From a homeless shelter to saving six figures and buying her first home: A 34-year-old opens up about her struggles with money and the 5 adjustments that changed her finances

• Niké Ojekunle moved to Los Angeles in 2014 to pursue a career in fashion.
• From taking odd jobs to living in her car, she had to figure out her finances.
• After dealing with anxiety from financial distress, five steps changed her life.

Niké Ojekunle decided to leave her parents’ home and relocate to Los Angeles to pursue a career in fashion. But she knew they’d be disappointed.

“If you know, Nigerian parents, you know.” “I think that’s as strict as a parent can ever be, which I despised at the time,” said Ojekunle, who was 24 at the time. “But now I’m grateful because I could not have survived that part of my life if they weren’t that strict.”

Her parents, who lived in Florida, wanted her to settle down, attend law school, and find a stable job. But she moved anyway in 2014, and she was given a year to comply or face financial repercussions. They followed through on their threat after eight months of back-and-forth on the phone. Ojekunle’s debit card, which was linked to her parents’ bank account, was declined when she tried to pay for groceries.

She had worked since she was 15, but she had lived with her parents until then, and they had helped manage most of her finances, including depositing her paychecks into her account. She had to become completely financially independent in an instant.

“I’m so stubborn that I was like, ‘Oh, I’m just going to move into a shelter,” Ojekunle told reporters. “So that night, I went to a homeless shelter, and I stayed there for about two months.”

She then worked as an extra on film sets, as a dishwasher in a restaurant, and cleaning and organizing closets until she landed a steady job at American Apparel fixing mannequins. The steady job enabled her to save enough money to purchase a used Nissan Altima, which would serve as her home for the next eight months and three weeks, she explained.

“I planned my entire life while I was in that car,” Ojekunle explained. “Because there were lights behind American Apparel, I would simply park there.” There was a 24-hour fitness center right across the street, so I’d shower there before slipping back into my car and driving to work.”

She went on to say, “This is going to sound so weird: even though I still have trauma from it, it was quite easy, actually.”

When she became bored, she went to Barnes and Noble to read books. That’s when she started reading self-help books and learning about money management.

“I’m going to cry,” she said, recalling her experiences. “The first time I touched the book, ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad,’ I remember I said to myself, ‘I will never be poor again’.”

The book taught her that it didn’t matter how hard she worked or what kind of degree she earned. She explained that in order to become wealthy, she needed to learn about financial literacy.

But it didn’t teach her that knowing and doing were two entirely different things.

Becoming a big earner and spender

She was able to move into a studio apartment and buy a new Hyundai Elantra in 2018, she said, while working additional retail jobs.

Ojekunle also had a side hustle as a fashion and beauty blogger on her website Specs and Blazers. She gradually gained small contracts with beauty and fashion companies. In 2019, she landed a lucrative contract with Adidas that would pay her $1,800 per campaign over a 12-month period for writing content. She suddenly felt wealthy.

“That’s like life-changing money,” said Ojekunle. “However, I have yet to account for what I did with that money.” That’s when I realized something wasn’t right. I can’t tell you where the money went. It had simply vanished.”

Money began to flow out faster than it came in. She was living paycheck to paycheck and accumulating credit card debt as a result of her nights out, daily shopping sprees, designer bags, and expensive grocery stores. She recalled going to cash-advance stores at one point to get a loan against her next paycheck. According to her, her vehicle was repossessed in 2019 due to nonpayment.

“Once I started making a little bit of money, all the knowledge that I accumulated while I was homeless just went straight out of my head,” said Ojekunle. “I was like, ‘Party time!'” “I want to demonstrate to the world that I am successful.”

In 2020, she signed another major deal with TikTok to create paid content for their platform. This arrangement prompted her to sign a lease for a $8,500-per-month, two-bedroom penthouse, which she would share with her partner and pay $4,500 of the rent for.

But when they moved the furniture in, Ojekunle was sick with regret. She realized she struggled with impulse purchases: when she decided to spend money, she felt high and excited, but guilt always followed.

Because of her debt, she was now poorer than she had been when she was homeless.

“Rock bottom is the best place you can ever be in life,” she said with a laugh. “Once you’re there, you can’t go any lower.”

Becoming a big saver

According to her, a large part of financial stability is psychological, and financial trauma is real.

“I would wake up in the middle of the night, and I would go straight to my bank account and check it: ‘okay there’s money, I’m okay,'” she told me.

She told Insider that panic attacks from financial stress became so severe in 2020 that she sought therapy. She was diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) by a psychiatrist. Ojekunle came to the conclusion that her uncontrollable spending habits were a reaction to her discomfort with having large sums of money. As a result, she planned to spend it.

With that realization, she began to shift her perspective and modify her habits.

First, after separating from her partner, she downgraded her apartment to a small one-bedroom unit in the same building, lowering her monthly rent to $2,892 and saving approximately $1,600. There was less space for clothes in the smaller unit. As a result, she held an open house and sold a large number of her items. She also stopped buying new clothes and learned to restyle her existing ones.

She had to say goodbye to her friends. Peer pressure to maintain a certain lifestyle and spend was a major contributor to the problem. This transition was aided by the Covid lockdowns. Everything was turned off, and there was nowhere to go. During this time, she reconciled with her parents after receiving recognition for her fashion work, including having her photo published in People magazine. They called her to connect and then came to stay with her to support her. They got to see her slowly pay off her debt that year, she said.

She began withdrawing cash from her account with the goal of putting 10% of every check she received into a physical piggy bank for about two years because she was easily spending. It helped her control her impulse spending because it was only accessible by breaking it.

“Piggy banks changed my life, truly,” Ojekunle said.

She eventually discovered a high-yield savings account with a bank that had no physical branches and few banking options. This meant that money could not be withdrawn immediately after it was deposited. Ojekunle would put money in her piggy bank for three months, deposit it in her Chase checking account, and then transfer it to the special savings account. She began transferring money directly to the account as she developed the habit of saving.

She was also overspending on food, so she started cutting back on expensive grocery stores, food delivery apps, and eating out. Every Monday, she would make a weekly grocery list of the items she needed to avoid impulse purchases. She anticipates saving $800 per month on food costs.

“I just stopped feeling ashamed of being frugal,” said Ojekunle. “I recall posting about the first time I went to Costco. ‘Niké, take that down,’ said a friend. People will find out you’re poor’. And I was so embarrassed. ‘Yeah, you’re right,’ I said. As a result, I took it down.”

Meanwhile, her social media presence expanded. Ojekunle earned a consistent monthly income from her blog, primarily through brand partnerships.

According to records obtained by Insider, Ojekunle purchased her first home in July 2023: a townhouse-style condo in Los Angeles. She was also able to save over six figures before purchasing her home, according to a screenshot of her bank account obtained by Insider. These events occurred at an opportune time, as earning a living as an influencer has become increasingly difficult this year, as brand deals have slowed.

Ojekunle realized that financial stability is more than just how much money you make after going from struggling to making a lot of it. You can still go bankrupt if you spend more than you earn. Her current goal is to start reinvesting in a brokerage account. She also plans to slow down or stop promoting beauty products and shift her focus to personal finance and teaching people how to save money, which she refers to as “de-influencing.” It’s a topic she considers more important.

“I’ve been feeling guilty for a long time, pushing everything, but also the income has slowed down a lot,” Ojekunle told the newspaper. “I’m in a bad mood. I can’t do it in this inflationary environment. People are in a lot of pain. They can’t eat, and I tell them to “go buy this right now.” With everything going on in the world, it almost feels dystopian.”