Debt Dumpers - 2013

[Eureka]

I made my car payment today. I'm excited to say my balance is under $5k!!!! I definitely can have this paid off by next year!!! What a great feeling this is.

Great job!

 

[jwboucher]

I made my car payment today. I'm excited to say my balance is under $5k!!!! I definitely can have this paid off by next year!!! What a great feeling this is.

I was happy that mine is below 19k !!!! Ugh

 

[PrincessKymm]

I was happy that mine is below 19k !!!! Ugh

You will get there! Just 18 months ago mine was at 10k+ so it takes time but it will go down. Keep up the good work!!!

 

[ceemys]

I made my car payment today. I'm excited to say my balance is under $5k!!!! I definitely can have this paid off by next year!!! What a great feeling this is.

awesome job!!

You will get there! Just 18 months ago mine was at 10k+ so it takes time but it will go down. Keep up the good work!!!

 

[jwboucher]

You will get there! Just 18 months ago mine was at 10k+ so it takes time but it will go down. Keep up the good work!!!

Thank you!

 

[Tiffemilee]

I'm thinking with all the crap they teach in HS, budgeting & managing money should be one of the things. Most people learn how to manage money from their parents which doesn't necessarily make them good at it. A lot is common sense but if it were so simple, why are so many people so bad at managing their money?

I couldn't agree with you more! I think a budgeting course should be required in order to graduate high school! I sure wish I could go back and learn everything that I know now.

 

[crazycatstacy]

I made my car payment today. I'm excited to say my balance is under $5k!!!! I definitely can have this paid off by next year!!! What a great feeling this is.

Whoo hoo! Congrats! According to my budgeting, I have 18 months left until mine is gone but that is better than 3 years so I will take it!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I couldn't agree with you more! I think a budgeting course should be required in order to graduate high school! I sure wish I could go back and learn everything that I know now.

Our kids have to take Financial Literacy which ds16 took last year (10th grade) but honestly I didn't ask a lot of questions at the time of what they were learning. Getting info about school from boys is like pulling teeth; all brief one word answers: "nothing, fine, ok, etc."
I know one of the projects was being given x amount of pretend $ to invest and they had to research what stocks to invest in and then track their progress. Ds came in 2nd place.
He also once made a comment about how people rack up huge credit card debt and worried that he'd be one of those people after he bought a yo-yo in Epcot without looking at the price. (We allowed charging privileges on his KTTWC). When he came out of the store shocked that it was $15 + tax he marched back in & returned it. That's when he made the comment about how easy it is to spend when paying with plastic.
He's applying for PT jobs everywhere so once he lands one we will be sitting down & making a budget with a little splurging and a lot of savings.

 

[Tiffemilee]

Our kids have to take Financial Literacy which ds16 took last year (10th grade) but honestly I didn't ask a lot of questions at the time of what they were learning. Getting info about school from boys is like pulling teeth; all brief one word answers: "nothing, fine, ok, etc." I know one of the projects was being given x amount of pretend $ to invest and they had to research what stocks to invest in and then track their progress. Ds came in 2nd place. He also once made a comment about how people rack up huge credit card debt and worried that he'd be one of those people after he bought a yo-yo in Epcot without looking at the price. (We allowed charging privileges on his KTTWC). When he came out of the store shocked that it was $15 + tax he marched back in & returned it. That's when he made the comment about how easy it is to spend when paying with plastic. He's applying for PT jobs everywhere so once he lands one we will be sitting down & making a budget with a little splurging and a lot of savings.

That's awesome! My 21 year old daughter just rented her first place and was planning on paying her rent with cash! I explained why she should NEVER do that even though the landlord "is really nice". I then had to show her how to write a check! And this is not an ignorant child! She graduated with honors and received a full ride to USC!

 

[dansamy]

That's awesome! My 21 year old daughter just rented her first place and was planning on paying her rent with cash! I explained why she should NEVER do that even though the landlord "is really nice". I then had to show her how to write a check! And this is not an ignorant child! She graduated with honors and received a full ride to USC!

She should have learned as a teenager how to balance a checkbook, write checks and be responsible for her own bills.

I'm just saying that all of us, as parents, owe our children. It is our job and our duty to teach them to be fully capable, equipped, functioning adults in society.

 

[Tiffemilee]

Who raised her? She should have learned as a teenager how to balance a checkbook, write checks and be responsible for her own bills. (PS I'm not trying to be mean to you. I'm just saying that all of us, as parents, owe our children. It is our job and our duty to teach them to be fully capable, equipped, functioning adults in society. My 14 year old can grocery shop without my oversight.)

I of course raised her and I must've done a pretty good job since she received enough scholarship money to pay her way through 4 years at the University of South Carolina. I didn't say she didn't know how to balance a BANK ACCOUNT, I said she didn't know how to write a check. She has had a checking account since she was 16 and has only used a debit card, never an actual paper check. And I assure you, she is a fully functioning and capable member of our society. I also taught her manners And I'm sure she would never judge anyone especially without knowing all of the facts!

 

[dansamy]

She didn't know it was a bad idea to pay her rent in cash. She didn't know how to write a check. While it's admittedly a dying skill that's not utilized much in our increasingly digital society, it's still a necessary one to teach.

 

[Tiffemilee]

She didn't know how to write a check. While it's admittedly a dying skill that's not utilized much in our increasingly digital society, it's still a necessary one to teach. I'm not being judgemental. I'm factually pointing out the situation. She didn't know it was a bad idea to pay her rent in cash. She also didn't know how to write out a check. Book smarts do not equal common sense. Btdt.

Like I said, I did teach her how to write a check. She didn't need to write one when she was 7 so no need for her to know then. And yes, she didn't know that it was a bad idea to pay the nice landlord in cash. She's a very trusting soul and sees the good in everyone. This post is a perfect example to show her how some people can be just downright ugly.

She actually has pretty good common sense as well as book smarts. I feel I taught her well. She's never stuck anything up her nose and she was taught not to swallow dangerous metal items!

 

[dansamy]

I'm pointing out that certain skills often get overlooked and we kick ourselves later for failing to teach something because it just didn't dawn on us or we thought they knew.

I am using your example of your daughter to remind ALL of us to make sure we teach these things. There's a ton of them. We're bound to forget a few along the way.

 

[BCmomma]

She didn't know how to write a check. While it's admittedly a dying skill that's not utilized much in our increasingly digital society, it's still a necessary one to teach.

I'm not being judgemental. I'm factually pointing out the situation. She didn't know it was a bad idea to pay her rent in cash. She also didn't know how to write out a check.

Book smarts do not equal common sense. Btdt.

Oh my gosh, you are adorable - who writes cheques anymore? Oh sorry, checks...in Canada we spell it cheque. We also don't WRITE cheques anymore, everything is done online. We don't pay rent/mortgage/utilities with cheques, we pay online. I haven't written a cheque in years and my kids won't know what the hell a cheque is. Sorry, do I sound rude? Because you sure as hell do. Some of you Americans astound me, honestly. Cheques. *shakes head* Welcome to 2013.

 

[dansamy]

Oh my gosh, you are adorable - who writes cheques anymore? Oh sorry, checks...in Canada we spell it cheque. We also don't WRITE cheques anymore, everything is done online. We don't pay rent/mortgage/utilities with cheques, we pay online. I haven't written a cheque in years and my kids won't know what the hell a cheque is. Sorry, do I sound rude? Because you sure as hell do. Some of you Americans astound me, honestly. Cheques. *shakes head* Welcome to 2013.

There are a few places that don't have online payment. The pp could have chosen to show her dd the digital equivalent of writing a check, which is setting up her rent as a payment from her bank's bill pay service. I know my bank mails a paper check to the one account I have that refuses to join the digital age.

I'm often pretty blunt, even IRL. If the pp and I knew each other IRL and were talking about it, I would have laughed and told her that it was unbelievable that her dd didn't know how to write a check.

 

[SpaceGirl]

WOW...Things were busy on the thread last night. Just a reminder this thread is and always has been for support and advise. Not to point at others and accuse them of poor judgment.

Thank You

While the post did get a bit heated I really thought about the subject matter that two of the posters made the school systems and the education that the children aren't receiving. We must try and step it up and teach them at home...

I learned how to write a check at school, yet also watched my parents make out all their monthly bills by writing checks to pay them. This just doesn't happen any more, my Mother would still be writing checks if I hadn't taken over all her accounts a few years ago.

I know my one older nephew does know how to write a check. I'm not sure if my other nieces and nephews know as they are younger, I'll be sure to ask and make sure.

I'm so proud that everyone has been make progress with their debt/savings and that Erica's husband is back at work. (along with many others)

Me I have still been doing that thing making the list and checking it twice.

 

[pryncess527]

Who raised her? She should have learned as a teenager how to balance a checkbook, write checks and be responsible for her own bills.

I learned how to write a check, but I always struggled to balance a checkbook (for reasons that still baffle me tbqh)-- and even that knowledge is a long way from being able to budget properly. And I was raised by a BANKER!! My parents tried, god bless them, but I have a tendency to learn things the hard way. And frankly, even my parents didn't utilize the zero based budgeting approach that finally clicked with me and made sense.

Some skills we need children to develop for the greater good of a functioning society and I think that's what school is for. Not every parent has the financial skills to pass on. And even for those that do, sometimes teenagers have a bad habit of not listening to parents but would be receptive to those same lessons from other adults. I took Civics & Economics in high school and we learned a lot about finance, but not the basic practical stuff. We invested with play money, but didn't deal much with consumer debt or budgeting. I don't blame my high school for my struggles in that area, but I do think it would have been a good investment on their part to ensure that everyone in my class had a better understanding of money.

 

[SpaceGirl]

I took Civics & Economics in high school and we learned a lot about finance, but not the basic practical stuff. We invested with play money, but didn't deal much with consumer debt or budgeting. I don't blame my high school for my struggles in that area, but I do think it would have been a good investment on their part to ensure that everyone in my class had a better understanding of money.

This is my thoughts exactly, give them a mock household with bills, a checking account, a credit card and a savings account that they need to manage. Teach them about fees the banks charge, the interest the credit card charges and the beauty of compounded interest that a savings account pays them. They would receive a paycheck with the option for overtime pay. (If they did extra credit for the class) They would learn how to budget the money coming in and going out.

 

[dansamy]

At the risk of driving our thread even more off topic, when did it become the school's job to teach our kids life skills? While none of us are equipped with perfection at EVERY life skill we'd like to pass along, it's our job as parents to prepare them as best as we are able. It's their job to take the education they've been provided as a base and use it to further themselves.

On topic, we're still just kind of cruising along. DH has now been on LTD for 10 months. He did have a ground level fall about a month ago. He's still hopeful to be able to return to working as an airplane mechanic. His LTD insurance is still paying his claim, so we're Ok. Not great, but Ok. I interviewed for a PRN position. Picking up even one or two extra shifts will be helpful.