"Downsized": anyone watch this show???

[Colleen27]

We do not know what truly poor people look like in this country.

While I understand the ways in which that is true, it is really irrelevant to life in the US. People here might not be poor in the sense of African villagers, but those African villagers aren't trying to live in a developed nation under the jurisdiction of authorities that can and will break up families over unsuitable living arrangements, utility shut-offs, or inadequate clothing/nutrition. The fact that others have it worse doesn't make a bit of difference when you're talking to the people right here who can't provide for their families.

 

[NotUrsula]

Oh, there is poor here. It just looks very different than it does in someplace like sub-saharan Africa. We have infrastructure and we DON'T have civil war, so it is easier for poverty to hide under a slightly civilized veneer that makes the poor look a little less "different".

 

[MsStinkerBelle]

I personally like 'Till Debt Do U$ Part'. The families on that show seem much more realistic. Haven't tuned into this show but as I don't get WeTV, unless it shows up in 'On Demand', can't see myself going out of the way to watch this.

 

[DawnM]

Oh.....juicy....will have to go and check!

I did watch the show.....seemed VERY scripted and staged to me. Don't have a lot more to add as so many have already said what I am thinking.

Dawn

The people have spoken, and they are not happy. Check out the WEtv message boards. There is even a woman claiming to be the former landlord. (YIKES~)

 

[eliza61]

OK so let me see if I have this right. This family was seemingly well-off. Things changed and they need to downsize greatly. However since they were a well-off family, the things they give up aren't nearly as important as what a typical middle class family might have to give up? They aren't poor enough for the BB? Everyone at EVERY income level will feel a pinch at a loss of income. The rich aren't exempt.

Not what I'm saying. Basically it's scripted just like most "reality tv" so I'm willing to bet my paycheck that the network is banking on the more obnoxous the characters are, the more we watch".

We watch these shows pretty much for the "villians". Omorosa on apprentice,
Kate & Jon fighting. etc etc.

 

[alabamagirl]

I felt bad for the kids....their parents were irresponsible and now the kids are paying for it. I kind of feel like the OP in that my sympathy for the parents kind of wore off the more I watched. I think that they think they've done everything they can (sold stuff, etc.) but I'm not sure they have.

It was very interesting, and I'll continue to watch. It helps put my situation in perspective and serves as a reminder to myself to be thankful for what I have.

 

[shan136]

I think that the biggest lesson that most Americans (including my husband and I) learned during this neverending recession was that we shouldn't have spent so much money on inconsequential things, that we should have been saving and that the good times don't last forever. I think that this family on Downsized is a pretty accurate portrayal of a family living it up and losing it (despite the poor production quality of the show).

Reality sets in slowly. Each financial emergency has you dip a little farther into the "reserves" like a bucket of change or a box of scrap gold jewlery. I wouldn't be surprised if we see the mom on Downsized sell her earrings. For now, she still has some fallbacks, including her parents and I am sure that the husband feels like their money troubles can be resolved if he lands the right job/project.

I don't think that the point of the show is just to show how a struggling family learns how to live frugally, but also how quickly someone can go from the top of the heap to the bottom.

 

[nunzia]

I just read the article mentioned above .... " Health insurance for my family is $800 a month and my paycheck is a little less than that every two weeks."

Read more: http://www.momlogic.com/2010/11/interview_with_downsized_mom_laura_bruce.php#ixzz14iRE62Ed



I admit being clueless about teachers salaries across the county and know that they range wildly from one region to another... but I was shocked that someone with a masters degree would be paid so low. I know dh brings home 70% of his salary after taxes, insurance, 401K, SS..... so based on that figure she is making @$28,000 a year ( $1600 a month) --- @ $19,000 take home.

Here is from our district in North Texas just as a point of reference......

Years
Exp. Bachelors Yearly Masters Yearly Doctorate Yearly
0 $47,500 $48,500 $49,500
1 $47,736 $48,736 $49,736
2 $47,853 $48,853 $49,853

not great..but still..for under 190 days of work... I have a bachelors and never got close to that in a management position and I worked 50+ hours a week all year. STILL...I can see that with health care her income from the job is pretty low (about what I make now ). I guess my biggest point is that since they lived so high and thoughtless they are really cluless on HOW to downsize and hopefully as the show goes on they'll learn and appreciate every dollar from now on.
We are living very well on our middling income, but since I hate my job I occasionally do a budget for if I didn't work and we could certainly do it, and if I had to live alone if something happened to my DH I could also doit..for less than the woman in the show is making..of course we live in a cheap house and know how to cut waaaaay back when needed. I'm hopeful this family will 'get it'.

 

[MrsPete]

OK so let me see if I have this right. This family was seemingly well-off. Things changed and they need to downsize greatly. However since they were a well-off family, the things they give up aren't nearly as important as what a typical middle class family might have to give up? They aren't poor enough for the BB? Everyone at EVERY income level will feel a pinch at a loss of income. The rich aren't exempt.

I hear what you're saying: If you're accustomed to driving BMWs and Mercedes, and you're forced to "downsize" to a Ford, it'll hurt a bit. Whereas, the vast majority of us were quite pleased with the Ford all along. If you've enjoyed a steady diet of high-end cruises every summer and ski holidays in Aspen, renting a beach house may feel piddly.

I see that viewpoint, but it's still not anywhere representative of middle America. People who are able to live that way surely realize that they're not typical. And even if they can afford to buy-buy-buy, they should be putting something away so that they aren't pinched to the point of being fearful of losing the house. It seems worse than than, for example, a couple who earns $50,000 a year and didn't put anything aside for a rainy day. The higher-income couple could've done it much more easily.

Plain and simple, they over-extended themselves.

Oh, there is poor here. It just looks very different than it does in someplace like sub-saharan Africa. We have infrastructure and we DON'T have civil war, so it is easier for poverty to hide under a slightly civilized veneer that makes the poor look a little less "different".

I can see that both ways. Yeah, we have people here who have much less than others, but those people can take advantage of all sorts of services, which provide them with food, shelter, and health care. And the biggie: Education, so that their children can get out of that cycle. Poor countries in Africa (and other places) don't have those benefits, and in that sense it's fair to say that we don't have poverty here. Here people may be very unhappy with thier situations, but no one needs to literally die from poverty. That does happen in other countries.

they are really cluless on HOW to downsize and hopefully as the show goes on they'll learn and appreciate every dollar from now on.

I think the average American is not all that good at stretching every dollar. It's not a skill that's been taught and promoted in the last 20-25 years.

How many people do you know who don't cook? And of those, how many don't know how to cook basic-basic cheap foods like dried beans? How many people don't know how to hem a pair of pants themselves? How many must call a repair person for something simple like replacing a light fixture or fixing a toilet? I bet you know kids who've never mowed grass, never been without cable TV, never been without a ride to wherever they needed to go. How many people do you know who'd never, ever use a cloth diaper?

I think a whole lot of people -- at a variety of income levels -- could learn to use their dollars better.

 

[NotUrsula]

Here people may be very unhappy with thier situations, but no one needs to literally die from poverty. That does happen in other countries.

Obviously you haven't spent much time in the Mississippi Delta. People there die from lack of access to health care all the time. The infant mortality rate in the 11 counties of the lower Mississippi Delta is an absolutely obscene 281 deaths per 1,000 births. That is much higher than the aggregate rate of any country in Africa: currently Angola holds that dubious honor at 180 per 1,000 births.

True poverty generally exists only in isolated pockets of America, but it definitely exists.

 

[allison443]

Going back to the show "Downsized", is the mom divorced from her first husband, and if so, Did the show mention if he pays child support for his five kids that live with the mom?

 

[Ava]

I hear what you're saying: If you're accustomed to driving BMWs and Mercedes, and you're forced to "downsize" to a Ford, it'll hurt a bit. Whereas, the vast majority of us were quite pleased with the Ford all along. If you've enjoyed a steady diet of high-end cruises every summer and ski holidays in Aspen, renting a beach house may feel piddly.

I see that viewpoint, but it's still not anywhere representative of middle America. People who are able to live that way surely realize that they're not typical. And even if they can afford to buy-buy-buy, they should be putting something away so that they aren't pinched to the point of being fearful of losing the house. It seems worse than than, for example, a couple who earns $50,000 a year and didn't put anything aside for a rainy day. The higher-income couple could've done it much more easily.

Plain and simple, they over-extended themselves.

Definitely agree with this, and I think it's why a lot of people on this thread don't feel much sympathy for the family on this show. For this family, "downsizing" means they are now average middle class instead of well-off. So it's not at all surprising that people who have been average middle class all along can't sympathize with a family who has to downgrade from a Mercedes to a Ford. I'm sure not having the luxuries they are accustomed to is somewhat of a shock to the family on the show, but the majority of America could never have afforded those luxuries in the first place.

I think the average American is not all that good at stretching every dollar. It's not a skill that's been taught and promoted in the last 20-25 years.

How many people do you know who don't cook? And of those, how many don't know how to cook basic-basic cheap foods like dried beans? How many people don't know how to hem a pair of pants themselves? How many must call a repair person for something simple like replacing a light fixture or fixing a toilet? I bet you know kids who've never mowed grass, never been without cable TV, never been without a ride to wherever they needed to go. How many people do you know who'd never, ever use a cloth diaper?

I see this a lot with my peers, and in myself as well. I'm 30, born in 1980. I can do basic cooking, mending, repairing, etc but not well. Those aren't things I learned as a child - not because my parents didn't try to teach me, I just wasn't interested to learn - so I'm learning now. I have a lot of friends/acquaintances however who don't cook at all. Living in NYC especially it's really easy to just eat takeout all the time. My former roommate could hardly boil water - seriously. I bought her "Cooking for Dummies" for Christmas one year because she asked me if she could make a hard boiled egg in the microwave.

Anyway, I think some of my generation are realizing that we need to learn the basic skills that our parents learned as children, but somehow we didn't learn. I also am trying to be better with money than my parents were. I don't know the specifics of their financial situation, but just from observation & some comments they've made I don't think they have a whole lot saved. They are both 60 & will theoretically be retiring soon, so it worries me a bit that they might not have enough. Yet they still take care of my sister, who is 26 years old, because "she doesn't make hardly anything at her job." But that's another thread...

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

Going back to the show "Downsized", is the mom divorced from her first husband, and if so, Did the show mention if he pays child support for his five kids that live with the mom?

They never said anything about that. The dad's kids go to their mom's 2 weekends a month and come back with new clothes and such and the mom's kids feel bad because they don't get that.

And now the dad's kids' maternal grandparents have given the 16 year old a car, while their step-grandchildren get nothing like that from them. 5 years in and there is still a division of "my grandkids vs your wife's kids", I guess.

The dad said they spent a ton of money smoothing out the transition of blending the two families. Possibly because it seems that all the kids said they hated their step-siblings before they were forced into becoming a family?

I felt bad for the girl who got caught at the grocery store with not enough money on the food stamp card. And her mother just blows it off. I would not be surprised if the mom never goes to the store herself and sends the kids. If running out of money had happened to the mom, she would have been mortified.

 

[prncess674]

And now the dad's kids' maternal grandparents have given the 16 year old a car, while their step-grandchildren get nothing like that from them. 5 years in and there is still a division of "my grandkids vs your wife's kids", I guess.

The grandparents who gifted the car have no ties to the other children. The other 5 are not their step-grandchildren.

 

[mrodgers]

And now the dad's kids' maternal grandparents have given the 16 year old a car, while their step-grandchildren get nothing like that from them. 5 years in and there is still a division of "my grandkids vs your wife's kids", I guess.

This very issue came up on this forum not long ago (in the community board I believe.) Only it was an aunt and not grandparents.

 

[flamingglobessigmund]

The grandparents who gifted the car have no ties to the other children. The other 5 are not their step-grandchildren.

Oh right. My goof.

 

[Marionnette]

Alot of posters seem to think that this family is now "average middle class" after the loss of the husbands business and income. How many "average middle class" folks qualify for food stamps? I know that we never did when I was a kid and my dad would be laid off. I suspect that the husband does not qualify for unemployment benefits since he was a business owner and may not have paid into unemployment insurance. That would mean that this family of nine people is trying to survive on the mom's take home pay of around sixteen hundred dollars a month. I still dont have a ton of sympathy for them since they never planned for a rainy day nor are they making wise financial choices in the first episode. But I expect that they will "evolve" over future episodes.

 

[MEM]

I have not seen the show and after reading more about this family, I'm not sure I want to. I just don't see how they are able to survive - according to an article in an Arizona newspaper the husband brings home around $2,000 a month and the wife, around $1,600. The rent on the huge house they "need" is $1700. Health insurance, $800? The husband had already filed for personal bankruptcy, possibly before they were married. Do you get to keep your vehicles after bankruptcy? If not, why have their vehicles not been repossessed? The financial adviser appointed to help them said they are bleeding $2,000 a month. Where is that money coming from? Something is just not adding up.

I would dearly love to see them sit across the table from Dave Ramsey and get an earful of tough love from him. To not have saved any money while they were making $1.5 million a year is just plain irresponsible and I cannot feel sorry for them.

 

[Colleen27]

Plain and simple, they over-extended themselves.I can see that both ways. Yeah, we have people here who have much less than others, but those people can take advantage of all sorts of services, which provide them with food, shelter, and health care. And the biggie: Education, so that their children can get out of that cycle. Poor countries in Africa (and other places) don't have those benefits, and in that sense it's fair to say that we don't have poverty here. Here people may be very unhappy with thier situations, but no one needs to literally die from poverty.

I don't think it is quite that simple. There are huge holes in America's social safety net, from broad exclusions on medical assistance for non-disabled adults to years-long waiting lists for housing assistance.

Access to health care is absolutely a huge issue for the poor, even with the programs in place, and people do die for lack of coverage for needed treatments. Poverty in the US also frequently means living in neighborhoods that can resemble war zones; the kids shot in the slums of Chicago and Detroit every year are dying of their poverty as certainly as the kids who starve to death in third world nations, because were they not so poor they wouldn't be living in a place where stray bullets kill children. And education in truly impoverished parts of America is often so dismal that it really doesn't offer many opportunities at all, particularly once those children reach the level of college or job applications where they are competing with kids raised in better environments.

 

[Colleen27]

Alot of posters seem to think that this family is now "average middle class" after the loss of the husbands business and income. How many "average middle class" folks qualify for food stamps? I know that we never did when I was a kid and my dad would be laid off. I suspect that the husband does not qualify for unemployment benefits since he was a business owner and may not have paid into unemployment insurance. That would mean that this family of nine people is trying to survive on the mom's take home pay of around sixteen hundred dollars a month. I still dont have a ton of sympathy for them since they never planned for a rainy day nor are they making wise financial choices in the first episode. But I expect that they will "evolve" over future episodes.

With 7 kids, an average middle class American income absolutely is low enough to qualify for food stamps. Keep in mind that the median income in America is about 45K, not the low 6-figures that tends to define middle class in the media and common perception.

I'm sure you're right about why Dad doesn't qualify for unemployment; my DH is in the same line of work (though even good times for us aren't 5 figure disposable income in a month!) and he wouldn't either. If business dries up, we're just out of luck. But that's all the more reason to make savings a priority and have a healthy emergency fund.