[rescue] OT: financial woes

[rescue at sunhelp.org]

~ Bill Bradford wrote:

~ It doesn't have to work that way.  If both friends/spouses understand
~ good financial management AND they both are committed to practicing it
~ AND they both do, the combination of multiple incomes can be quite
~ beneficial.   If one or both are financially irresponsible then
~ both will suffer financial woes.  Part of that is simply not
~ turning cash into trash:

Amen! Being married to my current wife made a substantial improvement in my
financial life. I make bad choices when I have cash in my pocket, so the
wife runs the finances and send me to work with lunch money.

The upside is when we needed a new refridgerator last week, we were able to
go buy one and still take advantage of the used Jenn-Air range we found for
sale. I have fewer toys, but better toys than I did 8 years ago.

~ A good way to start is to watch as little tv as possible 
~ (except news), 
~ and don't go shopping.  It may sound silly but it's true.  
~ Visit enough 
~ new car lots and you WILL be in a new car.  Visit EBX/Best Buy/Frys 
~ enough and you WILL buy some junk you probably don't need or 
~ want.

I definately stay away from electronic toy stores.

~ Oh, and don't ever use consumer credit to buy junk.

I do this a lot, but I use "6 month same-as-cash" deals and pay them off in
2 months or so. Bigger purchases are made with bank financing at ~8% (like
my boat).