{"id":418654,"date":"2026-01-19T04:22:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T04:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/418654\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T04:22:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T04:22:14","slug":"winnipeg-hairstylist-37-struggling-to-repay-10000-line-of-credit-after-a-few-emergencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/418654\/","title":{"rendered":"Winnipeg hairstylist, 37, struggling to repay $10,000 line of credit after a few emergencies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Name, age: Mikayla, 37<\/p>\n

Annual income: $67,992<\/p>\n

Debt: $2,050 student debt, $9,252 line of credit, $5,689 car loan, $188,643 on mortgage<\/p>\n

Savings: $12,020 in registered retirement savings plan (RRSP), $16,000 in locked-in retirement account, $4,529 in a joint guaranteed investment certificate with her partner<\/p>\n

What she does: Hairstylist<\/p>\n

Where she lives: Winnipeg<\/p>\n

Top financial concern: \u201cOur line of credit. If we have a little extra cash, we\u2019ll plug away at it, but we\u2019re living paycheque-to-paycheque.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until about a year ago, Mikayla and her partner\u2019s only debt was their mortgage. They were living paycheque-to-paycheque, but they were making it work.<\/p>\n

However, a series of costly events highlighted their lack of an emergency fund and they\u2019re now struggling under the weight of a $10,000 line of credit.<\/p>\n

\u201cA broken-down car, a vet bill, and our stove was broken, and then suddenly \u2013 boom \u2013 there\u2019s your debt,\u201d says the 37-year-old Winnipeg hairstylist. She lives in a two-bedroom condo with her husband, who makes about $66,000 and is lucky enough to have a work pension. <\/p>\n

\u201cA year-and-a-half ago we felt invincible. All our friends had all this debt and we didn\u2019t. It just took a few things and now we\u2019re right in the same ballpark.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt eats us up sometimes,\u201d she adds. \u201cIt just sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mikayla went to university thinking she\u2019d be a social worker, but went back to school for hairstyling in her late 20s after a couple years working at a desk. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was killing me,\u201d she says. \u201cI thought university was what I was supposed to do, what everyone was supposed to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you have to do something to learn you don\u2019t want to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Digital artist, 35, feels the \u2018guilt of having quietly saved\u2019 more than $1-million with his partner<\/a><\/p>\n

She met her now-husband in 2019, just after finishing hair school. With little to spend money on during the pandemic times that followed, the couple managed to save $11,000 by 2021. The First-Time Home Buyer Incentive<\/a>, a federal program that no longer exists, matched that amount to give them a $22,000 down payment.<\/p>\n

They bought their condo for $225,000, and have $188,000 left on their mortgage. Mikayla says she was surprised by how she felt after they secured a permanent place of their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think (owning) was something that mattered to me, but there was that sign of relief,\u201d she says. \u201cWe have something now.\u201d<\/p>\n

With their LOC debt and their mortgage, Mikayla says they sometimes feel overwhelmed but they try to keep things in perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remind myself, we\u2019re still paying less than we would have for rent for a place this size,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom tells me that at our age, we\u2019re in our era of debt and everyone goes through this. Take a beat and know one day you\u2019ll be out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her typical monthly expenses:<\/p>\n

Investment and savings: $100<\/p>\n

$100 to RRSP. \u201cThat is my retirement. I am self-employed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Servicing debt: $874<\/p>\n

Up to $300 to line of credit. \u201cWe prioritize paying off the credit card first.\u201d<\/p>\n

$200 to student loan<\/p>\n

$374 to car payment<\/p>\n

Household and transportation: $2,791<\/p>\n

$1,193 to mortgage. \u201c1,000 square feet, two bedrooms, one bathroom and a little balcony.\u201d<\/p>\n

$385 to condo fees, including water bill<\/p>\n

$35 to property insurance<\/p>\n

$234 to property tax<\/p>\n

$109 on utilities<\/p>\n

$300 on gasoline<\/p>\n

$200 on car insurance<\/p>\n

$60 on Uber or taxis<\/p>\n

$180 on cellphones<\/p>\n

$95 on internet<\/p>\n

Food and drink: $750<\/p>\n

$500 on groceries<\/p>\n

$50 at coffee shops<\/p>\n

$200 at restaurants<\/p>\n

Miscellaneous: $750<\/p>\n

$200 on cannabis<\/p>\n

$20 on streaming services<\/p>\n

$200 on gym memberships<\/p>\n

$100 on their dog. \u201cVets are expensive. You can shop around, but if you have a vet you like, you\u2019re going to stay with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

$20 on prescription<\/p>\n

$70 on life insurance<\/p>\n

$20 on clothing<\/p>\n

$20 on cosmetics<\/p>\n

$40 on vacations<\/p>\n

$20 on going out<\/p>\n

$40 on gifts<\/p>\n

Some details may be changed to protect the privacy of the person profiled. We want to thank them for sharing their story. Are you a millennial who would like to participate in a paycheque profile? Send us an e-mail.<\/a><\/p>\n

Participate in the Paycheque Project<\/p>\n

\nWelcome to Paycheque Project, a regular series in The Globe and Mail that looks at how much young Canadians are earning \u2013 and where that money is going. We’d like to hear from young adults from a diverse range of backgrounds, geographic locations, and earnings ranges.<\/p>\n

If you’re a millennial or Gen Z and would like to participate, fill out the form below or send an email to Roma Luciw at rluciw@globeandmail.com. Please include your name, age, where you live, occupation, your biggest financial concern and your email. And remember, Paycheque Project is a judgement-free zone.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images Name, age: Mikayla, 37 Annual income: $67,992 Debt: $2,050…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1397,45,49,48,10526],"class_list":{"0":"post-418654","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-appwebview","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-paychequeproject"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}