I just don't understand why someone who is having a hard time even paying ...

[Leajess99]

And people like the one the OP talks of are what makes it harder for our soccer kids to get sponsors and do good fundraising to help our league. We do fundraising to help keep the registration costs down and keep the league running.

I will not give to anyone trying to raise money so their kid can go on a trip. I have always paid for my kids to go on school trips and I expect other parents to do the same. I have sponsored a Kindergartener so they could go on the end of year trip but it is a different situation imo.

 

[marie1203]

i stop being friends or hanging out with people like that. I just can't take it. I had one friend that had big credit card debt she was always talking about how stress out she was about it. She was the one calling me to go shopping or out to eat . I tried to help her manage her finances but she never listen. The last drop was when she decided to go to Italy to se DH that was stopping there back from deployment. She flew with her kids to her mother house over $1000 in plane tickets to then fly out there. That was the last time I talked to her. Oh yeah and they were planning on having another kid once he got back .

 

[figment3258]

Ugh some people just will never learn the value of money and how to prioritize their needs and their wants. I want a lot of things but I need only a few.

 

[cdrn1]

Is this one of those "People to People" trips?? OMG... I had a coworker who would hit people up for money to pay for her child's trip and constantly complain about not having money for this, that, and the other. And she was hitting people up for $20 a pop! NERVE!

I have to laugh at this...I am a department manager, and I have an employee who has a child going on a school trip that will cost about $800 plus spending money. She has been hitting people up for fundraisers like crazy, and complaining about the cost and not having money for it. Last week I offered her an extra shift (she only has to work six shifts every two weeks for full time) and pointed out to her that it would cover nearly half the cost of the the trip....you guessed it, she thought about it for a while and then said no thanks. Guess who didn't buy a ticket to the pancake breakfast that she was hawking?

 

[Kim♥DISNEY]

I have two friends who are the exact same way and as one poster has said and my friendship with them is fading. It is really hard to hear about all their financial needs and then they are going away for spring break with their son to a Tropical Island!?! (I always come home and tell my husband, "What are we doing wrong?" ... and he keeps saying, "Just wait.")

Anyway, my oldest son just won a scholarship to go to Argentina for the summer. It is a four week trip that costs 6,300.00. He worked very hard to get this scholarship. Now, the whole trip is paid for except the immunizations and spending money. We found out all the immunizations cost 850.00! We sat our son down and told him that we would pay for this but HE was responsible for ALL of his spending money ... and that means he needs to work more. (He currently works at the library.) He started to complain because we require him to save half of all the money he makes for college ... so he may not be able to save as much money as he would like for the trip. We have told him ... too bad.

My mother (his grandma) told me that she wanted to give him money for his trip. I told her that was fine, however, I really want him to work for the money. So, he moved a truck load of rocks for her this past weekend.

Now this is a small vent, but it really amazes me with some of the parents of my son's friends (and these are dear friends of mine). They just give their child everything and don't expect them to work or pay ... even a small part of the costs. What type of financial education are they giving their child? They then give us grief for expecting our son to pay for some of his costs and work.

 

[starrzone]

Anyway, my oldest son just won a scholarship to go to Argentina for the summer. It is a four week trip that costs 6,300.00. He worked very hard to get this scholarship. Now, the whole trip is paid for except the immunizations and spending money. We found out all the immunizations cost 850.00! We sat our son down and told him that we would pay for this but HE was responsible for ALL of his spending money ... and that means he needs to work more. (He currently works at the library.) He started to complain because we require him to save half of all the money he makes for college ... so he may not be able to save as much money as he would like for the trip. We have told him ... too bad.

My mother (his grandma) told me that she wanted to give him money for his trip. I told her that was fine, however, I really want him to work for the money. So, he moved a truck load of rocks for her this past weekend.

Now this is a small vent, but it really amazes me with some of the parents of my son's friends (and these are dear friends of mine). They just give their child everything and don't expect them to work or pay ... even a small part of the costs. What type of financial education are they giving their child? They then give us grief for expecting our son to pay for some of his costs and work.

Oh, I know; my brother is 19, and just finished his first year of university. He was saying that he knows people his age who have never had a paying job of any type, either summer or during the school year. My brother started working summers when he was 13 at an amusement park, and he's going into his 7th summer working there; he went from being a garbage picker to a manager! Sure, he has a Blackberry, laptop, designer watch and clothes...but they are paid for 100% by him, and I know this for sure (my father's a retired accountant, and I've heard him hit my brother up hard for the money he owes him! ).

 

[swilshire]

the mortgage would sign their kids up for a $4500+ overseas school trip? What sense does that make when you complain and complain about not being able to pay your mortgage and car payment. Not to mention barely having enough to pay for groceries! This comes from my co-worker who thinks her 14-15 year old needs this trip and she feels bad not letting her go. She told me this morning and I just couldn't help putting my hand over my face and just shaking my head. In fact she let everyone know on how great this opportunity is when just last week she complained she couldn't afford an Easter Dinner or to pay for a tank of gas. Every single person in here said this is a bad idea and she shouldn't do it in her current situation. Some people just don't get it.

I'm just happy that we as a group are at least opening her eyes to how this is possibly a bad money mistake for her. Hopefully she'll change her mind and build up an emergency fund or maybe take a less expensive trip there as a family.

We have relatives that live very frugally and paid for a similar trip for their daughter. It's not the choice I would make, but they have not regretted it for a minute and she had a great trip.

Not my business how they spend their money as long as they don't ask me for some of mine, which they never have. They did do some fund raising, like making and selling chocolate covered strawberries, but there was no high pressure to participate.

Sheila

 

[Colleen27]

I guess my feelings about it will be in the minority, but to me it depends on what kind of trip it is. People to People or some such, that's just stupid. I got one of those invites in middle school and we figured out we could have taken the whole family on a similar trip for not much more than it would have cost for me to participate (not that it mattered - both were well out of our budget).

But if it is a school sponsored trip or something connected to a specific school-sponsored activity I'd be more understanding. There is usually quite a bit of fundraising available to offset the costs and those trips usually offer genuninely valuable experiences.