Project Money 18: Meet Becky and David

June 22, 2026

We signed up for Summit Credit Union’s Project Money program feeling overwhelmed and stressed with our finances. We make okay money…but it never feels like it. We live paycheck to paycheck, no savings, significant debt, and fearful of the next emergency or home repair.

Going into our first meeting with Jake, our Project Money coach, our confidence was low to say the least. We felt like a lost cause and that we wouldn’t be able to make much progress. We’ve paid off debt in the past, but that was when life was a little simpler. We lived in a condo with a low mortgage and did not have kids yet…plus we both worked full time. Now with a house and two beautiful (but expensive) girls it’s a different story. Jake helped change our attitude drastically after just one meeting. He had us go through our bank statements for the previous three months. This helped us realize how much money we were overspending on things like eating out, coffee, and random small purchases. In the past our budget was what we wanted to spend and was more aspirational vs the reality of what we were actually spending.

Facing the truth can sometimes be difficult and the first step to improvement is confronting that uncomfortable and sometimes embarrassing truth. Now that we’ve opened our eyes to exactly how much money we were blowing every month…we feel more hopeful and confident that we will be able to come up with a plan to significantly reduce our debt, which is our number one goal at the moment.

We would recommend Project Money to anyone who might feel stuck and helpless. Meeting with a financial advisor is something that we never would have even considered before. So far it has helped build our confidence and realize that things are not as bad as they seemed before, and that’s after just the first meeting.

We look forward to our next meeting with Jake to lay the groundwork for a successful plan.

David and Becky