Just a 46-year-old mom of 2 in Northern California. My kids are Monkey Monkey(MM) and Drama Llama (DL). I am married to Monkey Hubby (MH). The other day I saw some neighbors flying a home-made kite. Interesting. Was made out of construction paper and did seem to fly. For whatever reason they were flying it in the street though - ??? - I mean this is tract housing - there is no room - lord knows why - LOL.
But I thought that would be a project the kids would love - will have to peruse the net for some kite-making websites.
& beyond that I figured I would mention because last year dh spotted some kite on sale at Walgreens or something like that for $1 and picked it up for the kids. Let me tell you, was that $1 well spent!!!!!!! It was so cheap little tin foil thing with some cartoon characters - no idea what ones. LOL. But the kids didn't really care what was on it or how fancy it was - just enjoyed going down to the park and flying it around.
Reminds me we need to dig it out and see if it will last another season.
The weather has been kind of wishy washy over here too, but it is a beautiful clear day today - maybe a good day to fly a kite! We always seem to have plenty of wind too...
Oh yes - and Laura's newest article was pretty interesting...
I am pretty much a in the "self responsibility" mentality, but as I Say over and over I don't think this gives the credit card companies the right to take advantage of people when down (As they are really good at doing) and also it disgusts me how entrenched in controlling legislature the credit companies and mortgage companies are. & this article points it out. I think it alluded to my path with this disgust. I used to look at people in debt as 100% responsible. But over time I See how over and over people are taken advantage of. How too many people without debt problems turn the other cheek because they don't understand what is really going on, on a bigger level. IT is easy to look down on people with big debt problems and assume they just spent too much money on cars and vacations. But this is not very factual for the most part.
This is why I feel financial literacy is so important. The more we are as people are educated, the more we can protect ourselves from all of the financial predators out there. I could spend my time fighting shady car dealerships, shady dentists, shady loan practices, or shady credit card practices. (Even shady CPAs!! Threw that one in for good measure - because there are shady dealers in all trades). But there are not enough hours in the day. There will always be someone out there wanting to bilk you out of your hard-earned money. The best you can do is educate yourself about your personal finances, know how to spot a scam or a bad deal, learn how to make smart choices. That's the best way I see to win this "fight."
March 3rd, 2007 at 04:23 pm 1172939027
March 3rd, 2007 at 08:06 pm 1172952380
I still say that most people in debt do it to themselves....
March 3rd, 2007 at 10:01 pm 1172959312
An interesting link:
[url]http://www.pbs.org/now/news/306-transcript.html./url]
March 3rd, 2007 at 10:02 pm 1172959345
March 3rd, 2007 at 10:26 pm 1172960798
Who can even afford health insurance these days????? $500/month - you are lucky - we are paying upwards $900/month. & Medical insurance does not exempt you from big medical bills in the least. Actually most people who file bankruptcy suffered long periods of unemployment and/or large medical bills. Most of them had health insurance.
An interesting link:
http://www.pbs.org/now/news/306-transcript.html
So you make a few mistakes you should be charged insane interest rates you could never pay anyway??? I still don't get why making mistakes means the big companies can so royally screw you over.
The statistics are something like 90% bankruptcies are due to pretty catastrophic financial events like long-term unemployment and huge medical bills. You can argue a percentage of these are people who did not prepare financially. But it is most certainly a 2-way street. I am not going to defend people who run up huge consumer debts and don't save a dime. But there is a lot more going on here.
Did you know Lucky Robin is paying off a $200k medical bill? If I am not mistaken she had medical insurance. Maybe more people like her could dig their own way out. But if you don't think that could happen to you...
Oh well, not attacking, just trying to educate.
March 3rd, 2007 at 11:12 pm 1172963522
March 3rd, 2007 at 11:12 pm 1172963561
March 4th, 2007 at 01:04 am 1172970255
Not in response to the above but just as a statement of fact: I have never owned a new car. My first car was 12 years old when I got it and I kept it until it was 21 and my current car is 15 years old (bought at five years old) and my SUV is 11 years old (also bought when five years old). Neither were bought new. Both bought and paid for before the medical crisis. We were not wasteful spenders before this happened to me. We would never go without medical insurance either. We didn't get married until DH got medical insurance, so I could go straight from my parent's plan to his. I've had too many health problems in my life to ever consider not having a good quality medical plan. I hate to think how much I would have owed the hospital without insurance. But it would have wiped us out, no question.
Sometimes you just can't know all the facts. No one would ever know by looking at us that we are so heavily in debt, but they wouldn't think we were rich either. They'd just think we were normal. You can't tell by looking.
March 4th, 2007 at 03:59 am 1172980755
Many companies move risk away from themselves and toward their employees. A heavily indebted person to a credit card company is not a risk but a cost center. Risk actually makes a profit.
March 4th, 2007 at 05:03 am 1172984583