I'm very proud of Elisa for having the courage to write about what happened. It was difficult for us to decide whether to include it in the blog, partly because we didn't want to hurt her fiance's family, and partly because it was just so embarrassing for Elisa.

However, we made a commitment at the beginning of this adventure to open our financial lives to the world, for a little bit. We said we'd be honest. We said we'd be open. I never thought laying out our financial lives would require one of us to be so open about the rest of her life -- lost hope, mangled love, and hurtful betrayal -- as well.

I left the decision of whether or not to write about this to Elisa. I let her know that her feelings and our friendship are more important than any blog, and that we'd find a way to end this contest without explaining if that was what she wanted. It was her decision to be so upfront. But I think it was a good one.

It's a huge lesson that money is so pervasive and divisive sometimes. We can't relegate money to our checkbooks ... it seeps into our whole lives. Sometimes seems like it is our whole lives.

What better reason to take time to focus on money? To recognize its impact and try to organize our lives so that money is something we can use, not something that uses us.

I loved Elisa's quote: "Money is powerful, but not as powerful as it used to be in my life." I feel that way too, and I'm so thankful that Cheap Women has helped us both get to that place. I'm also thankful for a friend like Elisa, who is brave enough to be honest about hard things in her life, and who had the courage to be so open to love in the first place.