Topic : 09/15 Money Matters: Surviving the Crisis

Hello All,

I have seen over and over again (this show and others) where moms that are taking care their kids (2 or more) are being told to "go to work outside the home"  to solve the money issue.  It's one thing to have mom do something in the home to make money (i.e. daycare of other children), but are they thinking about what it costs to put those two kids of ours in daycare, the cost of lunch outside the home for both the working mom and the kids in daycare, the cost on the car in miles to get to work and the additional repairs that those miles take on the car, and the cost of clothing for work (i.e. office attire)?  I added up all the expenses of my putting my two kids in daycare and going back to work....ya know what????  I lost money in the end!  Also, I'd like to meet a child that prefers daycare to being home with mom.  My kids hated daycare with a passion.  When I quit work the kids cheered, we learned to live on less, and we're paying down our debt as best we can.

I agree with you totally. I could not believe this lady's advice. A three-tiered mortgage for the first couple? The Extreme Home Makeover (EHM) couple SHREDDED a number of their financial records? Is that not a red flag that the couple didn't want anyone to know what they were spending? Why is this expert worried about their credit scores? Dave Ramsey, multimillionaire financial entrepreneur,says his credit score is zero! The EHM couple also lied to the financial expert, and neither she nor Dr. Phil called them on it. (He usually get mad at liars because people can't fix what they won't acknowledge.) The EHM couple told the financial expert that they didn't get any money from EHM, yet they told Dr. Phil they had received $100,000 for expenses. Well, aren't taxes expenses? If taxes are $5,000.00 yearly as they say (How do they know if they've shredded their records?), $100,000 would cover their taxes for 20 years. Are they air conditioning, heating, and feeding  the neighborhood? Surely  the $6,000.00 a month they claim they spend just to live includes credit card payments and other loans. One final question: Did the bank that held the mortgage on the first home actually let EHM demolish the house without paying it off first? The does not sound like any banking institution to me.  I would love to see Dave Ramsey on a show with these people. Someone at the Dr. Phil Show certainly dropped the ball on the EHM couple.

Wow....this show was a perfect example how one can take the "American Dream" and just shove it where the sun don't shine. I was so angry listening to that family that was awarded the "free" Makeover home and the excuses and blame shifting that was going on. Not only were they awarded a home that far exceeded what was necessary but on top of receiving the home they were awarded a $100K operating budget for that home. The entire purpose of providing this "mansion" was to enhance the living arrangements and not for the family to borrow against the home for additional loans. I'm sure they were stretching their financial needs prior to receiving the new home and in fact they even confirmed that their Mortgage did not increase initially upon receiving the home. However, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that if you start borrowing against that home your monthly payments will start increasing exponentially...duh!!!!

To borrow to provide business opportunities for your sons???? What is wrong with those same "sons" working on creating their own opportunities? After all, didn't one receive a $25K scholarship? Now I don't excuse death threats against the family but they should not be surprised by the negative feelings of a community that worked hard to provide them with a new opportunity only to have a family destroy that opportunity. I'm sure there were many other residents of that town that could have used that kind of help from "Extreme Makeover" who would not have made a mockery of such a "gift".....Sorry, but you will get NO sympathy from me for that family....welcome to the Mortgage Crisis that is affecting most of us homeowners but we have made it a top priority to make sure the "roof over our heads" becomes the #1 priority for bill payments..Thanks for letting me speak my mind....:-)

Paying 6-7K on upkeep really seems excessive.  The sheer amount doesn't make since!  Someone really needs to look at that expense.  Doesn't add up.