Readers certainly do have strong feelings about Rochelle Strauss, the single parent of two teenage girls that I wrote about on Sunday. Working with Certified Financial Planner Thomas Balcom, we tried to give her some direction for living on a budget of $54,600. She pays out nearly one-quarter of her after-tax income for tuition to a private religious school for her daughters. She values education and her religion very highly and is willing to live with the stress this puts on her finances.

"I can really identify with the mother," said one caller. "But she should talk to the school about cutting the tuition." Answer: She already has. The more than $10,000 that she pays is a discounted rate.

"It was sickening to see that she can't save on $54,000," said another. "She should call me for advice on how to do that."

"I am a 26 year old single mother, making an income of $34,000 with no child support or help, responsible for rent, bills, food, child care, and a car payment," wrote Denise Brown. "I work a full-time and part-time job, seven days a week, just to make ends meet. I could only dream of putting my child in a private school!"

And there was this, from Michael Saba, who offered to provide Strauss with complimentary dry cleaning at his small chain of stores. "As a businessman I am always reading about the economical crisis the world is in, and very often think to myself, if all the American businesses would all do one small thing for someone else we would all get through these tough times and still be standing with an even stronger business at the end."

Here's the story:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-makeover-harriet-072009,0,477324.story

Here's her budget:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-makeover-boxthree-071209,0,6584855.story

Here's how to get your own Money Makeover:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/sfl-makeover-boxtwo-071209,0,7987518.story
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