Enough is Enough

My gripe for this week isn’t so much a gripe as much as a huge rant. A lot of people around me are dealing with post holiday debt and seeking assistance with bills. This is a big annoyance to me for several reasons. For starters, the holiday season isn’t supposed to be about buying the biggest TV and having millions of presents under the tree. So, why over extend yourself to get a ton of new items that you don’t really need in the 1st place? Some will complain that they want their children to have a nice “Christmas”. Oh my oh, where do I start with that one, there are so many things wrong with that statement. First of all, what kind of message does that send to your children? That in order to have some semblance of joy and goodness they need lots of over priced material items? That the gimmie, gimmie, gimmie attitude is something to be nurtured? So, these depredates buy all these things to give their children a nice holiday, and now the children can’t eat because money bags has no money for food, or the children have to sit in the dark with that new electronic game because mommy and daddy can’t afford to pay the light bill. Now for the fun part, these irresponsible managers of money come begging, because they know that we the money wise can manage our money. And out of guilt or trappings of family loyalty we reach into our wallets and loan out money that we are fairly certain we’ll never see again because these people never have the money to repay the loan, despite having just bought some other elaborate item. Well I say no more! I’m fed up with having to dig into my wallet to aid those who are incapable of being responsible with their own dollars. I don’t really see why people want to call you names for finally refusing to bail their butts out, when better planning on their end would have prevented the whole situation. So, if you are one these people who can’t manage your money, I offer this advice to you (as my wallet is permanently closed). Finance charges are evil and if you are paying them then that great you just had to take advantage of is no longer a great deal. So, just don’t buy it! Any credit card debt that can’t be paid off when the bill arrives is something that should never have been purchased in the 1st place. And finally, start your own rainy day fund, it doesn’t take much, just put away one hour of your work pay each week and don’t touch it. But most importantly stop looking to others to bail you out and talking about them when they don’t. They didn’t get you into the predicament so you really shouldn’t just expect that they should have to get you out.