A Week In Her Wallet: How One Woman Turned Divorce Debt Into a Bulletproof Budget, and a Savings Surplus

HerMoney with Jean Chatzky

Jean Chatzky Her Money

Investing, Business

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Nicole is 56, single, and living in Raleigh, North Carolina, and she has a spreadsheet for everything. After her divorce left her saddled with debt, she spent two decades building a budget system so airtight she hasn't carried a credit card balance since. Now she's earning over $100k a year, paying off every card in full, and chipping away at a student loan she could settle tomorrow if she wanted to. But when Nicole spent a week tracking every dollar for A Week in Her Wallet, she made a surprising discovery: she has far more money left over each month than she ever realized, and she’s ready to put it to work. In this episode, Jean and Nicole cover: The medical billing maze that's costing Nicole more than it should The three-debit-card system Nicole built Why a diagnosis changed how she thinks about spending on her own wellbeing The student loan she's been carrying strategically What Nicole's retirement dream actually looks like Pre-order Jean's new book, The Forever Paycheck — your guide to building a secure, steady income stream for the retirement you've worked so hard for. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:59.0	Hey everyone, welcome back to her money. I'm Gene Chatsky and today we are continuing our series
1:06.0	a week in her wallet. Each week we follow a real woman as she tracks her spending for seven days. Every swipe,
1:14.4	every bill, every splurge, every skip, and reflects on not just what she bought, but why? Because
1:22.6	behind every dollar is a decision. And behind every every decision we learn something about our priorities,
1:30.3	our values, and sometimes a little inner negotiation we didn't even know we were having.
1:38.0	Today we are spending the week with Nicole.
1:40.3	She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.
1:43.1	She's 56, single, and a senior executive assistant.
1:47.6	And like many of us, she is figuring out what intentional money management looks like at this stage in her life.
1:56.2	Nicole, welcome.
1:57.4	Nice to see you.
	...

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