I Had 5 Pesos Left: My Story of Hitting Rock Bottom and the 3-Bucket System I’m Using to Recover

The air on the farm was thick and heavy. So was the feeling in my gut. I stood there, dust kicking up around my worn-out shoes, and felt like a total schmuck. Why? Because I wasn’t there to enjoy the countryside. I was there because my wife had to make a tough call. She said, “Let’s go to my family’s home… at least we’ll get food over there.”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out all the money I had to my name. Five pesos. Just enough to buy a bag of ice. That was it. That was my net worth at that moment. A bag of ice. It’s hard to describe the mix of shame, frustration, and pure defeat you feel in a moment like that. I had let my family down. I had let myself down.

How did I get here? It wasn’t one big mistake. It was a thousand tiny ones. It was getting lazy. It was abandoning the very rules that made me successful in the first place. I had a system, a simple way of managing money that always worked. But as things got better, I thought I didn’t need it anymore. I thought I was smart enough to just ‘wing it.’ I was wrong. Life has a way of humbling you, and this was my lesson, served on a dusty, unforgiving plate.

But standing there, with nothing left to lose, something inside me shifted. You can only feel sorry for yourself for so long. Rock bottom is a terrible place to live, but it’s a great place to build from. There are no more trap doors. The only way to go is up.

And that’s when I made a promise to myself and my family. Every single dollar I make from this day forward is going back into the system I abandoned. I’m going back to my three-bucket system.

So what is this magical system? It’s actually very simple. It’s about giving every dollar a job before you even get it. You divide your income into three buckets:

1. **The ‘Now’ Bucket:** This is for your living expenses. Rent, bills, groceries, gas. Everything you need to live today. You have to keep this bucket as lean as possible, especially when you’re starting over.

2. **The ‘Future’ Bucket:** This is for savings and investments. It’s for your emergency fund, your retirement, and for buying assets that will make you money down the road. This bucket is how you build real wealth and security.

3. **The ‘Wow’ Bucket:** This is the fun bucket. It’s for the things that make life worth living. A nice dinner out, a vacation, a new gadget. This bucket ensures you don’t feel so restricted that you give up entirely.

The magic is in the discipline. It’s not about how much money you make; it’s about what you do with it. By splitting every dollar, even when you’re only making a few, you build the habit of a successful financial life.

This is Day One for me. The comeback starts with five pesos and a promise. It’s not going to be easy, and it’s not going to be fast. But it’s going to be worth it. I’m starting from scratch, and I’m taking back control, one dollar, one bucket at a time.

If you’re reading this and you feel that same weight in your gut, know that you are not alone. Your rock bottom doesn’t have to be the end. It can be your beginning. If you’re ready to build your own system and take back control, you can learn exactly how to set up your own buckets and start your journey with us. Let’s build a better future together. Start here: [https://thurmanmedia.com/start](https://thurmanmedia.com/start).