Reality Check

Tomorrow is DAY ONE of shooting with the MDN crew. For those of you that didn't read my 5QF post, we're officially cast as a family that will be participating in the show "Million Dollar Neighborhood" on OWN. Season 1 is currently airing and we're shooting Season 2 in our town.

I'm going to be doing this column every week or so and it'll follow our family's journey through filming a reality television show. Although I can't give specific details (you don't want me to spoil it for you, anyway!) I will mostly be chronicling our experience doing the show, how I am feeling during the process and hopefully making some new connections with people in our town.

To give some small insight into what the show is all about, the premise is based on the statistic that people who live in towns that have a great sense of community, in the sense that everybody knows everybody and helps everybody, have an overall greater net worth than people who don't. Getting to know your neighbors and others in your community means you're more likely to use their local services for things like hair cuts and finishing your basement, instead of just looking up some random person on yelp. It also means more people help one another out for free or just in general, so you are spending less on things like child care or groceries (because your neighbour has a tomato garden and brings you some!)

With all of the insane amount of spending we're forced to do these days, even though most families have dual incomes we're all facing hard times. Those of us that are managing to keep on top of our bills, even just barely, still have almost nothing left to save and a life without savings is scary. Times they are a changin', and what I'm hoping to get out of this experience is two things: 1) To gain a better repertoire with people within our community, because it's awesome to have friends! and 2) Learn how to manage our budget better and gain some traction in our savings.

source: force four entertainment

We do have an opportunity to win some money by completing the challenges in the show. It'll be interesting to see how all of the challenges unfold (though that'll be the stuff I can't really talk about until AFTER the show is airing!) and if we are even in the running to win. I think our "story" is a good one, but everyone seems to be pretty close to living paycheck to paycheck and some families are definitely more in need than us. We'll have to just wait and see, I suppose.

Either way, I'm amazed at the hard work and dedication the town has already shown, coming together to actually win the show in the first place. I think this season is going to be an amazing one to watch unfold from the inside out. Looking forward to sharing [as much as I am allowed to] with you all!