Roots of Personal Finance Member Spotlight: Christina Tsutsui

Christina Tsutsui is a work-from-home mom. Her family loves adventures and making fun memories. Not all adventures are free however, so they needed to be on the same page financially. "We decided to join Roots so that my husband could get on board and learn more about finances and where we are in our financial life. I have always been on top of budgets and awareness with a plan. Now we are as a family on the same plan and we talk about things which avoids conflict and problems."

Food is a struggle for Christina. She went through an extreme couponing phase and was very frivolous with money when it came to food. Since taking Roots, she's been able to delegate the grocery shopping to her husband so they can stay on budget.

"My family and I have begun a more minimalist lifestyle since joining Roots, which opened us to living our life with more meaning and less 'stuff.'" It helped them cut down their monthly expenses by about $2,000. They've also been able to save $4,000 and teach their 5-year-old son the value of family time over material wants.

Christina's advice for those who struggle with their finances is to set written goals and, "have a budget, even if you don't have money. You don't have money because you don't pay enough attention to what you are doing with it."