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How can people afford to do this?

Tazznum1 said:
SIL's niece is a prime example of the way some people live nowadays. Husband works and has retirement $. He brings in about $5000 a month. She doesn't work. They have 1 child that is 12 y.o.

She spends like it is poison in the bank account and she needs to get rid of it as fast as she can.

They "bought" a house in 1993 for $107k. Since then they have not just a second mortgage, but a THIRD mortgage on it. They currently owe about $175k on it AFTER living there for 18 years.

She bought a horse, a little stable for him in the backyard after years of paying stable money. A tanning bed. A new car every 2 years. A new truck for him about every 3 years. Nails done. Hair done. Feet done. (times 2 because the DD has to now get it done everytime too). NEVER cooks. Eats out for lunch after the kid comes home from school and then goes back out to eat for dinner when the DH comes home. Always asks for $ from everyone because of "The baby". Baby? 12 y.o. is a baby????

Last week she hit up her parents who are in their 70s for $1500 for "the baby." Her step father can't stand her and asked to see all her bills. She currently owes her parents TENS of THOUSANDS. Her stepfather saw her bills and without doing anything their bills come to more than what they take in. He told her to get a job. "But I need to be there when the baby comes off the bus." He told her to get a job around it or work nightshift when her DH is there. Then he flipped about the new car. She said "I need something safe to drive the baby around in dad!" He goes balistic and says "BABY??? She is 12 y.o. and bigger than all of us!!!!!" :lol: The "Baby" is 5'10" because the father is 6'5" and she really is bigger than all of them.

Anyhooo...I only know about this because my SIL was in the car when they called her niece and her niece hit speakerphone. This was of course after asking my SIL for more $. They get off the phone and she turns to my SIL and says "Do you believe the **** I have to put up with to borrow some money???" My SIL told her "Get a job and you don't have to deal with it." Of course she started talking about how the "baby" needs her and all this other BS.


I think a lot of people are taking $ from old people. Seriously.
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That is INSANITY! DH bought our house in 1998 before the crazy real estate market upswings and downtowns. We took out a 30 yr mortgage but refinanced into a 15 and should have it paid off in 2015 or possibly earlier. And it's worth significantly more than what we paid for it too. I so can't wait until we pay it off!!!

What are these people thinking??? 2nd and 3rd mortgages? :dunce:
 
Oh and the best kicker of all, they took out the third one AFTER they cashed in a bunch of his stocks about 5 years ago and owe $60k in taxes. They got a letter from the IRS and said screw it, if they take the house, we'll take a third mortgage on it.

So even with all that, they owe the IRS $60k just on the stocks they cashed in. Of course all the money they got from the stocks is far gone.
 
wcjost said:
This reminds me of the question I was asking myself when all these Mc Mansions were going up. So many houses were being built, just HUGE. I was wondering what they all did, I didn't think there could be that many doctors and lawyers???
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Same thing I thought when driving through Plainfield/SW Naperville many years ago. The insane amount of big box urban sprawl during the early Bush years--especially so far West from 34 all the way up Randall--was a sign growth was too rapid and unsustainable...
 
wcjost said:
This reminds me of the question I was asking myself when all these Mc Mansions were going up. So many houses were being built, just HUGE. I was wondering what they all did, I didn't think there could be that many doctors and lawyers???

Big part of the problem is our culture tells us to live for the day. I live counter-culture.
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Some doctors don't make all that much. I have many in my family and DH's family. Apparently malpractice insurance is insane so they don't really make all that much. Many other professions do much better but being a doctor does have a certain prestige in some people's minds.

So many people live only for today and don't save for tomorrow. It's very sad really. I bet if there was a time machine and some of these senior citizens who are out there making minimal wages at fast food or grocery stores could go back in time and NOT buy some things that they bought in their youth or not do some of those things, they probably would jump at the chance to do so.

Reminds me of that Woody Woodpecker cartoon years and years ago where grasshoppers play all summer and ants work all summer. Woody was like a grasshopper playing all summer while the ants are stockpiling their food, etc. Once winter arrives, Woody is freezing and starving and he has to go ask the ants for food, which the ants have plenty of because they saved up. I think that's how it went but then again, I'm remembering this from 30 years ago.

So many people today are grasshoppers and live only for today. Maybe we should all be more ant-like and think about tomorrow and prepare for it and then we won't have to worry about where we'll live, what we'll eat, how we'll pay for our meds when we're all senior citizens in a few years.
 
2 things: One, some peeps like my brother do make good $$$...He works in IT and is single..he has his own condo. in Naperville...he is doing well for himself and since he doesn't have a family can afford to spend his $$ how he wants...I will say this, I don't think he has a savings acct. but hell when I was his age I wasn't thinking about that either....then there is my single SILAW who is an accountant and pushing 40. She has a towhouse and makes six figures...the amount of **** she has in that townhouse is insane, BUT she has no social life and no family life so SHE BUYS THINGS TO FILL THE VOID..pathetic but hey, whatever! Secondly, there are plenty of old people like my FILAW and his evil roommate who have $$$ but act like they are so broke that they can't AFFORD to do anything..this is NOT true, but hey, you can't take it w/you so unless you are leaving your $$$ to your family what are you going to do w/it. IMO, better to live a little now and enjoy your life than to live like you have none...and by this I mean if your house is paid off, you have a savings, a policy to cover your funeral, etc. All of which my FILAW has. In this case he's been spending it on his female roommate so there will be NOTHING left when he passes...since I am ONLY the in-law I don't really give a **** since I won't get anything anyway..neither will DH, plus there won't be anything left! Just sayin' So maybe that is how people can afford to do it...I'm not hating..glad they can afford to and hope someday I will be able to also!
 
My old bf is on my Facebook page and he is always posting pictures of going out to eat and now they are on vacation in Florida (FIL lives there so no hotel bill). So they are always out and about. Years ago my SIL and I where interested in buying some property to flip and who do I find on the sheriff's foreclosure list, HIM. Sheesh, I would think keeping a roof over your head is more important then all the "fun" he posts about.

So glad I broke away from him. My DH and I both grew up with single moms so we know that a roof over our heads is more important then going out to eat daily or taking vacations we can't afford.
 
luvagreatdeal said:
Everywhere I turn, I hear reports of "the economy is so bad, unemployment is so bad, blah, blah."

I know that for us personally, I dread getting a quarterly or monthly report from our 401k, IRA, mutual fund, or broker because the accounts seem to always go down and not up.

But, whenever we go out to eat at a nice restaurant, the place is packed with people.

Last night we went to Wildfire for dinner. We couldn't even find a parking spot at first. Had to stalk people until someone left and we grabbed their spot. We had a reservation and only had to wait about 15 minutes for our table. Other people were waiting for over an hour for a table. Keep in mind, this was a Wednesday night, not a weekend, not a holiday or anything special where you need to go out and celebrate. We went for our anniversary but not sure what the other throngs of people were out celebrating.

This is not a cheap place to eat either. You can't get out of there without spending 50.00 per person and often times, it's more than that. Our bill last night was 90-something and that was for 2 appetizers and 2 entrees. They comped us dessert and we didn't order any drinks. If I want to drink (and I hardly do), I typically do it at home because drinks often have the highest mark up when you eat out. Most people around me were ordering multiple drinks and desserts and more so I know their bills were much higher.

It's been like that every time we've gone out to eat. Shaw's Crab House, Morton's, Maggianos, Bob Chinns, Wildfire ... every place is like that lately.

So, how in the world can people afford to do this if it's such a bad economy and everyone's lost billions of dollars in the stock market, etc???
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It sounds like you went to the one by Woodfield, if so there are alot of businesses and hotels in the area, alot of people come from out of town just to go to Woodfield, I don't know why hate the place myself but restaurants around there have good business with business dinners and out of towners.
 
I choose where I eat out at by the coupon/restaurant.com certificate/etc. that I have.....except when it comes to rib night at J. Alexanders--that's a once or twice a year splurge...
 
I think the reason why most people will let their house go because they know they can rent. I do know someone that was able to live in their house for 9 months and not pay a mortgage then moved in to a rental and was just so happy to start over in a new house. They make plenty of money to to pay their bills but just don't know how to budget.
 
My parents and I were talking about this just the other night. It depends on where you live. My mother lives in McHenry. Her and my father eat at nice restaurants a lot and she's noticed that there are far fewer people these days. However, I live in the Woodridge area (pretty much anywhere in Dupage County), and you wouldn't even know there was a bad economy to judge by the restaurant parking lots out here. I took my daughter out to Carabbas on a Thursday night. It was packed and so were the 4 restaurants right next to it. Almost no parking at all. I can't imagine what it must be like to be in one of those places on the weekend!
 
I think some people buckled down 2 years ago and won't do it again unless they are forced to. Being frugal was fun for them for a few months, that's it.
 
Dh takes reps out for lunch/dinner all the time. His favorite place is Wildfire.
He is part of thier frequent diner program and has a lot of $ banked cause he is spending $1000 everytime he takes peeps out.

So.....we eat at any of the Lettuce restaurants for free any night but Saturdays.

Maybe some folks are like us but sometimes people have special occasions and they want to eat at a nice place.
 
It is like that around here too. Also went to the county fair last week... cost to get in 9.00 each, beer for a glass tap was 3.00 each, soda 2.00 a can, my niece and nephew wanted us to go... I don't know how people can justify the costs..... Niece bought the smallest cheese curds I have ever seen cost 5.50.. nephew bought some fried rice cost 6.00 a big bag of cotton candy 8.00... they both had like 5 beers so I figured they had to have spent 70.00.. just to see a band that we hire every year, and most of the time you can go to the bars ect. and see them for free.. (well except for the beer or drinks) or free, free when we hire them. :surrender:
 
I was thinking the same thing a couple of days ago when I drove past Red Lobster and some restaurant next to it that I don't even know the name of cause I so rarely eat out. How in the world can these places be packed if the economy is so bad?? When I go to Kohls and see people drop a couple of hundred dollars in one transaction buying a bunch of shoes, clothes, and jewelry I wonder what they do for a living. Yes, I'm at Kohls, but I'm running around doing multiple transactions using Qs and % offs and GCs so typically just spending a small amount. I figure they're working for the government but maybe that's just my bitter pessimistic side. Maybe not as many people as we think are trying to pay off debt and live more frugally.......IDK. There are some good points made about people mooching off other family members. Guess some people feel entitled to goverment handouts and others feel entitled to family handouts?????
 
Speaking of Wildfire, I have scratch-off coupons "worth at least $10" valid any time except Saturday after 5pm. They state that they are valid at any Illinois Wildfire, but at the bottom each has one of the following cities: Chicago, Glenview and Lincolnshire. I would assume they can be used at any Wildfire. Expiration 9/14/11. Coupon must be scratched off by server or manager.

I'll RAOK one each to anyone interested. PM me.
 
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