 Jacqueline Calavette is happy to be at home babysitting her little sisters because not too long ago, the Calavette's home looked like this. The Calavettes live in Biloxi, Mississippi. Like so many buildings, their home was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina. After seven months of renovations, Jacqueline and her family have finally moved back in. And things are returning back to normal. I'm an impagant for my school, Beauty and Belle. I'm gonna work in the summer, just earn some extra cash so I can do stuff on the weekends. If I don't want to go shopping, I'll have a little cash on my own instead of asking my parents for stuff all the time. If I did my chores during the week and asked to go to the movies, my parents would give me money for the movies and enough money to get food. You know, when you watch movies, popcorn, hot shows, drink, candy. Jacqueline, she's a strong kid. She just went on through it. She did good. Already hurricane warnings for New Orleans and Mobile and Biloxi and what does that mean? Hurricane conditions likely within the next 24 hours. Early on the morning of August 28th, Jacqueline's mother and her stepdad decided to evacuate. At the time, they did not know that they would be gone for so many months. We all evacuate together. Have a little caravan that we all evacuate to Stockville, Mississippi and sort of make camp at my sister's and ride it out there. We had to use our credit cards. We lost everything. We had to use the credit cards for gas. We had to get clothes. I had to get clothes for my children. Food, you know? I mean, you don't pack up food and run with it so you have to use them for that. When the Calavets returned to their neighborhood, they were shocked at what they saw. I couldn't believe it. I was devastated. I started crying. Every house I looked at was gutted, was ruined, was destroyed. And I knew what was coming when we turned on our street and our house was going to be the same way. In the aftermath of the storm, the Calavets had to use their credit cards to buy necessities. It was like, wake up, pack up, get in the car, let's go, shop at the bank, get a couple hundred dollars. And when you get to where you're going and then you can't get back and it's a week later, of course, that's not going to last too long. So you have to use credit cards and stuff to maintain in the meantime. This complete door here and this window here are completely blown out. The water had taken them back out the back. And then this whole wall here, you can see completely out the front yard into the neighbor's yard. Today, the Calavets have rebuilt their house and they are starting to rebuild their lives and their finances. And because they used their credit cards to buy necessities, it's now important for them to pay off their credit card debt as quickly as they can. That's part of using credit wisely. You should generally use a credit card for convenience and when you can pay the balance off each month or in an emergency. If you do run up your credit card bill, you should try to pay it off as quickly as you can. By having a credit card, a banking account, and electronically deposited paychecks, the Calavets were prepared for an emergency. Looking back, there's just one more thing they wished they'd done. They wished they'd had set up an emergency fund by putting money aside regularly. An emergency fund would have provided extra cash when they needed it most and they would have had less credit card debt to pay back. Getting into the habit of saving can help prepare for an emergency. Saving money is a great way to achieve your goals. Jacqueline has been saving up for a new dress for the beauty and beau pageant. Her mom agreed to split the cost and today she has enough. They're ready to go shopping. So many lives were affected. Every one of Jacqueline's friends has a story to tell. We didn't really get around that much because there wasn't that much food left because all the places were closed down so we just kind of made do with what we had. We lost everything that left in my room. I had a collection of Seren McDolls since I was a little kid. Saved up from every birthday, every Christmas. I had about 15 all around my room. I laid them on my bed in trash bags and stuff and they're all gone. As is our street, we didn't get power for like at least two months, three months. Now a lot of money going around when there's a storm that hits and no one's working and everything's upside down. So how did your family get by financially? It was just really hard because right after the hurricane, no banks were open. Before the storm my dad did go to the bank and got money. He got almost all of it out. My mom said that she thinks I'm getting old enough to where I can get an account of my own. My parents' voice said it's good to have money like that saved up for when there is a tragedy like this. And I've always had one or I think they're a good idea because you never know what's going to happen and it's good to have that money there for emergencies. Living through Katrina has taught Jacqueline and her friends the value of being financially responsible. She's paying for it still. She's helping. It was rough on Jacqueline. You know, she had everything turned upside down on her also. She did good. She did good. I mean, I can tell I've changed but I'm not really sure how. I'm very grateful. Like, there are so many people that are willing to help that could. You know, my aunts, my grandparents, my friends were there, you know. Oh my gosh, I love that.