One Snarky Chica with Issues

As my time staying with my relatives draws to a close I feel like I have observed some interesting financial behavior.

They own their own home, but apparently have no equity in it. When I arrived, they had two cars and one motorcycle, with only the motorcycle being paid off. As I prepare to leave, they are left with one car and one motorcycle as the repo man took one of the cars.

I heard a lot of talk about how their “just wasn’t enough money” for them to “go on vacation last month and pay the car payment.” And that is why the car payment did not get paid. There is also a lot of general talk about being broke and not having enough to pay all of the bills. My sister-in-law actually said something along the lines of “our cell phone bill is outrageous, our cable bill is outrageous, our electric bill is outrageous, we don’t have time to eat at home…” and so on.

For me, I look around this place and can see several ways they can save. They have digital cable with all the premium channels and DVR. I know that DVR is $10 a month, and I assume the rest of the cable is easily $100 a month. They have high speed internet and honestly do not need it. They have a 3 bedroom home and there are 5 televisions in the house. It is not uncommon for them to leave the house with all 5 tvs on, with lights on in every room and with the window A/C units on in every room as well as the ceiling fans. They leave their computer on all the time. Both adults clearly have a bit of a drinking problem and spend what I assume is a nice amount of money on that. One adult smokes. Both kids attend private school. The kids do not want for anything. If they mention something, it is bought for them the next day (I assume on credit). And they regularly pay extra for things through mail order catalogs that they pay $10 a month for.

To try to spend less, they seem to skimp in areas that are confusing to me. They love coffee, but buy Wal-Mart brand coffee. They buy toilet paper and paper towels that are practically transparent. Then they will buy name brand soda and pasta noodles!

I tried to offer a little gentle advice. It was clear they were not ready for it. Hopefully, that will change someday soon.

Previous posts in this series:

Observing others financial choices
Observing others financial choices, part 1
Observing others financial choices, part 2
Observing others financial choices, part 3
Observing others financial choices, part 4
Observing others financial choices, part 5