One Thursday afternoon, Tina walked into our office holding her nine-month old son. She had just dropped her 5-year old daughter off at kindergarten. Tina was very distraught and looked depleted. As she shared, she told us that they had received a large tax refund earlier in the week and she and her husband had paid their rent, utilities, and several bills. They also went grocery shopping and bought enough groceries to “fill the cupboards”. Tina said her husband insisted on buying a couple months worth of diapers. Sounds good doesn’t it.

Tina went on to explain that she had just learned that her husband had deserted her the day before and that he took all their tax refund out of the bank account before any of the checks could clear.  So, Tina was left without a husband and with checks bouncing.  Her landlord was looking for the rent, the utility company sent a shut-off notice, and her bank was looking for reimbursement for the
groceries.