podcast peels back the curtain on the reality of transforming a modest $2 shop into a thriving gift store, only to be met with the crushing blow of Jo's sister's cancer diagnosis. Amid the delicate dance of pride and embarrassment, the shop's journey — from budget knick-knacks to sought-after Yu-Gi-Oh cards — becomes a backdrop to the unraveling of her marriage, illustrating how money troubles can magnify heartache.
We recount the loss of not just a marriage, but the stability of a rental property and the merciless visit from debt collectors. Jo opens up about the personal despair of a failing business, the legal battles, and the challenge of being thrust into single parenthood. Yet, within these trials lies a silver lining — the opportunity for community, where single mum can come together to share and learn from our collective experiences. It's a call to all who listen to find solace and empowerment in our stories, and to join us in raising children who are not only financially astute but equipped with the wisdom of our journey.
So, pour a glass of wine, and let's navigate these complex waters together.
Follow our mother daughter journey towards financial freedom!
Hey Mamas, welcome to the Raising Rich Podcast with your favourite mother-daughter duo, Jo and Lane. Join us as we take you on the rollercoaster ride that has been my mum's life with money.
Speaker 2:
Yes, I'll be opening up about the taboo topic of money from bankruptcy to a six-figure income and all the heartache in between. So if you're a single mama out there trying to figure it all out, then this podcast is for you. Join us for all the ups and all the downs on Raising Rich.
Speaker 1:
All right, I guess it's kind of still episode four, but part two, unless you want to call it episode five. Who cares? Anyway, let's move on, shall we? It's all right? Welcome back to the couch.
Speaker 2:
Welcome back to the couch. How's your hair? Freshly washed, yeah. So welcome back to um, the, the next part of, uh, Mr W. So where we left off last time, um, we had caught up with Mr W at his place of work and I was wanting my husband to drag him across the desk and beat the living crap out of him. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. So we tried to live a life at that time, trying to make things work, trying to get this $2 shop running, making a profit, and you know what it was doing? Okay, it was doing okay. The trouble was because we had agreed to pay all the consignments. That was the tricky part of actually trying to make some money. I mean, you were at an age where your school was actually across the road and all your friends knew, oh, my mum and stepdad owned the $2 shop in the centre. You know what was it like for you? Did you feel like you had a sense of wealth because we owned this big $2 shop?
Speaker 1:
or I don't know. I think, like any kid having their parent own a shop was, it seemed cool at the time, like, and I also think that, yes, it may have started off as a two dollar shop, but I could see where the progression was going, because I don't know if in australia a lot of girls my age would have remembered the shop called gas g-a-s yeah, it was such a girly, oh, it was very, very funky, very funky everything, and I could see that that was kind of like the direction that mom was going with this shop essentially, and so I really did feel like you did turn it around from a two dollar shop yeah, yeah, something that was a little bit more.
Speaker 1:
Yes, oh well, I was trying to make it around from a $2 shop to something that was a little bit more. Yes.
Speaker 2:
Well, I was trying to make it more into a gift shop, realistically, rather than just a cheapy $2 shop. But boy, at that time the Yu-Gi-Oh cards do you remember those? Oh my goodness, yeah, they were a money spinner, wee.
Speaker 1:
Wee.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so for you it probably would have been a little bit cool. Mom owns this $2 shop and, yeah, like I really did try to make it work. The unfortunate thing was just the debt that came with the shop just didn't work for us. And you know, there was a time and I remember and I this doesn't have anything to do with money, but you'll hear the story a little bit later, why and how this affected me but this was a time when my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer and I remember calling her from the shop because she hadn't called me back, because she'd found the lump and she'd gone into the hospital and had the biopsy and she said, oh, I promised to call you, I'll be fine, I'll be fine. And so I hadn't heard from her. So I called her and she told me that it had spread.
Speaker 2:
And I remember running out of the shop like I didn't even close the doors or anything. I ran and it was the biggest grief that I'd ever felt in my entire life, because I kind of had this feeling you know, we talk about being intuitive and that was it. I just knew. I knew that this was it, she was not going to make it, and as much as the journey we had over the next four years that that unfortunately came true. So this was just a part of the stress. So not only did we deal with financial stress, my husband and I and we dealt with feeling stupid, like we'd been ripped off and you know, between the two of us, I'm, I'm, I'm smart and I carry the brain cells and I was, I was embarrassed that I had been taken for a ride, because I really had, because I actually genuinely also thought this guy was really nice. Yeah, that was the start of some real stress on our marriage.
Speaker 2:
So, not only the financial stress, but you know, my sister was, even though we didn't live together growing up, we became really super close because we had children together at the same time and she used to live in the country, had moved down, and you know she was one of my biggest supporters. She always said Jo, you know, you fall into money, don't worry about anything that's happening, you've always got it. You know, for some reason you're one of these people and whether that was my entrepreneurial spirit, my upbringing with an entrepreneur dad, I don't know, but she, you know, she's kind of a little bit right. I always did seem to fall into money. But anyway, moving past that, like we, my husband and I really felt the stress and there was some other serious issues that were already present in our marriage that you know we didn't share with anybody. And I remember going to a counselor and she said sometimes it can just take one extra thing that will highlight the bad things that were already there.
Speaker 1:
Does that make sense?
Speaker 2:
Absolutely sense, absolutely so. Yeah, there was a couple of issues that you know I'll say that he had, and the loss of all the money just highlighted those issues even more. As a result, you know, our marriage broke down what are we talking about?
Speaker 1:
are we talking about addiction?
Speaker 2:
yeah, yeah yeah, so we're talking about addiction? Um, not, not, there was, no, there's no physical abuse whatsoever, none. Um, it was alcohol addiction, and you and I have talked about it, but it's not something that I publicly want to share, but that on top of the financial stress.
Speaker 1:
And also what's going on with your sister. Yes, and also having three children.
Speaker 2:
Yes, and to top it off, my mum was mentally unwell and she was also getting worse, so there was a lot of stuff going on. Mine was, you know, relationship wise. The two women in my life who I absolutely adored were really struggling, and you know, I'm trying to bring up three children and survive this financial stress.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and kind of, in a way, the only two women that you had in your life in a way because you didn't have any other sisters. I don't really remember you having very close relationships with other mothers at that time because we were in a different school. Yes, you had left all your friends behind in a way.
Speaker 2:
yes, yeah, yeah, and you're right, and you know, my sister was my best friend and I was super, super close with my mum too. So, you know, trying to balance the two most significant people in my life and their issues, along with my issues losing my marriage, losing my financial status, so to speak, battling early onset dementia, with my mom trying to help her through it and being supportive of my sister was just huge. It was extremely overwhelming and trying to deal with the addictions that my husband had. You you know, we went to counselling and he just couldn't see it. He did not see it at all. We went to a second counsellor and again he did not see. He just thought he was in the right and he didn't want to take any responsibility whatsoever.
Speaker 2:
I was trying to meet halfway and he just stood his ground and was like, no, you know, so you can't mend things if people don't see what's going on, or if they even want to meet you halfway.
Speaker 1:
But I think, like on top of all of this situation going on and you're trying to make the business work and you know there is a little glimmer of hope, but also not, because you owe so much money, I think, on top of that, you've probably I assume, already also got debtors chasing you not quite not at this time not at this time, because we've still got the two dollar shop, yeah, and we're still living, um, you know, not far in this ridiculously huge mansion.
Speaker 2:
Anyway, I ring my dad. Dad, can you lend us $12,000? And he's like what on earth? For? Oh, I've got to pay some debts for the shop this week and I've got to pay the rent. The rent was $5,000 odd, which is just stupid back in 2003. So he lends us the money, we pay him back like within a couple of weeks, and then we're back in the same hole again. Dad, can I borrow ten thousand dollars? And he said no, no, you have to sort your own shit out, he said. He said you're married, you've got three kids. What the f is your husband doing? What is going on? Like he needs to take responsibility for his family. Yep, yep, yep, no worries, understand that, dad.
Speaker 2:
So we make the decision to move back into the rental property that we had. So remember, we had the really lovely property with the pool, et cetera, the movie theater. We have the holiday house down in Phillip Island, and then we have this rental. So we decide well, the best thing is move the tenant out. So we support them, we help them financially to find somewhere else and we move. We move back into the little rental. It's brand new, it's cute, you know, it's only a year or two old and with the $2 shops we go. Well, we've just got to keep, keep trying. We have to keep trying. In the end we couldn't financially keep it going so we had to shut the doors. And legally I was still bound, yeah, to every debt, to to all the lease. So the lease still had three years to go. We still had to pay for all the consignment, yeah, and we were still meant to pay mr w back, not a penny, no siree.
Speaker 2:
So, um, we moved back into the rental, we shut the shop and actually we take a lot of the stock out of the shop and we try to resell the stock in another shop. So we take a what we call a pop-up now. We take a very cheap pop-up and we try to off-sell all of the stock. We get rid of some of it, but not enough to cover our debts. And in the meantime my husband and I are living in our rental and our marriage is just pretty much gone.
Speaker 2:
So I say to him you know, you need to move out, we're done, we need some space. He goes and moves in with his parents and I'm still at this pop-up shop trying to sell the product. He then says I've got a friend with a shop who will take all the stock off our hands. And I'm thinking, well, that's great, you know, I don't have to try and sell it. This guy's going to try and sell it. So him and his friend come to the shop. They take out all of the stock Gone, pop-up's gone. Our garage in the rental is full of the shit that no one would ever want to buy, and I'm talking pens, pencils.
Speaker 1:
What do you call those Spray cans, spray cans of paint, folder dividers, just freaking crap.
Speaker 2:
So him and his friend have come and taken the best of the best and left all the shit behind. So I've got a garage full of shit and over the next couple of months I try to sell it at a trash and treasure market.
Speaker 1:
Oh, yes, I do. And the thing about trash and treasure markets, ladies and gentlemen, is that you have to get up at like four in the morning to drive there, to set up in your shitty little car spot that they give you Freezing cold In the freezing cold, and then you've just got to hang out all day waiting for people to just buy these freaking pens. No, they don't want to buy, they don't.
Speaker 2:
They want to haggle a $2 pen down to 20 cents yeah. And then they want five of them for 20 cents. Yeah, and you're like mate, Just take the pen. And we had people steal from us as well. One time I had to go to the toilet and the kids are like, oh, this lady was picking up all the bags and she just walked off with one. And I was like, oh my God, Good on you people. So anyway, yes, that was a nice flashback, wasn't it? Trash and treasure.
Speaker 1:
So we're in this rental. They have taken all of the good stuff. We're left with all the crap stuff.
Speaker 2:
Yeah yeah, and he's living with his mum and dad. I'm the sole carer of the children. I'm trying to pay these debts and cannot. I'm not working because I've got no shop. I haven't worked, I've just got all this stock in my garage and then the door knocking starts. Are you this person? Did you own this business? You owe us money. I'm sorry, I don't have any money. Well, you owe us money.
Speaker 2:
Like the fact that people were coming to the door where my children live was, firstly, super scary, but secondly, the fact that they were willing to put their foot in the door when I was trying to close, it was even worse. And I got to the point where I didn't want to go to the mailbox because every letter was a notice of demand. I didn't want to answer the door because I didn't know who was at the door. I didn't want to answer the phone because I didn't know who was at the door. I didn't want to answer the phone because I didn't know who was on the other end of the phone demanding money.
Speaker 2:
And, to top it off, my ex-husband was not interested in helping in any way, shape or form. He was so disgusted that I had ended the marriage and I'd said you know, we need a break, you need to leave. He couldn't wrap his head around that and he refused to pay not only the mortgage on the rental that we were in, but the mortgage of the holiday house. I had no money. I had to go on to what we call Centrelink here, and Centrelink is a support from the government to help single mums, so, and you can also work and earn some money at the same time, but it's obviously very limited. It was not enough money. I was still trying to pay small debts, trying to negotiate I can pay you $20 a week, you know, but obviously the suppliers weren't happy with that and in the end we had that many people knocking on the door. The final straw came when the bank came, because my ex-husband wasn't paying the mortgage, the bank were taking possession and we were given notice to be out by 4pm the very next day.
Speaker 1:
Wow.
Speaker 2:
I don't remember that element.
Speaker 1:
I definitely remember you specifically saying to us kids do not answer the door to anyone, don't answer the phone, don't tell anyone where you live. I distinctly remember that. Yeah, we weren't. I don't. Yeah, we weren't allowed to have a mobile phone during that time as well. But I do not recall having to be out at 4pm the next day. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:
We had to be out by 4pm the next day. I didn't. I literally had no idea of what to do. So we I rang my dad. He organized some furniture removalists and we got all the furniture out. We got it in storage and I basically went and stayed with him until we found our own rental property. The house was taken over by the bank and it went for auction.
Speaker 1:
And that's what I remember. If you guys were listening to the last episode, I was saying how I distinctly recall Mr W being at this auction and mum just basically ripping hima new one, which he totally deserved, but yeah.
Speaker 2:
The bank took over the house, they put it up for auction. Uh, he was there because, um, he had a caveat on the property. He was hoping to make his million dollars, um, but the good thing was, I guess, the house it didn't sell for much more than what we owed to the bank. So we owed the bank 275 000 on the house. It was probably worth. It could have sold for 315. But because I was there and I made everybody aware that this guy had a caveat and he was an arsehole, he ripped us off like I was.
Speaker 2:
I was vile, I was spewing just everything that I possibly could at every potential purchaser so that this guy couldn't get any money, and that's when you guys were in the car, and I'm sorry you shouldn't have seen that, but I felt like I had to do something, I had to say something, I had to stop this man from getting any more money, and so with that I got removed like I said see you babe bye-bye, bye-bye. Now, um, off you go. Yeah, and the house sold for 285 000.
Speaker 2:
So if anything, after fees and everything, he might have scored himself 10 grand yeah the house at Phillip Island he didn't have a caveat on that sold for maybe uh, I think 17,000 over what we owed the bank after paying debt. I walked away from that marriage with maybe seven thousand dollars and I was 30, 33 years old, had gone from owning that beautiful home with a rental and a holiday house, sports car entrepreneur both of us owning businesses. I was then on Centrelink and I had to get a job. I got a job, part-time, as a property manager and I worked four days a week. I had every Thursday off Me and my sister would hang out every Thursday and yeah, that was.
Speaker 2:
I remember driving to that job every day for three months, absolutely howling, because, even though I ended the marriage, it was gut-wrenching for me and I felt like I'd lost my life. Gut-wrenching for me and I felt like I'd lost my life, I'd lost, I'd lost that vision of happiness and wealth and a husband and children and I was going through a second divorce and I was totally lost and I, like I said, I howled and I sobbed driving up that mountain. If people don't know Melbourne, there's a beautiful part called Olinda and it's in the Dandenong Ranges and it's beautiful and peaceful and it's a gorgeous, windy road and the amount of times I actually just wanted to drive off the side of the road was phenomenal. But I will say, even in between my howls and my sobs, I would say to myself I love my job. I love my job. I love my howls and my sobs.
Speaker 2:
I would say to myself I love my job, I love my job, I love my job. I hated my job, but I believed in affirmations and I said it every day until I believed it. And you know what, in the end I loved my job. So it was a nice space for me and they were really lovely. Like I did have a couple of absolute meltdowns where I just had to go. I had to leave for the day and drive back down the mountain, run to my dad, run to my Prince Charming Night, shining Armour Saviour, because I just couldn't cope, because the overwhelm of all of that grief and loss man was too hard, but it led me into having to declare bankruptcy and that is an episode for another day that is our next episode, the bankruptcy.
Speaker 2:
So, wow, it's been a roller coaster and we're only on episode five out of what, another 15 or so to go, um, but I hope that I'm connecting with some of you and, um, I really I want you to know that, yeah, it can be shitty but, um, if you hang in there, it, um, it becomes roses. So you know, just keep coming on the roller coaster with me. There is an end, there is a happy end. So, yeah, thanks for joining us. Thank you guys. Thanks for listening to this episode of Raising Rich. If any of today's episode has resonated with you, we'd love for you to share it with another mama. It really helps us to connect with the right women.
Speaker 1:
And if you would like to share your story, you can connect with us on Facebook, instagram or TikTok. Just search for richrippleeffect Is it time for a wine.