Chatelaine Earn Spend Save: The savvy guide to a richer, smarter, debt-free life

Chapter 1. WORK YOUR MONEY

Keri loves her job as a public relations assistant in Vancouver. Really loves it. Between sitting in the cushy corner office she shares with her boss, whipping up creative press releases, and knocking clients' socks off at meetings, Keri often finds herself taking a deep breath and thinking, "This is what I'm meant to do."

It is just too bad the job's lacklustre pay equals renting a tiny apartment and routinely throwing everyday purchases like food and laundry soap on her credit card. And those university loans she never seems to get around to paying? She's been ducking collections calls for over a year now.

Not that Keri wants to complain. What the job lacks in pay, it's bound to make up for in opportunity, right?

The day Keri is bumped into a more senior position, however, things begin to change—and not for the better. In a moment of infinite managerial wisdom, it's decided that Keri (a.k.a. Workplace Wonder Woman) can take on the tasks of two people, so why bother hiring a replacement for her former position? Soon Keri's workload is cranked to 11. She routinely toils 17-hour days. She even finds herself fantasizing about cigarettes—not because she itches to start smoking, but because it would give her an acceptable excuse to take a break.

But it's not until Keri and her husband Quinn start thinking about having kids that it dawns on her: She's working for a company where "flextime" might as well be the new F-word. And the pay? Add up all the unpaid overtime ...