This post is sponsored by 360ACCESS on behalf of Manulife Financial. The opinions are my own.

You’ve heard the saying…”save for a rainy day.”

I never really knew what that meant.

In my mind…it was all about saving for some day in the future…where maybe you were bored. You know…it’s raining out and you’d like to do something a little fun…take a crazy vacation on a whim, do something exciting to escape the ho-hum boredom of everyday life.

In my ho-hum boredom everyday life…I was too busy paying for the regular stuff to think about saving for the fun stuff. I mean, there was the mortgage, the monthly bills, a little tucked aside for life insurance and retirement…but for the most part, we weren’t really watching our dollars, keeping a budget or planning for anything. All the money that came in…went out.

I didn’t really know what “saving for a rainy day” meant…until it started to pour.

In 2009, it began to rain harder than I ever dreamt possible. There was no plan…no savings…no thought of how this was all going to play out whatsoever. My finances, through the process and by the end of my divorce, were pitiful at best.

I had one child approaching university, I was looking at a return to school myself, my car broke down on the side of the road and I was hanging onto our family home with the claws of Momma Bear…knowing neither my kids, nor myself, could face another change!

No one plans for a divorce…no one plans to get sick, no one expects the roof to blow off the house or for their company to bite the dust. No one expects their dreams to fall apart. But life…doesn’t always take the path you expected it to.

There wasn’t a plan for a rainy day but admittedly, there wasn’t a plan for a sunny one either.

I have a plan now. A small one.

For the last few years I’ve been in “survival mode” as my financial planner put it…many people find themselves in their forties with a huge life change…my situation wasn’t all that unique.

I remember the day I told my father there was a constant shaking in my body…there was a pounding in my chest I couldn’t control…a constant fear and overwhelming struggle…I could feel prickles on my face and worried repeatedly about not falling deeper into the hole I was already standing neck-deep in.

He and Mom stepped in…and I’m not quite sure where I’d be if they hadn’t.

I will repay them…someday.

I’ve worked hard to leave the past exactly where it’s meant to stay…and that includes the way I did things, how I acted, who I listened to, what I believed…while I spent a great amount of my time burying my head in the sand…it nearly destroyed me. I’m only now, six years later, pulling myself slowly from the financial ruins of divorce let alone what it did emotionally. There’s no savings for the future at the moment…but I don’t shake inside anymore…my heart doesn’t pound…there are no prickles on my face.

I’m no longer standing neck-deep in that hole. I’ve gone back to school, started a company and faced the future head on for both myself and the three amazing kids who are always at my side.

We’re on fairly solid ground…making ends meet and seeing that everyone has what they need. Soon, once I pay down a bit more debt, I can start to put money aside for my future…a little at first…more as I go.

And once I’m done paying for this downpour…who knows, maybe I’ll put a little aside, to “save for a sunny day!”

Manulife Twitter Party:

Please join me at the #ManulifeReady Twitter Party on Tuesday, March 24th at 9pm EST to chat about being ready for the future…tell us your plan!

Party Details

• Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2015
• Time: 9 pm EST
• Hashtag: #ManulifeReady
• Host: @Manulife
• Co-hosts: @ShashersLife, HartGalla
• Prizes: Over $3,000 in cash prizes
• Eligibility: Open to Canada

RSVP