The author said she and her husband borrowed more money than they should have early in their marriage. They're teaching their kids (not shown) to approach finances differently.

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"Mom, what's it called again when a business has its trucks taken away?" my 11-year-old called from the living room. "Reposession," I responded.My husband had recently explained to our son what happens to a business when it files for bankruptcy. "Their vehicles are repossessed. They're taken away and sold to someone else."The repossession of business assets may not be regular dinner table banter in other people's households, but in our home, there is no financial topic that is not discussed.We haven't filed for bankruptcy, but because of some very bad financial decisions, we very nearly did. By speaking openly about our finances and general money literacy in front of our children, we're hoping they won't make the same mistakes we did.We started off on the wrong footOur very first financial decision that my husband and I made was to use money borrowed from our families to pay for our wedding. Around $17,000 didn't seem like a lot of money to spend on a wedding at the time. It turns out, it was $17,000.00 too much.Starting our married life using debt catapulted us into a life where using debt became normalized. After we paid off the parental loans we used for our wedding, we launched ourselves into even more debt.