Redeem them for $6.00 at a BMO coin counter. It’s free and you don’t have to be a client.

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• For all you dreamers out there, make 600 wishes at a nearby fountain or wishing well.

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• Donate them to charity. Habitat for Humanity is accepting the coins at its 69 regional offices.

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• Melting down 600 pre-1997 copper pennies would net you $11.72—and possible criminal charges.

A: No, you are not responsible for the personal debts of your spouse. But that doesn’t mean you’re completely in the clear. If your partner declares bankruptcy, creditors and the Canada Revenue Agency can go after joint assets—like houses or bank accounts—to reclaim the debt, says Laurie Campbell, CEO of Credit Canada Debt Solutions.

If you’re considering putting assets in a partner’s name to avoid creditors, that won’t help, Campbell adds: it’s fraud. “If a debt haunts one, then it haunts the other. The bottom line is there must be open communication about the assets and debts you’re bringing into the relationship so the partner is not sidelined.”

“We paid off our mortgage by our mid-30s”

Fritz Wyssen, 40 // Krystal Wyssen, 37 // Quesnel, B.C.

When Krystal and I married 14 years ago, we had only $1,500 in our pockets. I was 26 years old and Krystal was 23. We started our married life together by renting a small one-bedroom cabin that was just 350 sq. ft. in the tiny town of Kitwanga, B.C. You could say we started small—really small. Those were tough days and money was really hard to come by. I made $20 a day shovelling snow and about $150 a week as a paramedic. In those days, you only got paid when you got an ambulance call. I got about two calls a week.

Then our luck turned. In 2000, I landed a job with the highways department in the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii). There, I negotiated the price of our first home, and we were able to buy a small bungalow for $50,000. The following year we rented it out and bought a larger, unfinished home—really just a shell. It was also $50,000 and was in a more remote area. The market was really depressed, so it was a great deal. We then spent the next year renovating it ourselves. At first I earned $40,000 annually while Krystal earned $5,000 a year working part-time as a cashier. As our salaries grew, we put every spare penny we had towards the two mortgages.

Four years later, the real estate market was starting to turn. We were itching to get back to the mainland where we could raise our growing family—we had our son Korbin by then. We sold our home for $107,000 and moved to Quesnel, a working-class town in the B.C. interior. It was an adventure. We came to Quesnel blind, picked it on a map and just drove down here. I worked in a timber mill full-time as well as part-time for the local ambulance service. Krystal got a full-time cashier job.

We bought a brand new 3,500-sq. ft. house in Quesnel for $200,000 and used the proceeds of our two homes on the Queen Charlottes to make a big down payment. The house was way underpriced because the builders were experiencing financial problems and were anxious to sell. We spent the next three years aggressively paying off the $60,000 mortgage, and we had it finished in 2008, when we were in our mid-30s.

For us, the key to financial success in real estate has been to never fall in love with a property and to always be willing to negotiate the price down. We always lived in small towns where real estate is cheaper. We also made sure to buy at rock-bottom prices and added value by renovating. As well, we advertised online and sold our homes privately.

With our home in Quesnel, we made sure we had a short amortization period—20 years. We doubled up on monthly payments once a year, and made the maximum annual prepayment—usually 10% of the value of the mortgage. We also saved 25% of our combined income each year. Then, when the mortgage came due in 2008, we took $30,000 from savings and paid the balance in full.

Most important is to stay out of debt and live frugally. Krystal and I do all our own home maintenance and renovations. We buy meat in bulk, pay our credit card off each month and pay cash for vacations with the kids—Korbin is eight now and his sister Riley is five. Last year, we took the kids to Disneyland and kept to our $5,000 budget.

Our next dream? To retire early. I’ve recently picked up a part-time position at a sawmill while Krystal stays at home. Our magic number for retirement is $750,000. When we get there I’ll walk away from work. We’ve given ourselves 10 years to reach that number. I don’t know what early retirement will bring for us but I’m sure it will be quite an adventure.

More from the “Making it Happen” series:

How we paid off our debt
How I started and sold my business
How I thrived financially after divorce
How I built a solid portfolio
How I became a landlord
How I graduated without student debt

“I paid for two university degrees on my own and graduated without debt”

Lydia Kardum, 29 // Ottawa

I don’t come from a wealthy family. Actually I lived in a van and a motel for a short period. It’s hard to identify oneself as poor, but that’s the truth.

As far back as I can remember I had part-time jobs. When I started attending the University of Ottawa I had a retail job and also became a teaching assistant. For the first two years, I got scholarships. In my third and fourth years, I used all my savings to pay for tuition and books. For the last term of my Master’s in English, I paid my fees in installments, as I just didn’t have enough. I used all my part-time income, HST rebates and tax refunds to pay for university. If it meant eating eggs and ramen noodles, then that’s what I did. I never had student loans and didn’t want any.

After graduation, I got a full-time job as an administrative assistant making $12 an hour. The winter of 2009 was tough for me. Buses were on strike and my dad was ill with cancer. He died soon afterwards. My mom had to work less to take care of him. We were all living on $28,000 a year, most of it coming from my earnings. Often I had to pay for our groceries on credit cards.

But then my luck turned. I found a good $40,000-a-year job and became determined to build an emergency fund. These days, I follow a savings plan and avoid debt at all costs, even though half my income goes to rent.

Stuff doesn’t mean much to me. If I spend, I spend on experiences. Earlier this year, I went to DisneyWorld and spent $200 for rowing lessons. I love books, but use the library. I try to squeeze the most out of every dollar and it’s starting to pay off—I’m now debt-free with a net worth of $11,000.

More from the “Making it Happen” series:

How we paid off our debt
How I started and sold my business
How I thrived financially after divorce
How I built a solid portfolio
How I became a landlord
How we paid off our mortgage early

“I bought an investment property when I was 28”

Angie Oliveira, 32 // Toronto

I’ve always been very focused in my life. I was born a triplet and knew from an early age my parents wouldn’t be able to pay for many extras, or for postsecondary education for all of us. But I was determined to go to university and to buy a home of my own. So in high school I started working as a waitress for 20 hours a week. During the summers I took as many shifts as possible, often working seven days straight. I was a workaholic and should have cut back because my grades were suffering, but I persevered.

I earned enough to pay for tuition by living at home with my parents and commuting to York University. It wasn’t easy. I didn’t have a car so I used buses to make the two-hour journey to York and back each day. At one point I considered buying a car but was shocked when my dad showed me how expensive it was. I kept commuting every day for four years. Believe me, it was really depressing. I would get home every night and it was cold and dark, and I was tired. But I knew I was saving for my big goal of owning an investment property, which kept me going.

After graduating with an English degree in 2006, I had no student debt and $20,000 in savings from my waitressing job. Then I got a lucky break—I landed a job as an administrative assistant, paying $32,000 a year in downtown Toronto. In 2008, when I was 28 years old, I had saved $70,000, enough for a 20% down payment on a triplex in Little Italy. I moved into one unit and the rent from the other two units paid for the mortgage and utilities. Last year, I got married and my husband moved into the apartment with me. I’ve never doubted the triplex was one of the best financial decisions I’ve ever made.

The key for me was tracking my spending in a journal to see exactly where every penny was going so I knew where I could cut back and add to my savings. Most years I saved 70% of my earned income, which I used to pay for university and for the down payment on the triplex. By living at home a little longer than most people I was able to really beef up my down payment. That’s made me truly independent a lot more quickly than many of my friends who are still mired in debt.

Now my goal is to pay off the mortgage on the property as quickly as possible. I’ve done some renos over the years and I’m putting $500 a month extra on my mortgage to pay it off faster. The triplex’s value has also gone up. I bought it for $350,000 and it’s worth $450,000 today.

More from the “Making it Happen” series:

How we paid off our debt
How I started and sold my business
How I thrived financially after divorce
How I built a solid portfolio
How we paid off our mortgage early
How I graduated without student debt

“I survived a divorce and thrived financially”

Janet McCauley, 40 // Taber, Alta.

I still remember that day in 2006 when I walked out on my husband of 12 years. It feels like it was yesterday. We really had zero intention of divorcing but it all happened so fast. We had an enormous argument and I knew I had to get out of the relationship right away. That night, I left with $300 to my name and a duffel bag full of my clothes and never looked back.

At the time, I was on medical leave, receiving minimal employment insurance payments and was flat broke. We had been absolutely stupid with money throughout our whole relationship. So even though we had two good incomes and no kids, we were impulse shoppers, spending on clothes, electronics and eating out. We never bought our own home, always had consumer debt and never planned for the future. But this was grow-up time for me. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I was 33, my husband and I had done nothing with our lives and I had nothing to show for all my hard work—no investments, no house, no car.

The bad news was everything was in my name because my husband had terrible credit. The first thing I had to do was start paying off the $10,000 in consumer debt for which I was now responsible. The only job I could find was as a part-time bank teller but as my health improved I started working part time at Walmart. I got a nasty basement apartment for $420 a month and lived there for four years.

For the first two years I lived bare-bones and took no vacations, just the odd drive to the country with my sister. That meant no movies, no TV, no cable, and no eating out. I really wanted to be out of debt and eventually own my own home. After almost three years my debts were paid off and I started saving for a down payment.

If you have no debt, the whole world is open to you. It’s very motivating. Last year, after five years of paying down debt and saving, I bought a house with my sister for $151,000. We rolled up our sleeves and renovated the 100-year-old home. Today it’s worth close to $240,000.

The key to succeeding after a nasty divorce is to not be afraid to live small. It will allow you to get your financial house in order. If you have kids they can share a room—it won’t kill them. Keep an emergency fund, especially if like me, your income varies from month to month. And make sure you talk about finances with any potential mate. Having common financial goals and a plan on how you’ll get there is so important to success in a relationship. Otherwise, you’ll just be drifting in the wind and will regret your failure to plan as you get older.

More from the “Making it Happen” series:

How we paid off our debt
How I started and sold my business
How I built a solid portfolio
How I became a landlord
How we paid off our mortgage early
How I graduated without student debt

That’s why MoneySense decided to ask readers who have accomplished key financial goals in their lives to share their personal stories with us. Readers like Janet McCauley of Taber, Alta., who divorced her husband, paid off both their debts and went on to buy her own home earlier this year. You’ll also hear from Fritz Wyssen and his wife Krystal of Quesnel, B.C. They began their marriage 14 years ago with only $1,500 in their pockets, yet through hard work and frugal living were able to pay off their mortgage by their mid-30s.

All the people we spoke to deserve top marks for identifying their goals, working towards them during good times and bad, and coming out the better for it. The key thing to remember is no financial goal is too small. It’s those small financial goals we set for ourselves along the way to the big goals that give us the confidence to persevere. We hope the personal stories that follow will motivate you to achieve your financial goals, too. Read on and be inspired.

“We paid off $54,000 in consumer debt in three years”

Kyle Wray, 36 Sarah Wray, 34 // London, Ont.

When Kyle and I met in October 2004, he was 28 and I was 26 and we both knew within months that it was forever. In 2006, we got engaged, bought a condo together and started planning our wedding. Even though Kyle’s parents gave us a gift of $5,000, we soon realized we hadn’t saved enough on our own to pay for the wedding. So we went off to the bank and got a $12,000 loan. What morons we were when I look back! I mean, who takes out a loan for a wedding? We did.

By January 2008 we’d been married six months and were maxed out on our credit. Kyle and I sat down one night and set up an Excel spreadsheet to tally it all up—car loans, wedding loan, credit card debt and student loans—and were shocked to discover we owed $54,000 in consumer debt, apart from our mortgage. We talked about money for the first time and concluded that what we wanted most was freedom from debt.

That was our brutally real starting line. So I started researching articles and support services for debt freedom online and came across Gail Vaz-Oxlade’s website. She has support groups across Canada, where people can talk about their struggles with money. We joined the London Gail Club and it was the best thing that ever happened to us. Every month a dozen of us would meet in a coffee shop and share our debt struggles and tips with each other. One girl was into couponing so I even learned about that.

Our strategy was to live on Kyle’s $60,000 income from his job at the University of Western Ontario while my $60,000 income as a youth counselor was put towards the debt. We tracked our expenses and used Gail’s snowball debt-repayment method that had us putting $3,500 a month towards the debt with the highest interest rate first—in our case the credit cards. Once that was paid off, we paid down the student loans and finally the line of credit, which had the lowest interest rate. Every month Kyle and I had a money meeting to keep us on track. When I was laid off in September 2011, I used my severance money to beef up our emergency fund and pay off the last few thousand dollars on our debt.

That’s why on November 2011 we were debt-free except for our $100,000 mortgage. We were so proud of ourselves and I wasn’t worried about being temporarily out of work because I knew we could cover expenses with Kyle’s salary.

Was it difficult at times? Yes. The key was having a financial support group and letting our friends and family know we were having financial struggles. But we really didn’t miss out on any fun. Instead of going out for dinner, we had potlucks at each other’s houses and played board games. If we wanted a small vacation, Kyle or I worked a few extra hours to pay for it. The key for us was learning to live on less. Living on one income and using the second income for debt repayment and savings worked for us. It also helped that both of us were on the same page. It took Kyle a couple of months to get on board but when I showed him how it was working and how our debt was progressively declining from month to month, he was sold, too, and we’ve never looked back.

More from the “Making it Happen” series:

How we paid off our debt
How I started and sold my business
How I thrived financially after divorce
How I built a solid portfolio
How I became a landlord
How we paid off our mortgage early
How I graduated without student debt