YOUR MONEY: MAKEOVER REDUX

Then: In October 2007, Sausser was at a breaking point. His expenses exceeded his income by about $3,000 a month. The payments on $35,000 in credit card debt were hard to sustain. He was unsure whether he should stay in his Van Nuys home or pursue his dream of moving with his partner to Palm Springs.

An AIDS survivor, Sausser, 47, never expected that he’d live to see retirement. He has struggled with high medical bills for almost 20 years.

The planner told Sausser that he needed to stop increasing his debt. She urged him to sell the Van Nuys home and move to a smaller, more affordable place in the desert. She recommended that he negotiate with credit card companies to bring down his debt and that he give away some of his five pets. She wanted him to stop spending large sums of money to renovate his home and to study real estate investing.

Now: Sausser and his partner, Rodrigo Rodarte, realized their dream of moving to the desert, but not on the terms the planner prescribed. The housing market dropped too far to sell the Van Nuys home, so Sausser rented it out. Still, he loses $800 a month overall on the rental.

But he has cut expenses elsewhere so they no longer exceed his income. Sausser managed to consolidate and restructure $18,000 of his credit debt with zero interest. He stopped spending on renovations to the house. He is modifying his mortgage to bring the monthly payments down.

Sausser did not take the planner’s advice to give away any of his pets.

New habits: Sausser and Rodarte, also an AIDS survivor, buy their clothes at a thrift store. They spend some of their free time volunteering at a local gay and lesbian film festival. Sausser feels much healthier in the clean air of the desert, where he can see mountains every day.

“What was most helpful was looking at the big picture of where I stood,” Sausser said. “It gave us the impetus to move forward no matter what.”

-- Ann Marsh