Frugality In Practice: Only Buy What You Can Afford, Please!

25 Responses to “Frugality In Practice: Only Buy What You Can Afford, Please!”

1. Avlor on July 29th, 2008 2:24 pm

   Hey, don’t get off the soapbox. I totally agree. Why should people who made choices on unsound financial Ideas get bailed out? I understand sometimes things get tough. But that’s not the case for most – people just wanted more than they could afford. When people don’t have a financial clue and aren’t willing to get one, they shouldn’t be bailed out. Actions have consequences.

2. Jennifer on July 29th, 2008 3:21 pm

   I agree too.

   I would also like to see some accountability on the part on the banks who offered these ridiculous loans to under qualified people. People feel they are entitled because society/the bank/their parents etc have told them they can/should and deserve to have whatever they want.

   Example-some friends of mine had their 18 y/o daughter move out because she’s sick and tired of them. She got an apartment with a friend and called her parents crying 2 weeks later, saying she has no groceries. They got there and found she has a new Big Screen TV and professionally manicured nails, but no food. They were irritated, but they still went out and stocked up her kitchen for her.

3. Kyle on July 29th, 2008 3:39 pm

   ~Avlor, agreed. You are so right. Some folks would rather just bury their head in the sand than actually take control and educate themselves about big financial decisions.

   ~Jennifer, agree that banks need to take part of the blame. Out here in California, if you had a heartbeat and job you could qualify for darn near any loan you wanted.

4. chris on July 29th, 2008 5:07 pm

   More people need to get on that box! You are so correct in what you are saying. All you need is a little bit of basic math to figure out what you can and can’t afford, including that jumbo loan on a mortgage. Add to the that the fact that so many went with interest-only or adjustable rate loans and you see these people weren’t duped, they were greedy. They wanted what they wanted and they were determined to get it. Given the current trend in the government and the economy, it doesn’t surprise me at all. We have a saying at my old job – S&^t floats and it looks like the incompetent and irresponsible are going to come out winners in this matter.

5. Alison @ This Wasn't In The Plan on July 29th, 2008 6:14 pm

   I believe I heard that same interview. I too did a bit of a double take and would really like to know the answers to the questions you posed. The idea that I can sacrifice and scrimp to afford my house and other bills while my tax dollars go to someone who “should” own a home doesn’t sit well with me.

6. liz on July 30th, 2008 7:28 am

   Agreed! I want a 3% fixed mortgage rate too! Maybe I should stop trying so hard to be responsible, hardworking, and a role model for my children and let the government bail me out as well. It sure seems that the lazy and trifling get rewarded for their sorry behavior.

7. Lynn on July 30th, 2008 8:30 am

   Bravo,

   I am sick and tired of the so called “lower-to-high Middle-class” picking up the tab. What happens when you tap out that resource? I live frugal so I can enjoy a comfortable close to debt free life. I don’t go out to dinner, I clip coupons and look for sales, buy my clothes at the thrift stores, I don’t take extravagant vacations or buy expensive jewelry and I’m supposed to feel her pain and chip in to make her life more comfortable? It’s America and to live the American dream you need to work hard for it. I think your soap box should be raised!

8. Butters on July 30th, 2008 10:22 am

   I have to agree with you wholeheartedly. When I heard that woman say she hoped that she can reduce her mortgage rate from 7% to 3% I realized that defaulting on your loan payments is the easy way to get a better interest rate these days. I would love to have a 3% rate. Times are tough and we are all feeling it but don’t make other people pay for your poor financial decisions.

9. taka on July 30th, 2008 1:41 pm

   I am in 600% agreement with you. But in my opinion, the core problem is a cultural issue. This country has got a *serious* problem with egos. What I mean by that is, too many people (yes, not everyone, but MOST people) believe that their opinions are what matters the most and everyone else should abide and agree – or else they are wrong. It’s the “me-me-me” and the “What should matter is what matters to me, only” attitude. Forget the old saying “the customer is always right” because there *IS* no (good) customer service anymore in this country.
   I’ve lived most of my life in the US… but I’m from Japan, I’ve worked with Japanese people, my (American) wife has gone to Japan and has experienced and realized the same thing. This country has got its priorities messed up. Companies are too much about making money and not making customers happy. In most Asian countries, they believe that making customers happy FIRST will bring in money. People are the same way – most people in Japan will argue and apologize that THEY are wrong – while in the US, most people will argue that the OTHER person is wrong.
   My point is – too many people in the US are SELFISH. If things do not go their way, or if people do not agree with them, they have to sue. Again, money and selfishness.

10. jskell911 on August 2nd, 2008 6:03 pm

    Wouldn’t dream of kicking you off the soapbox. I agree with you. DH and I worked so very hard at educating ourselves before we signed on the 300 or so dotted lines. We were pre approved for 50K more than our house cost, but we just knew there was no way we could afford all they had pre approved us for.

    And anyone who tries to buy a house should never fall for the “you can refinance at a lower rate” deal. The housing market is not a guarentee, no one can tell you what the situation will be in 3 yrs.

    Homework, gotta do the homework!

11. Zombie Money on August 2nd, 2008 9:42 pm

    I agree!! Live by what you can afford.

12. Carrie @ Moneysavingmethods.com on August 4th, 2008 1:36 pm

    Oh my gosh..my thoughts exactly.

    I get so tired of reading stories in magazines of people making the same or more than us, and not being able to afford their house payments.

    What? I work my butt off to save and scrimp so my family can have a nice home and live comfortably without having to rely on the government. My husband goes to work and puts in long days so we can live without fear of this happening to us.

    Maybe I should sit back and relax, spend whatever I want and let someone else help me out. Why be smart about our spending and money?

    I mean, seriously, I have 3 kids and so that we can have extra money, I drive a van with manual sliding doors…our cars have still had crank windows ( until recently ), and we are a happy family.

    All because I would rather do that then have others tax money bail me out.

    Oh…..now get me off my soapbox!

    Needless to say, I totally agree!

13. Sandra on August 4th, 2008 3:45 pm

    I give you a new soapbox so that you may stand taller and talk louder. My husband and I bought a house six months ago, but we held out for what we could afford. Yes, we were approved for twice the amount we paid, but I knew what monthly payment we could afford. Maybe they should teach better math skills in our schools rather than worry about teaching english to the spanish speaking. It becomes more apparent that less people try to fend for themselves anymore because they don’t have to. America has become an enabler.

14. Emily on August 5th, 2008 8:14 am

    I completely agree as well. People got into this mess because they bought a home they couldn’t afford, and many live above their means. It doesn’t make sense for tax money to rescue them. While a bailout sounds compassionate, the consequences are too great. We can’t let people think they government will step in and save them with public money just because they made a huge mistake. Those of us who did not get ourselves in that situation should not have to pay for it. I especially agree with Jennifer — the banks should need more accountability for taking advantage of vulnerable people.

15. Kyle on August 5th, 2008 2:22 pm

    Thanks for the fantastic comments everyone! I am totally blown away be the response this post has received.

16. Dixie Dozier on August 7th, 2008 8:41 am

    I agree with you all too! It makes me FURIOUS to hear how “entitled” some folks think they are in regards to their mortgage payment. Who wouldn’t love to have a 3% interest for their mortgage??? Hubby and I took out a substantial loan borrowing against our house so that I could go back to school. The rate we got was a crummy 8% and we have really had to tighten up around here to be able to pay it back in 10 years – if I didn’t have any morals I would quit paying too to get a better rate, but I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing I had cheated others! I agree with the comment that our society by and large feels that someone owes them something and as a schoolteacher I see that glaringly reflected in the actions of small children. I seriously doubt the majority of our country could make it through a depression like our grands did! I will now get off the soapbox for the next person to vent

17. Jennifer on August 12th, 2008 12:44 pm

    I agree with you. There is not a rule written anywhere that just because someone wants to own a home (or anything for that matter) that they should have it. You actually have to work for it yourself.

18. niki on August 13th, 2008 3:05 pm

    Isn’t that grating???

    Many of our couple friends are buying these houses that are $50-100, 000 more than what we paid and are sorry later as they resort to living on Ramen to keep up appearances when they find they can’t afford to maintain such luxurious homes. It’s pretty dumb!

    And the idea that people can be bailed out and not suffer consequences of their bad decisions is unreal.

    

19. Eric on August 13th, 2008 7:11 pm

    I agree.
    We can’t bail people out becaue they wanted more then they could afford. Or assumed that their house would increase and use it as income. They made bad desisions. Sometime investments don’t pay-off. That goes for the banks as well.
    People need to realize the difference between want and need as well as investment and security.
    Were do I sign-up for the 3%? I haven’t been on a vacation in years.
    Who were the idiots that signed that bill? Can we get them canned? Maybe it should come out of thier pensions so they can be like the rest of America who is losing their pensions too.

20. Bellcord on August 13th, 2008 9:38 pm

    Nifty Kyle, you “heard a woman say”…I once heard a man say he could make a Jack of Diamonds come out of a deck of cards and spit apple juice in your ear but that ain’t likely to happen eiether. The facts are the “Big old bailout” really ain’t much of a bailout. Your max loan is 90% of your home’s current appraised value with the lender taking the hit on the loan balance. Your credit, income and debt are verified and if you fit the guidelines you’re in , if not, you’re out. Oh yeah, any profit you make if you sell the first year goes to Uncle Sammy with a sliding scale after that. Damn facts, how can we stir outrage ??

21. Kyle on August 14th, 2008 4:09 pm

    Nifty comment Bellcord, but the point of this post has nothing to do with specifics of the bailout and everything to do with the entitlement mindset of many Americans today.

22. Jamie on August 14th, 2008 7:16 pm

    We have gone mad! Being in the business of Real Estate puts me on the front line of meeting with both honest hardworking people who simply got caught in the insanity of the Real Estate boom as well as the sickeningly spoiled entitled group of people who believe they did nothing wrong by taking numerous loans against their homes equity or lack thereof in order to go on vacations, buy designer clothing purchase luxury cars every other year and so on and I can say I too find it a slap in the face for responsible people who have done their due diligence and didnt live the high life so to speak if they couldnt afford to do so. The worst aspect and long term effect of the entitled crowd is the fact that they are raising their children to be just like them or worse. I have seen more kids with brand new cars, the primping and pampering of celebrities, large parties with live bands for high school graduation and so on and so forth!!! And with that I wont ask, “Have we gone mad?” but sign off with my opening statement, “We have gone mad”!. So, now the government will reward this group and show them they can get away with playing dumb and spoiled. Scary.

23. Ashley on August 14th, 2008 9:00 pm

    I totally agree – please stay on your soapbox, and get a megaphone so that our so-called “leaders” can hear your smart advice. A bailout sickens me. It’s no wonder our country is in debt to China.

24. Marcia on August 15th, 2008 10:39 am

    I totally agree. I do have some sympathy for people who were duped by the mortgage lenders (yeah, they should have known better, but some of them just didn’t). But a lot of people were speculating or just weren’t THINKING.

    I have a friend of a friend who has this same attitude. She wants to buy a house and thinks that she DESERVES it. After all, she’s a pharmacist. Nevermind that she has two kids, her husband doesn’t work, and she lives in one of the most expensive cities in the country she DESERVES a house. Ugh. She’s still renting.

25. L.S. on August 16th, 2008 3:33 pm

    I don’t think all the comments are really fair. Honestly, I do think that some people were not responsible, but sometimes circumstances just overwhelm a person. My husband and I had to file bankruptcy and lost our house. When we first moved in our house I worked a few days a week until that business closed and my husband had a good paying job. Well because of the economy he got a significant paycut. We have 2 kids. I lost my job because the owner retired and it was a dental practice. I am now at home with my children and added up that it is cheaper for me to actually stay home. Not only that, but my kids are happier and we are closure. My marriage is better staying home also. We lost our house for those reasons. Not to mention the fact that when we agreed to buy that house we were told our payment would be 700 a month and it ended up to be 950 a month.
    We were not living above our means as in buying fancy cars (ours actually broke down all the time), we didn’t buy tons of stuff we didn’t need. We NEVER vacation, even now. We budgeted our groceries, but sometimes circumstances can get overwhelming. I even asked our mortgage company if they could defer one payment (add it to the end of our loan) to get back on track, but they said they would not help us until we were 60 days behind. What kind of sense does that make? Sometimes things happen. Not everyone who is losing their home is being irresponsible.
    My mother lost her home because they had to take a loan out on it to pay for my stepdads open heart surgery. The loan she got was an ARM, but she was told the rate would only go up with the rise of the economy and interest rate. Well, every 6 months that loan went up. She went from paying 300 a month to 900 a month on a very low income because he can’t work at all. I don’t blame her. She had to pay off the hospital bills somehow. Do you really think all these people losing their houses are just dumb?
    Circumstances are different for certain people.
    At the time we bought our house we could afford it. We tried to sell if for an entire YEAR before filing bankruptcy. We did all we could with no assistance. No one is proud to file bankruptcy. We still don’t live above our means.. unless you are suggesting that providing food (off brands), shelter (renting), and clothing (not name brand) is living above our means.
    The economy is hurting everyone right now. Instead of everyone blaming his neighbor why don’t we all just deal with our own situations, help someone if we can, and consider that the world doesn’t revolve around just us.

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