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Sloan, shocked to discover a rumour that redheads are going extinct, does some investigating and discovers the truth.

Twenty-four year old Kezia earns about $30,000 a year as a makeup artist, but is currently on stress leave, reducing her annual pay to about $12,000. That stress is largely the result of working in a mall and being constantly surrounded by temptation. Being in the industry, she is aware of all the latest trends, which she follows religiously and will spend whatever to be part of that trend. As Kezia is aware of those trends, her friends live vicariously through her. Being an only child, her single mother, Sherrie, admits she spoiled her. By the time Sherrie tried to teach Kezia proper money management, it was already "too late" as Kezia was entrenched in her self-indulgences at whatever cost. Kezia's boyfriend Chris knows about her overspending, but she hides the extent from him. Chris is the exact opposite in terms of spending than Kezia, but he is stuck paying for many of her wants as opposed to his own. Kezia also sponges off her Great Aunt May, from who she borrowed a car but never gave back, and who paid her student loans. Kezia ignores money issues, throwing out her bills when they arrive in the mail. Most of her debt is owed to Chris, Sherrie or Aunt May, all three who may end up being as big a challenge as Kezia.

Alison calls in Gail to deal with the money management issues of her husband, Dan. Dan, who has always enjoyed the finer things in life and who likes to be generous to friends which often manifests itself in picking up the check in frequent meals out, lost his $80,000 per annum job shortly before he and Alison got married - something he postponed telling her in his want for her to have the wedding she wanted - that job which was replaced by a $30,000 per annum one. Alison, who has yet to start her teaching career, got pregnant shortly thereafter, she now six months into the pregnancy. Even with those added expenses and less income, Dan's spending did not change, the biggest bone of contention being a luxury sedan which Dan unilaterally purchased and that Alison does not think they can afford. They currently live with Dan's mother in her house rent free until they get back on their feet, this living arrangement which further places a strain on their young marriage. Alison is afraid that Dan, who has always been the reassuring one in their relationship, may talk a good talk but not do anything in a concrete fashion to deal with their financial problems. Beyond the spending diary which they are to keep, Gail wants Dan to sell the car, even if it means taking a loss on it. She also gives them $200 to carve out a small space in his mother's house for them including the baby, something which Alison was initially reluctant to do if only in making the living arrangement feel more permanent than she wanted. And she wants them to prepare a five year budget so that they will be on the same page for their medium term life goals.

Celeste calls in Gail to deal with her husband, Mike, the two who were teenaged sweethearts and the other's first love. They are parents to an infant son. The problem in Celeste's mind is Mike's addiction to shopping in general, which has placed them deep in consumer debt (above and beyond their mortgage), and the resulting hoarding, the "stuff" which Mike keeps in their garage and two rooms in their house, all three which are packed to the brim with this stuff, mostly untouched and unused, with many of the individual items somewhat forgotten. Mike admits that he gets a warm feeling inside whenever he buys something. He also professes to place their son and Celeste as his first priority, which does not match his actions in that his indiscriminate spending has placed the family in financial risk. Gail is hoping that knowing the actual amount of their consumer debt and how fast it is increasing will open Mike's eyes to the extent of the problem and be one factor in Mike's rehabilitation to his addiction to shopping. As part of the problem is the hoarding, Gail provides the assistance of a professional organizer to help Mike organize the stuff: what can be kept, what can be resold, what should be donated to charity, and what should just be sent to the recycle or trash. Gail also realizes that Mike needs to redirect his energies from shopping to something that is more productive for them as a family. But Celeste also realizes that although Gail has forced Mike to go cold turkey from the shopping for the duration of her process with them, he will still be asked at some point to shop for family needs, with the question being how much Mike will or at least try to sneak those wants into his shopping basket.

Jennifer calls in Gail to deal with her husband, Bryan, they the parents to two young daughters. Jennifer earns the bulk of the family's money. Bryan's approximate thirty percent contribution - now $20,000 annually as a carpenter - and more goes primarily toward his own vices, namely nights out eating with the boys, copious quantities of good beer, and cigarettes. In addition, he has a thing for nice televisions, he spending most of his time at home in his "man cave" in the converted garage. With the television issue, he now refuses to sleep in his and Jennifer's bedroom since there is no television in the room. Soft spoken Jennifer has given up trying to talk to Bryan about money, as it leads to arguments and Bryan shutting down. As such, neither Bryan or Jennifer, the latter who handles all the household finances, has any idea how deep in debt they are as a family, that debt which is primarily Bryan's in spending on his own vices. Especially as Bryan professes to have his daughters' best interest as his first priority, Gail wants there to be a better balance in the household, meaning Bryan getting out of his holistic adolescent mentality. In a practical sense, it means Bryan taking responsibility for knowing about the household finances, each contributing his or her fair share to the household finances including Bryan taking care of his own debt (with their disposable income his or her own based on what is left over), Bryan making more of an effort to earn more money in his now chosen trade, and Bryan limiting or totally cutting out some vices, namely having a defined amount of beer a week and quitting smoking. But some of the onus is also on Jennifer in standing up for herself which she has been unable to do in their relationship thus far.

Although Dan is identified as the money moron in his marriage to Lisa, Dan is a willing participant in bringing Gail into their lives as he realizes he has made a mess in the management of their finances which in turn has placed a strain on their marriage, this the second marriage for both. Each party contributes roughly half of their approximately $90,000 annual income. At the beginning of their marriage, Lisa willingly gave up any handling of the finances, which she did in her first marriage, it a responsibility which she hated. Having no credit or debit card, Lisa is given a weekly allowance - her mad money - by Dan. It was the frequency that Dan stated that she could not have any more money on any given week for a larger than usual purchase which twigged in Lisa's brain that something was not right with their financial situation. Lisa had no idea what was happening to their money beyond the visible aspects, such as the building of the back yard swimming pool, the remodeling of the kitchen, and everything associated with their son's hockey, including the socializing of frequent meals out. Dan has not let her into the know even when she has asked. Dan's belief is that his problem has been the inability to say no without having to talk about the financial mess. Beyond the actual money management which includes entertaining themselves with less money, Gail provides them with challenges and supports to be able to communicate more effectively with each other about their finances and life priorities, as well as about planning for their retirement seeing that they are approaching middle age.

Twenty-seven year old Kyla calls in Gail to deal with her sixty year old mother, Valerie. Kyla knows that this will be an all family process, including her brother/Valerie's twenty year old son, Conor, due to circumstances. Valerie had been retired when the unexpected upended her life seven years ago: her husband asked for a divorce. An entire inheritance was used to pay for Valerie's divorce expenses. Valerie was forced to go back to work into a job in which she earns $60,000 annually. Kyla - who makes $32,000 annually - her partner, and their infant daughter rent the basement in Valerie's house, both to be close to and support Mom, but also to save some money. Conor, who just finished university and has a part-time job earning him $14,000 annually, still lives at home rent-free, with Mom still acting as Mom, largely paying his way. Valerie's primary problem is that she didn't change her spending habits following the divorce despite her changed financial circumstances, keeping things the same in part to maintain an even keel for Kyla and Conor. An added expense is being Grandma, as she spoils her granddaughter. The three of them have never had the money talk, Valerie who feels it's her role to protect her kids, despite they being adults, from those sorts of problems. She, in turn, also doesn't want to be a financial burden on them in her retirement years. Gail finds that all three knew that there was a money problem, but suffered by themselves in silence until now. Gail wants the most fundamental change to happen with Valerie as the role model for her kids. Beyond curbing the spending, Valerie also has to plan for what will hopefully be her imminent retirement with some financial security, that imminence which includes being an empty-nester and downsizing.

Roy calls in Gail to deal with his husband, Kristoffer, most specifically the problem of his constant spending for things for his magic show business, without thoughts of the money itself. Most of that money is earned by retired accountant Roy, who gets $62,000 annually as a work pension and who had minimal consumer debt before getting together with Kris, that consumer debt now over $100,000 primarily from Kris' spending. Kris brings in approximately $10,000 annually, most of that being an allowance from his mother. Kris, who usually spends before telling Roy if he tells Roy at all, justifies it all by the old adage of needing to spend money to make money, namely the expenditures allow for a wider array of shows to be produced with the thought that he will get more bookings overall. Gail, who considers the business more of a hobby than a true business, wants them to draft a business plan, something that Kris had never done in his seeming unfettered access to other peoples' money without question. As part of that plan is to take stock of Kris' current mostly never used inventory of props, Gail feels it is a good opportunity also for Roy to review his own stored items as the specific task at hand is not only to justify what Kris should keep of that inventory, but to downsize from two storage lockers - currently "his" and "his" - into one. Gail also wants Roy to demonstrate that he understands the errors of his spending ways by putting on a magic show on that theme, and to do what most other struggling artists do, namely get a job that pays his fair share of the household the bills, having a regular source of earned income which Kris has never done despite being forty-three.

Matt and Cathy call in Gail to deal with his wife/her daughter, Alanna, who has always been a shopaholic. Instead of cutting back when Matt and Alanna's two children arrived, Alanna ramped up the spending. Matt and Alanna's combined annual income is about $50,000, Alanna's contribution being about one-quarter of it. Matt and Alanna have separated out their finances. Cathy states that Alanna has always treated credit cards like money, Matt and Cathy who have always bailed Alanna out when she couldn't pay her bills. Matt and Alanna and their family currently live in Cathy's spacious basement, and despite the nominal $500 per month rent, they are behind, Cathy who is contemplating kicking them out unless they catch up. In Gail, Matt and Cathy confronting her, Alanna does admit the error of her spending ways, but states that Matt is just as much to blame for their financial problems, he too who spends beyond his means. Because of their debt to income ratio, Gail sends Alanna and Matt to a bankruptcy expert to see if that is the best option for them. After the first attempt at a budget, Gail also believes they need assistance in setting goals to which both parties agree.

Chris calls in Gail to deal with his wife of two years, Jessica who started to spend uncontrollably after the birth of their first child. Chris and Jessica, who each earn about half of their approximately $100,000 per annum household income, decided to split the expenses with Chris taking the mortgage and Jessica everything else, which when the decision was made felt equitable. Chris only knew there was a financial problem in their house when he started to see bank fees for bounced checks. Chris has tried to speak to Jessica before about the issue, her stock response being, "shut up". Jessica feels a greater burden in those expenses as she has more of them to handle, thus feeling like more and more of her money is leaving as she deals with each successive bill. She admits that shopping is her escape from those financial pressures. They jointly own an investment property which he now wants to sell to bring down their debt, something she is unwilling to do. In examining their life more closely, Gail sees a couple that tries to portray a veneer of perfection, but at a cost of financial instability. Gail gives Jessica a choice, the decision Jessica makes Gail believing being an attempt to get her own way in the long run. Gail's first challenge for Jessica leads to Jessica feeling the need to provide full disclosure to Gail into the root cause of the spending and the associated reason why Chris, if he did know, didn't stop her. That disclosure not only frees the burden of the secret to making some prudent financial decisions, but also leads to Gail focusing in on them as a couple in their remaining challenge.

Chris calls in Gail to deal with Nicole, his divorced daughter who has a daughter of her own. Nicole's money problems started during her unhappy marriage, when she started using shopping as an escape. When Nicole got divorced four years ago and bought herself a condo in which to live, the shopping as "happiness" therapy should have stopped, but it didn't. And then when Chris went through a health scare, he gave Nicole signing authority to his financial products, she who ultimately drained his bank account of $35,000 leaving him now with nothing on which to retire. Nicole knows what she did with her father was wrong, she who just recently removed her name from his accounts. Prior to Gail's intervention, Chris and Nicole didn't talk about any of her money issues in not wanting to place that open strain in their relationship. Nicole is worried about the process with Gail if only because she has never watched her spending, feels she doesn't have a natural aptitude for all that is entailed, and doesn't have a partner on which she can call upon to help her. And although she does want to repay back her father who she loves dearly and thus wants to have a happy and comfortable retirement, Nicole may find it difficult to give up those "wants" in her life, such as her regular mani/pedis, which were the source of her happiness for so long.

Kris calls in Gail to deal with his wife and childhood sweetheart, April, a shopaholic. Early in their relationship, April needed to declare bankruptcy, that process which didn't seem to phase her in that unless something changes in her spending now, she/they will have to do it all over again. April treats money like it's water, something that always needed, and something of which there is seemingly an endless supply. The one thing April admits is that losing their home would be the worst thing, as she sees it as their son Mason's security. Although Kris loves April, Gail convinces him that he has to show April the real consequences of possibly splitting if things don't change. Gail provides April with an exercise which she hopes will show her that if she doesn't buy things, her world will not totally fall apart. She also gives her another exercise hopefully to show her where her priorities should lie by being grateful for the things she has. A final exercise is meant to demonstrate how April's spending could have been used for more beneficial things for their family, especially Mason's future. At the beginning of the process, Gail is concerned that April will try and do and say the right things just to get the $10,000, and then return to her old ways. Only the end of the six weeks and beyond will prove Gail right or wrong.

Matt calls in Gail to deal with his wife, Jennifer. They have consumer debt of $117,000 despite they both having good paying jobs. Matt's issues with Jenny are that she hid $40,000 of her debt from him going into their marriage, and now that she is pregnant with their first child, they will have a reduced income in paying their bills, including their debt repayment, which in turn will jeopardize their family's future. That debt is from Jenny's reckless spending, primarily in showing generosity in buying gifts for others, and now buying things for their house and for the baby. Jenny also unilaterally bought two dogs, their care and feeding which take up a large part of their income. Although Jenny realizes when she looks at the numbers how her spending is putting their lives at risk, she still sees money as something that should be spent as, in the old adage "you can't take it with you". Jenny also believes that spending on bargains has saved money, but what it has really done is made her feel like she can spend even more. Beyond the extra expenses for the child and the reduced income, Gail wants Jenny to see that she can't have it all, at least not right now, with some of her more extravagant purchases - whether it be her shiny new unpaid for car or the dogs - or her dream items, such as the honeymoon they have yet to take, the bigger house, or children number two and three, may have to wait until their financial mess is cleared. Gail provides the expert advice of professionals to budget practically for certain items like the baby. The facts of the actual numbers and that Jenny admits she's scared of Gail may be what Jenny needs to make the needed changes.

April calls in Gail to deal with her husband, David. David is generous to a fault, including on himself, which he doesn't realize is causing the family financial hardship. David and April long ago purchased a house they couldn't really afford, and as the house slowly falls into disrepair, David uses the equity in it to finance his purchases, like surprise meals out, flowers and other gifts for April and their three children, and a new luxury car for himself. The spending continued even after he was demoted to a lower paying job. He and April had decided already to consolidate consumer loans into their mortgage, three times for a total of $90,000. They have already amassed more consumer debt on top of that to the tune of $44,000. Upon being ambushed by Gail and April, David admits that he had never really listened to April before when she tried to tell him her concerns over their finances. David is going to have to reset his priorities to make this fundamental change in his spending. Gail gives David challenges to get him out of restaurants regularly, to get him and April communicating with each other and working as a team.

Lisa calls in Gail to deal with her partner of a year-and-a-half, Mike, who likes to spend money on big boy toys for himself and his teenaged son from a previous marriage, as well as indiscriminately on things like junk food at convenience stores. Mike earns good money - approximately two-thirds of what comes into the household - and as such believes he has the right to spend the money as he wants. However, he has no idea how much money he does spend and how much debt they are in as a household because of his spending. Lisa's concern is for their yet unborn child and being able to provide for the baby. Mike also believes in the stereotypical division of roles in the household, Mike in charge of the "outside" stuff", Lisa the "inside" stuff, such as inside cleaning and chores, cooking and all the household finances, resulting in an approximate 90/10 imbalance in the household work falling on Lisa's shoulders. As Mike is the big personality and Lisa the small personality within their relationship, Mike gets away with whatever he has wanted in not really listening to Lisa and her concerns. Gail wants Mike to see that he can't have everything he wants all the time, other people's needs which need to take precedent sometimes. She also wants him to take over the management of the household finances so that he knows exactly what is going on with his and Lisa's money. That money management is only one aspect of Mike assuming half of the household chores. Gail also provides them with the services of a couples therapist so that they can communicate more effectively than the current situation of Mike charging into confrontation, and Lisa cowering away from it when things get difficult. After all is said and done, Mike knows what his issues are, the question being whether he can change what he believes are ingrained character traits.

John calls in Gail deal with his older sister Rachel, who will get what she wants in terms of material possessions regardless of anything else. She considers her sports car with its vanity plates and her cats - now totaling six animals - the most important things in her life. Since the passing of their father thirteen years ago, John is the most important person in Rachel's life, he who she has relied on financially. Her reckless spending has already led to two failed serious relationships, John basically the only person left in her life, he who has yet to say no to her for any request for a couple of dollars here and there. Rachel used to have a $80,000 per annum job, to which she lived, but lost that job and earns only $29,000 per annum, but she still lives to her previous income. John only earns $35,000 per annum himself, and Rachel has tapped him out of his savings. Beyond the issue of coming up with a budget which will necessarily divest her of some of her valued material possessions and/or require her to double her income on a consistent basis, Gail provides her with some tools to show her that she doesn't need all her stuff, and to shift her priority from "stuff" to the people in her life, such as John.