What good is a retirement check if you're bitter and alone?

So true. Good for you for sticking to your guns (or laying them down in this case) and doing what you felt was right for you and your family, even though it wasn't what people said you should do.

That's such good advice to not make decisions out of fear or desperation. And to be good with your finances. It can be so easy to have your whole paycheck (and more) be spent before you even have a chance to cash the check. It's important to live intentionally and create savings buffers for yourself. If you're living paycheck to paycheck, all it takes is one blown tire and it can derail your entire life. That's one of the reasons I took my own lunch to work (as I mentioned in your other post). I wanted to save money. I saved on the food and on the gas. When money wasn't as plentiful, the savings helped me make it.